Our system detected that your browser is blocking advertisements on our site. Please help support FoxesTalk by disabling any kind of ad blocker while browsing this site. Thank you.
Jump to content
red5

Membership 17/18

Recommended Posts

email from the club, their replies to my questions in red

 

Thank you for your email and for also taking the time out to provide some relevant feedback. I have endeavoured to answer some of your concerns below – please see responses in red.

 

Firstly, I'd like to say I fully appreciate the club are trying to move forward and become one of the 'big' teams, and would like to create a membership scheme that follows this and attracts new fans into the club. Also I appreciate change will always upset some people, it's impossible to please everybody. I am grateful that you understand this, and one of our reasons for changing the membership scheme was to move forward as a club and to enhance the growth and reputation of Leicester City FC.

 

But I'd like to know how this scheme was designed. The club claim 'member consultation' - but as a silver member for the past three years, I was never emailed to gain my views? The scheme was designed as the system of a 3 tiered membership came back with a lot of negative feedback. And with the club finally establishing itself as a side with a growing fan base, it was deemed the best time to restructure the membership scheme. Fans were consulted, emails were sent out giving members the opportunity to fill out a survey, and I am sure that you can appreciate we can only go with what we get back. However we had another method of research which was used, we had a ‘your 90 minutes’ focus group session which again, was a personal invitation sent to all members so they could state their interest in attending the session. Unfortunately we could only accommodate a small number of people to this event. However, the idea of one membership scheme was put forward and the feedback amongst the room was positive, and that if done properly the scheme would work. I cannot stress how much detail and research was carried out throughout the course of last season to ensure that this membership was constructed fairly and also with all supporters best interests in mind.

 

As two match going fans who have been attending for twenty years (and will have 15 points under the new scheme) I find it hard to swallow that I will be scrambling for tickets in a ballot alongside a man on the street who's never been to a game, but brought membership this year. I appreciate your frustration on this point, however a new member with no points will have to be lucky enough to be drawn out for every home fixture to be in with a chance of catching a supporter such as yourself up with regard to the amount of points that they have. Whilst I understand where your concerns are, this occurrence is extremely unlikely. Statistically, your chances of getting a ticket through the ballot are actually higher than what they would have been last year with you being a silver member.

 

Surely you could have restricted membership sales to a set number (as was done for gold and silver), or lowered the amount of tickets on ballot to a few hundred, and given those on <20 points the chance to purchase tickets outside of the ballot? We decided against restricting and capping membership sales, as this would have then hindered our objective of wanting to achieve growth as a football club. It is no secret that we, as a club are looking to expand the stadium, and by doing so in the long term future there will be a bigger pool of members and also more seats to sell. So this wasn’t just decided as a short term fix, it was a long term investment and plan which had the full backing of all the club’s hierarchy.

 

Why have only home PL games been counted in the points balance. I attended FA Cup, Champions League and away PL games last season. Why are these games not deemed worthy enough to improve my points balance? We decided against offering points for ANY cup fixtures, had we have done this then the gap between existing members and new would have been a lot bigger once again contradicting our aims with this new model.

 

Finally the cost of £60 is surely over the top. I had no problem with the club milking membership money last year, as PL champions why not charge £70/90 for membership? But a season of mid-table existence presumably awaits, why doesn't the membership price reflect this? £60 is essentially the average cost of all 3 memberships joined together from last season. As Champions last season, £70=£90 was justifiable. However in football you cannot predict a thing (who would of predicted that we would be champions), therefore the cost is seen as fair and value for the money. This is also considering the pack that is given to members, of which the items are exclusive and unavailable anywhere else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:
email from the club, their replies to my questions in red

 

Thank you for your email and for also taking the time out to provide some relevant feedback. I have endeavoured to answer some of your concerns below – please see responses in red.

 

Firstly, I'd like to say I fully appreciate the club are trying to move forward and become one of the 'big' teams, and would like to create a membership scheme that follows this and attracts new fans into the club. Also I appreciate change will always upset some people, it's impossible to please everybody. I am grateful that you understand this, and one of our reasons for changing the membership scheme was to move forward as a club and to enhance the growth and reputation of Leicester City FC.

 

But I'd like to know how this scheme was designed. The club claim 'member consultation' - but as a silver member for the past three years, I was never emailed to gain my views? The scheme was designed as the system of a 3 tiered membership came back with a lot of negative feedback. And with the club finally establishing itself as a side with a growing fan base, it was deemed the best time to restructure the membership scheme. Fans were consulted, emails were sent out giving members the opportunity to fill out a survey, and I am sure that you can appreciate we can only go with what we get back. However we had another method of research which was used, we had a ‘your 90 minutes’ focus group session which again, was a personal invitation sent to all members so they could state their interest in attending the session. Unfortunately we could only accommodate a small number of people to this event. However, the idea of one membership scheme was put forward and the feedback amongst the room was positive, and that if done properly the scheme would work. I cannot stress how much detail and research was carried out throughout the course of last season to ensure that this membership was constructed fairly and also with all supporters best interests in mind.

 

As two match going fans who have been attending for twenty years (and will have 15 points under the new scheme) I find it hard to swallow that I will be scrambling for tickets in a ballot alongside a man on the street who's never been to a game, but brought membership this year. I appreciate your frustration on this point, however a new member with no points will have to be lucky enough to be drawn out for every home fixture to be in with a chance of catching a supporter such as yourself up with regard to the amount of points that they have. Whilst I understand where your concerns are, this occurrence is extremely unlikely. Statistically, your chances of getting a ticket through the ballot are actually higher than what they would have been last year with you being a silver member.

 

Surely you could have restricted membership sales to a set number (as was done for gold and silver), or lowered the amount of tickets on ballot to a few hundred, and given those on <20 points the chance to purchase tickets outside of the ballot? We decided against restricting and capping membership sales, as this would have then hindered our objective of wanting to achieve growth as a football club. It is no secret that we, as a club are looking to expand the stadium, and by doing so in the long term future there will be a bigger pool of members and also more seats to sell. So this wasn’t just decided as a short term fix, it was a long term investment and plan which had the full backing of all the club’s hierarchy.

 

Why have only home PL games been counted in the points balance. I attended FA Cup, Champions League and away PL games last season. Why are these games not deemed worthy enough to improve my points balance? We decided against offering points for ANY cup fixtures, had we have done this then the gap between existing members and new would have been a lot bigger once again contradicting our aims with this new model.

 

Finally the cost of £60 is surely over the top. I had no problem with the club milking membership money last year, as PL champions why not charge £70/90 for membership? But a season of mid-table existence presumably awaits, why doesn't the membership price reflect this? £60 is essentially the average cost of all 3 memberships joined together from last season. As Champions last season, £70=£90 was justifiable. However in football you cannot predict a thing (who would of predicted that we would be champions), therefore the cost is seen as fair and value for the money. This is also considering the pack that is given to members, of which the items are exclusive and unavailable anywhere else.

Actually a lot of fair points there but I maintain the last one is total rubbish.  You can stick your calendar and iPad case thank you very much.

 

Pretty sure the membership schemes of all the big clubs are around £30, zero justification for us to be charging £60.

 

Only other point is the assertion that we have a better chance in the ballot than as silver.  If you're on the ball then no way, online at 9am 9 times out of 10 surely you get tickets with 500 available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think ballots are a horrible way to sell tickets.  Even a waiting list would be better.  With a ballot, you could theoretically never win, ever.  And I'm baffled by the assertion that you have a statistically better chance with the ballot than with silver membership, unless they have sold very few non priority memberships...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Qwerty said:

That surely can't be right?  My kids are still kids, but their points have carried over into this year. I can't believe that he'd lose his points because of changing from a child to an adult.  Even though his ticket was linked to your adult membership, it was presumably in his name, and he had his own supporter number, which must show his points.  Have you spoken to management?

I contacted the club and they have now added the points.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, grobyfox1990 said:
email from the club, their replies to my questions in red

 

Thank you for your email and for also taking the time out to provide some relevant feedback. I have endeavoured to answer some of your concerns below – please see responses in red.

 

Firstly, I'd like to say I fully appreciate the club are trying to move forward and become one of the 'big' teams, and would like to create a membership scheme that follows this and attracts new fans into the club. Also I appreciate change will always upset some people, it's impossible to please everybody. I am grateful that you understand this, and one of our reasons for changing the membership scheme was to move forward as a club and to enhance the growth and reputation of Leicester City FC.

 

But I'd like to know how this scheme was designed. The club claim 'member consultation' - but as a silver member for the past three years, I was never emailed to gain my views? The scheme was designed as the system of a 3 tiered membership came back with a lot of negative feedback. And with the club finally establishing itself as a side with a growing fan base, it was deemed the best time to restructure the membership scheme. Fans were consulted, emails were sent out giving members the opportunity to fill out a survey, and I am sure that you can appreciate we can only go with what we get back. However we had another method of research which was used, we had a ‘your 90 minutes’ focus group session which again, was a personal invitation sent to all members so they could state their interest in attending the session. Unfortunately we could only accommodate a small number of people to this event. However, the idea of one membership scheme was put forward and the feedback amongst the room was positive, and that if done properly the scheme would work. I cannot stress how much detail and research was carried out throughout the course of last season to ensure that this membership was constructed fairly and also with all supporters best interests in mind.

 

As two match going fans who have been attending for twenty years (and will have 15 points under the new scheme) I find it hard to swallow that I will be scrambling for tickets in a ballot alongside a man on the street who's never been to a game, but brought membership this year. I appreciate your frustration on this point, however a new member with no points will have to be lucky enough to be drawn out for every home fixture to be in with a chance of catching a supporter such as yourself up with regard to the amount of points that they have. Whilst I understand where your concerns are, this occurrence is extremely unlikely. Statistically, your chances of getting a ticket through the ballot are actually higher than what they would have been last year with you being a silver member.

 

Surely you could have restricted membership sales to a set number (as was done for gold and silver), or lowered the amount of tickets on ballot to a few hundred, and given those on <20 points the chance to purchase tickets outside of the ballot? We decided against restricting and capping membership sales, as this would have then hindered our objective of wanting to achieve growth as a football club. It is no secret that we, as a club are looking to expand the stadium, and by doing so in the long term future there will be a bigger pool of members and also more seats to sell. So this wasn’t just decided as a short term fix, it was a long term investment and plan which had the full backing of all the club’s hierarchy.

 

Why have only home PL games been counted in the points balance. I attended FA Cup, Champions League and away PL games last season. Why are these games not deemed worthy enough to improve my points balance? We decided against offering points for ANY cup fixtures, had we have done this then the gap between existing members and new would have been a lot bigger once again contradicting our aims with this new model.

 

Finally the cost of £60 is surely over the top. I had no problem with the club milking membership money last year, as PL champions why not charge £70/90 for membership? But a season of mid-table existence presumably awaits, why doesn't the membership price reflect this? £60 is essentially the average cost of all 3 memberships joined together from last season. As Champions last season, £70=£90 was justifiable. However in football you cannot predict a thing (who would of predicted that we would be champions), therefore the cost is seen as fair and value for the money. This is also considering the pack that is given to members, of which the items are exclusive and unavailable anywhere else.

I didn't receive any communication for an opinion either. 

 

I see why they are looking longer term  and regarding the stadium expansion but why not wait and change it then? This year really was the worst year to change it for many members who probably attended less PL games due to the CL. Many had to choose due to finance or logistics. Particularly with having to buy the CL package, families paying out for that would've cost a fortune. 

 

But we get a pack, assuming it turns up.  frankly I'd rather be able to get a ticket and buy my own pen!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this points/ballot system will create a situation where everyone who qualifies will apply for tickets for every game wether they can attend or not. This will inevitably lead to tickets being passed on to family and friends who probably don't even have memberships. A guy I know attends all the big games because he happened to move house and his next door neighbour works at the club and supplies multiple tickets on request. I can see this scheme becoming more unpopular than the old one when reality kicks in. The only long term remedy is to extend the ground or, God forbid, relegation when we would get back to the hard core 16,000 STH's and tickets for everyone that wants them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Qwerty said:

I think ballots are a horrible way to sell tickets.  Even a waiting list would be better.  With a ballot, you could theoretically never win, ever.  And I'm baffled by the assertion that you have a statistically better chance with the ballot than with silver membership, unless they have sold very few non priority memberships...

Personally think the ballot is a step in the right direction BUT to pay £60 for the right to apply is nonsense - there should be a guarantee that you will at least have the opportunity to attend so many games. 

 

This is done simply - everyone goes in today. Some get lucky, others don't. 

 

The next home game there is a first ballot for those who apply but failed for the Brighton game etc. If tickets remain, it rolls over to those who did get a ticket. You build levels of priority within that. Most of all, all games should be included. 

 

Okay it's not perfect - you could get fans who sit and await the big games but it would be a good starter for ten. If you charge for a membership, you must have some value to it. 

Edited by Cardiff_Fox
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, foxgas said:

I think this points/ballot system will create a situation where everyone who qualifies will apply for tickets for every game wether they can attend or not. This will inevitably lead to tickets being passed on to family and friends who probably don't even have memberships. A guy I know attends all the big games because he happened to move house and his next door neighbour works at the club and supplies multiple tickets on request. I can see this scheme becoming more unpopular than the old one when reality kicks in. The only long term remedy is to extend the ground or, God forbid, relegation when we would get back to the hard core 16,000 STH's and tickets for everyone that wants them.

Similarly I'd back have a membership card with photo ID which must be presented with the ticket. There's no point trying to make a fair system without such a chance for open abuse. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Personally think the ballot is a step in the right direction BUT to pay £60 for the right to apply is nonsense - there should be a guarantee that you will at least have the opportunity to attend so many games. 

 

This is done simply - everyone goes in today. Some get lucky, others don't. 

 

The next home game there is a first ballot for those who apply but failed for the Brighton game etc. If tickets remain, it rolls over to those who did get a ticket. You build levels of priority within that. Most of all, all games should be included. 

 

Okay it's not perfect - you could get fans who sit and await the big games but it would be a good starter for ten. If you charge for a membership, you must have some value to it. 

I think back in the Championship days there were different memberships. More expensive ones had like 4 games included for £99 or something (don't remember exact pricing).

 

Maybe they should have sold 15,000 memberships (or however many) that for a price of £80 guarantee you two home tickets (the £80 is the entry fee for the two games). You can then specify all the games you can attend and if demand does not outstrip availability, you are allocated top two choices. Where matches are oversubscribed (Man U etc) then there is a ballot and you may end up with choice 4 and 5 for example.

 

Or a membership for £120 that guarantee two category A games and an £80 membership that gurantees two Category B games if you want to split.

 

Hope I make some sense here, I know what I mean...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, KrefelderFox666 said:

I think back in the Championship days there were different memberships. More expensive ones had like 4 games included for £99 or something (don't remember exact pricing).

 

Maybe they should have sold 15,000 memberships (or however many) that for a price of £80 guarantee you two home tickets (the £80 is the entry fee for the two games). You can then specify all the games you can attend and if demand does not outstrip availability, you are allocated top two choices. Where matches are oversubscribed (Man U etc) then there is a ballot and you may end up with choice 4 and 5 for example.

 

Or a membership for £120 that guarantee two category A games and an £80 membership that gurantees two Category B games if you want to split.

 

Hope I make some sense here, I know what I mean...

Yep. We are on the same lines - if you charge for a membership, you've gotta to provide a ticket surely. How that works out - who knows? But system like what me and you suggested are much fairer than the current. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/20/2017 at 15:12, billyn88 said:

Actually a lot of fair points there but I maintain the last one is total rubbish.  You can stick your calendar and iPad case thank you very much.

 

Pretty sure the membership schemes of all the big clubs are around £30, zero justification for us to be charging £60.

 

Only other point is the assertion that we have a better chance in the ballot than as silver.  If you're on the ball then no way, online at 9am 9 times out of 10 surely you get tickets with 500 available.

Yeah its that point that gets me too. Pretty sure my Arsenal supporting mate paid £25 for his Arsenal membership a couple of seasons ago so there's no way its any more than £35 this season.

 

I get to about 3-4 games a season (I go to the less glamourus games) and getting married this year so it will probably be even less this season. Always liked having memberships (one for me and one for the missus) to show booking history in the last 5 seasons but seriously tempted not to bother, save myself £120 and just get tickets off people on here.

 

Having said that, I fear that we might edge towards showing IDs for named tickets etc and so dont want a scenario in a few years time whereby memberships are limited and I cant get memberships or tickets.

 

The club really do have us by the balls.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, Nalis said:

Yeah its that point that gets me too. Pretty sure my Arsenal supporting mate paid £25 for his Arsenal membership a couple of seasons ago so there's no way its any more than £35 this season.

 

I get to about 3-4 games a season (I go to the less glamourus games) and getting married this year so it will probably be even less this season. Always liked having memberships (one for me and one for the missus) to show booking history in the last 5 seasons but seriously tempted not to bother, save myself £120 and just get tickets off people on here.

 

Having said that, I fear that we might edge towards showing IDs for named tickets etc and so dont want a scenario in a few years time whereby memberships are limited and I cant get memberships or tickets.

 

The club really do have us by the balls.

Yes I'm likely only able to get to 2 or 3 this season but like you say I don't want to end up in a totally hopeless position in a few years so I pay reluctantly.

 

The wife is a Liverpool fan and we live in Liverpool so we go to a fair few games at anfield and membership is £27.  There's still issues with how they do ticket sales but it's far more fairly priced and they do tiered sales for big games (going down slowly by number of games attended previous season) and it changes by competition so everyone knows where they stand.  For example if you don't go to the 3rd round fa cup game at home to a lower league side, you know your chances of a ticket should you get to Wembley, whether you're a season ticket holder or member, are greatly reduced.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not that I'm particularly excited to receive my exclusive membership pack....but has anyone received theirs yet? They were supposed to have been sent out last week according to the membership brochure but there's no sign of mine yet. 

I know last year they weren't sent out until October time-should we expect a similar sort of delay I wonder?? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, rn9013 said:

Not that I'm particularly excited to receive my exclusive membership pack....but has anyone received theirs yet? They were supposed to have been sent out last week according to the membership brochure but there's no sign of mine yet. 

I know last year they weren't sent out until October time-should we expect a similar sort of delay I wonder?? 

Got my lads in February after asking the club every month where it was.  

I wouldn't be surprised if its Nov/Dec time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, rn9013 said:

Not that I'm particularly excited to receive my exclusive membership pack....but has anyone received theirs yet? They were supposed to have been sent out last week according to the membership brochure but there's no sign of mine yet. 

I know last year they weren't sent out until October time-should we expect a similar sort of delay I wonder?? 

No the club's on the ball this season, membership packs, tickets, all going smoothly :whistle:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...