Season ticket prices

[Jimski]

Anybody got any idea why there is no mention of the North Stand in the price list? (Confusing, since the ground plan seems to indicate an area of the north stand as being allocated.

[SteMerritt]

Hope they are not going back on North Stand tickets, I intend to move my ST over there after being in the OM since the ground opened.

[boris]

On the back of the form there's a tick-box saying &quotI wish to apply for/renew* a season ticket in the NORTH STAND&quot, which would seem to suggest that they're still available in that area.

[Mally]

North stand is an option on the application form so it looks like an error on the price list.

Quote from Nick Merry:

We have listened to the fans and have decided to keep prices the same as last season. This means they have remained at that level for three years in a row. Obviously costs have increased over that period and we might have made an increase but we feel it more important to allow the best chance of our current season ticket holders renewing.

Obviously?

- The playing budget has been reduced by 25%
- Stadium rent is the same.
- Non playing salary costs have been reduced by £95,000.
- Youth team spending is the same
- Reserve team expenses have been reduced.

So exactly where have costs increased? I don't have a major problem with the prices remaining the same but I don't like being patronised in this way.

[Jimski]

Just noticed that in the official web site article (though not on the price form itself), it mentions that North Stand prices are the same as South Stand Lower.

[Resurrection Ox]

North stand is an option on the application form so it looks like an error on the price list.

Quote from Nick Merry:

We have listened to the fans and have decided to keep prices the same as last season. This means they have remained at that level for three years in a row. Obviously costs have increased over that period and we might have made an increase but we feel it more important to allow the best chance of our current season ticket holders renewing.

Obviously?

- The playing budget has been reduced by 25%
- Stadium rent is the same.
- Non playing salary costs have been reduced by £95,000.
- Youth team spending is the same
- Reserve team expenses have been reduced.

So exactly where have costs increased? I don't have a major problem with the prices remaining the same but I don't like being patronised in this way.

Fair enough if you compare with last year but isn't Merry looking at a three year period when he makes that comment? (Apologies if I,m being dazzled by 'club spin' in case anyone asks).

[Baboo]

[
Fair enough if you compare with last year but isn't Merry looking at a three year period when he makes that comment? (Apologies if I,m being dazzled by 'club spin' in case anyone asks).

So the question is what were the costs three years ago &amp what are they now.
And a comparison of income / projected income.

I really don't think an increase was a viable option for football at this level, particularly given that some teams higher up the food chain are cutting prices.
Bet there would have been an increase if we had gone up.

[Snake]

I don’t think that anyone really expected the prices to go up or down. What concerns me is the fact that the ST package is exactly the same unimaginative stuff that was trotted out last season. OxVox and the ideas generated by fans (some good, some crap) seemed to have been blanked, and there seems no one at the club with a bright idea or two to help bring in the floaters.

A big picture of fat boy Nick Merry is not what I want to see when I open my post first thing in the morning, and I don’t think that this policy of pushing him and Jim as “personalities

[Nashy]

I find it amazing that some people really do spout negative stuff about Nick Merry and the backers. Whether he is a'fatboy' or not is irrelevant (he was clearly once a fit sportsman which is presumably more than can be said of some of his detractors with their cheap jibes). Some of these cynics were once fans of FK (and irritatingly even seduced by the dubious charms of Nilu!!!). All I know is that the staff with whom I once worked are infinitely happier under the present regime than they ever were under FK &amp his lieutenants and they genuinely feel the regime is moving in the right direction and are leading a happy ship. That to me is key having experienced at first hand what it was like before. He tries his best to improve communication with fans, freezes ST prices, frequently praises fans' support and loyalty, is part of an apparently impressive presentation to fans at the forum and is a genuine fan himself - still some apparently blinded by Kassam's regime (during which staff morale sunk to a desperately low level) run him down and pick holes. Unbelievable. I sometimes think some of our so called 'fantastic' fans deserve the mire into which we have sunk over the last 8 years. Be fair, Snake!!

[Baboo]

Be fair, Snake!!

But this would make wind ups and general stiring for the sake of it much more difficult.

[Mally]

I find it amazing that some people really do spout negative stuff about Nick Merry and the backers. Whether he is a'fatboy' or not is irrelevant (he was clearly once a fit sportsman which is presumably more than can be said of some of his detractors with their cheap jibes). Some of these cynics were once fans of FK (and irritatingly even seduced by the dubious charms of Nilu!!!). All I know is that the staff with whom I once worked are infinitely happier under the present regime than they ever were under FK &amp his lieutenants and they genuinely feel the regime is moving in the right direction and are leading a happy ship. That to me is key having experienced at first hand what it was like before. He tries his best to improve communication with fans, freezes ST prices, frequently praises fans' support and loyalty, is part of an apparently impressive presentation to fans at the forum and is a genuine fan himself - still some apparently blinded by Kassam's regime (during which staff morale sunk to a desperately low level) run him down and pick holes. Unbelievable. I sometimes think some of our so called 'fantastic' fans deserve the mire into which we have sunk over the last 8 years. Be fair, Snake!!

Sorry Nashy but that can't go unchallenged. Firstly lets get the Kassam thing out of the way. The only time anybody could have been described as Kassam lieutenants was when FOUL (backed by the majority of fans by the way) worked with him to fight The City Council, The County Council, The Government Office for the South East, The Deputy Prime Minister, Thames Water, Morrells Brewery, Les Wells, Tim, Midgley, Roy Pack, Nick Pentith and many other characters who stood in the way of the future survival of Oxford United. Kassam was probably the only person who could have pulled off the building of the new stadium but once we got there nearly everybody would agree he was a terrible football club chairman.

As for Merry I think his heart and intentions are all in the right place but the cult of personality that is apparently being built up around him is a bit distasteful in my opinion. The season ticket letter is way over the top and for once Snake is spot on in his comments. Imagine the reaction if Kassam had done the same thing.

More specifically
&quotHe tries his best to improve communication with fans,&quot - No. He says he does, but refusing to hold a fans forum for over 12 months, refusing to name his backers and misleading information about his own background tell a different story.

&quotfreezes ST prices&quot He really had no option here and a good argument could be made for reductions this season.

&quotfrequently praises fans' support and loyalty&quot Every chairman and manager does thateven Kassam did.

&quotis part of an apparently impressive presentation to fans at the forum&quot Yes it was impressive but Nick Merry played almost no part in it other than introducing Ian Lenagan.

Yes, Nick Merry is a genuine fan but so was Robin Herd and we all know where his regime left us.

Some of the stay away sideline snipers may deserve &quotthe mire into which we have sunk&quot but nobody who has bought a season ticket for the last 10 years does.

[scooter]

The season ticket letter ( which I also received and the EZine must be viewed as a positive step by the club in improving their marketing and at last realising they have an invaluable database of committed customers, the type of which most businesses would die for.

The rest of Snake and Mallys comments spot on.

The whiff of spin and bullshit emanating from the ECLS is extremely concerning, and apparently Jim is getting more of a liability allegedly being somewhat tired and emotional again at the Gordon Banks dinner.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

Firstly lets get the Kassam thing out of the way. The only time anybody could have been described as Kassam lieutenants was when FOUL (backed by the majority of fans by the way) worked with him to fight The City Council, The County Council, The Government Office for the South East, The Deputy Prime Minister, Thames Water, Morrells Brewery, Les Wells, Tim, Midgley, Roy Pack, Nick Pentith and many other characters who stood in the way of the future survival of Oxford United. Kassam was probably the only person who could have pulled off the building of the new stadium but once we got there nearly everybody would agree he was a terrible football club chairman.

Well, some of his supporters took really quite some time to see that this was the case. It's at least arguable that this was because they'd long snce deveoped a bunker mentality which convinced them that everybody else involved was actively hostile to the existence of the football club and that it was necessary to denounce them at all junctures.

Some of the people who did this had also performed the same task for Kassam's predecessor: the point (or one of several points) being that the line &quotKassam was probably the only person who could have pulled off the building of the new stadium&quot would be more convincing if the same argument had not previously been made about a different individual.

[Mally]

Some of the people who did this had also performed the same task for Kassam's predecessor: the point (or one of several points) being that the line &quotKassam was probably the only person who could have pulled off the building of the new stadium&quot would be more convincing if the same argument had not previously been made about a different individual.

I think you're still missing the point. Once Herd had walked away Cox was the only person available to pull off the building of the stadium.

A Cox Out campaign (however attractive as a slogan) was going to be counterproductive until there was anybody prepared to take over. Once Kassam did take over and the true extent of the mess unravelled itself then only somebody with Kassam's single (or even bloody) mindedness could have done it when you look back at what eventually was required.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

I think it's one thing taking issue with a Cox Out slogan (and given Keith's Blair-like relationship to the truth, I find it really hard to think of him as indispensible) and quite another going to battle on his behalf.