Im writing this essay/comment because I want OUR club to prosper now and in the future. This is how I feel.
I have been a Spurs fan since I saw us beat Chelsea 2/1 in the 67 FACup Final when I was 10, hopefully a good omen for Sunday, never been a ST holder till this year. Have two sons who I have taken irregularly to games over the years, one of them also got a ST with me. He earns £31k a year not a bad wage but he can only afford £800 as like everyone else his age hes buying a house or wants to. I can afford a bit more, so if we do renew Im going to have to subsidise him. Ive spent alot of time, too much really, watching the ST sales over the 1st four phases and it seems obvious what people want .. good value and/or what most can actually afford. Paying over £1000 for a ST plus travel (£300 for me), food, drink and no doubt merchandise is going to be too much for many.
The large majority of seats sold to long standing ST holders in the South stand are in concessionary priced blocks which are £1125 or less, that also reflects this, maybe Im wrong but I dont think any new Wembley ST holders are going to be very much different in profile, might be one big difference in that it was alot easier for us to get to Wembley than WHL. I like many others moved out from West London to just outside the M25, so drive to Hillingdon tube and catch the Metropolitan to Wembley, it will be same to NWL only another hour, 3 hours each way, not unlike many others i guess. If I get to the point where I think the cost and time outweigh the experience, well right now Im not 100% we will renew, we are in phase 8 of course.
ST holders age has has increased over the last 10 years greatly, somebody wrote in an earlier post, doesnt surprise me, where are the younger generations. We know they cant afford it, these prices arent going to help.
I think this whole 1882 ST thing is a big mistake, theres this wedge of 9 rows across the middle 5 blocks and the areas immediately adjacent to them are priced at a non-concessionary £1200, whats that all about to make them feel better about how much they are paying,those seats arent better than the lower priced ones below them, the whole lot should have been £1125,. That block would then have filled from the middle out more evenly and would have kept everyone alot happier. In my opinion.
The North stand from blocks 509 to 521 could all be the same price £975/995? keeping the premium £1125 seats in the middle 3 blocks 514/15/16. All of these prices could be 10-20% lower anyway.
At the moment the more I write about it the more Im talking myself out of it and so my son with it, pooh.
I only renewed my membership in Jan17 and was 63000th on the ST or membership waiting list, my son got his in early Feb17 and was about 800 lower than me. When the Wembley ST list came out my position and his had changed mine 57000, his 58000, the cut off for a Wembley ST ( and so a guaranteed NWL ST) was 59000ish. I dont know how the numbers work out but it seems alot didnt want a WST, so the question is how loyal or large is our support, is Levy over estimating this, he may be. So right now is not the time to alienate lifelong fans and their sons and daughters because surely thats who you want filling the stadium, not tourists which leads to a much poorer atmosphere, which has obviously been felt at Wembley.
If I dont renew this season I think its very unlikely I will in the future.
I wont be around in 25 years or my son in 50 years but the stadium will and I dont care whether it takes 5 or 10 years or whatever longer years to pay for but dont outprice genuine loyal fans now. Levy does run the club prudently and long may that continue.
Theres still time to change all this.
Have you seen the empty seats at Emirates Marketing Project and others at certain games, where not that different. All this talk of giving certain players another £50k a week, what about giving it to the fans or not taking it in the first place, without us there is no club.
All this is me, I may be way off the mark.
Hats off and admiration to all you long standing ST holders and more regular supporters than Ive ever been, we are trying to get there with you, but dont know whether we will. I dont know, from the heart :-(
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