- May 28, 2013
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On one hand I do think fans have to be realistic about our position. We've massively overachieved recently but we're not yet in a position to compete with five other PL teams on players, it's as simple as that. The issue is that these price rises have little to do with that. The new stadium will make a huge difference, but it will be through naming rights, increased capacity, corporate revenue and commercial potential. If we succeed on those ground we can compete with the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea regardless; if we don't, then the increased prices a) won't make up the shortfall and b) won't make any money at all because people simply won't pay that much if we're not at least in the top 4 and retaining our first XI players. Throwing the fans under the bus like this isn't in my opinion a smart long-term decision even if our aim is commercial competitiveness. It's a large and unnecessary risk.
You might be right. None of us knows yet. It's a risk, for sure.
Personally, I would have liked to see even higher prices in some areas for those who really can afford it, and lower prices in others., including the wall. I'm sure they could have found more ways to differentiate the seats but it's not happening so we don't need to speculate about how it might have worked or what its effects might have been.
So yes, I agree it's a risk, but that's what highly competitive commercial operations live by, and we'll judge them by how it works out. Some will personalise it, naturally, but that will, or should, take us into areas beyond this thread, as @Dougal points out.
And there are people who have to walk miles each day to have access to clean water but let’s keep this to a conversation concerning people affected by the thread subject. It’s renewals.
In that case, if we're not going to worry about people who can't afford seats, let's be consistent.
The fact is that it's almost certain that more seats will be sold in the new stadium than in the old one, so if we're not worrying about people who can't afford seats, that's as far as we can take it: more seats, more satisfied customers. I really think it's more complex than that, but that's why I'm not happy with the binary direction this thread has taken us, though it's inevitable of course.