Saints have announced that they are ahead of even last years record breaking figures at the same stage last year with the season barely finished.

Over 90% of last years season ticket holders have already renewed for next season after the early bird discount period ended on Monday, add to that the fact that around 1,500 new season tickets have been sold and Saints are already 1,000 up on the number of season tickets sold at the same stage last year.

Tickets are currently off sale at the moment and are about to resume on Monday 23rd May when Members will get their final chance to book their space for the season.

Then on Wednesday 25th May it will be open to all Saints fans with the tickets going on general sale.

Some would be surprised to hear that 10% of this season's season ticket holders have not renewed, after all this has been our best Premier League campaign ever coming on the back of 2014/15's best ever finish, add to that a second consecutive Europa League qualification and it's hard to see why anyone would have wanted to give up their season ticket with the promise of another good season to come.

The reality though is that a 10% decrease is pretty much standard, sadly during the season there will be those who have died or get too old to continue to come on a regular basis, again sadly there are those that get too ill to attend as well.

Then you have a small proportion of those who are unable to commit to a season due to the fact that they have moved away or moved jobs which mean different work hours, perhaps weekend.

But the largest proportions would fall into two categories, the first is those that are unable to afford the ticket for the season, this could be for a number of reasons, perhaps children have grown up and no longer qualify for a concessionary rate, perhaps some have just had children and cannot afford the time or money with a new arrival and of course there are those that have fallen on hard times, perhaps lost a job etc and can't afford it, it doesn't make any of them less of a fan because they can't commit at this present time.

The final category is those who have just fallen out of love with the way the game is going, they are fed up with constant fixture changes, high prices, soaring wage demands and just the arrogant attitudes of those who play in the Premier League, this is a growing number and I would say that barely half of those that were season ticket holders back before we won promotion back to the Premier League are still season ticket holders today.

Their places have been filled by a different breed of fan, one that doesn't remain loyal if the club is out of the top flight.

If the club want's to expand the stadium it has to bring back those disenfranchised fans into the fold, it has to announce an expansion of the stadium and at the same time slash prices for season tickets, West Ham have not gained 52,000 season ticket holders through charging top dollar, their season ticket prices are around a third - half that of Saints normal priced seats and that is a big reduction.

Saints have the supporter base to fill an expanded stadium, but they will not fill it charging £650- £800 for a season ticket.

Saints supporters have once again shown their loyalty by in the main paying a higher than average price for their season ticket when compared to the rest of the Premier League, now the club has to show it values that support by planning out expansion plans along with a reduced pricing structure to ensure that those seats are filled each and every week by Saints fans and not just for the big games.

Photo: Action Images

SaintBrock added 12:43 - May 20 I will renew only when Wanyama, Mane and Koeman commit, otherwise I am just not interested in yet more start again seasons this year with new players and next year with a new manager. I have watched the Saints for a very long time, more years than I care to remember and been a season ticket holder for decades so my loyalty is not in question but the commitment shown to this club by the PROMOTIONS XI and Kelvin Davis on Tuesday reminded us all how fickle the game has become nowadays. Personally, I trust very few of our current playing or coaching staff to hang around any longer than it suits their own agendas so despite all the crap talk about "our wonderful supporters" in reality I doubt any of them give a ---- about us. One sided commitment isn't worth a toss.

1

Sanguin added 12:58 - May 20 I don’t think it’s a simple as building more capacity and charging less. Look at Arsenal’s seasons without investment in the squad and what was used to pay off their new stadium. A major expansion/infrastructure project would cost a lot of money and that would have to be financed in part by the cost of tickets. Southampton is in competition with all of the other Premier League clubs in terms of the sustainability of its finances, while it may have the money to do all this, other clubs won’t be doing this and so it needs to prioritise its funds in a way that keeps the club competitive and in the Premier League.

0

SaintNick added 13:14 - May 20 Saint Brock, please don't take this the wrong way, as Im sure that you have been loyal for very many years, but the fact is that if you renew you are merely going to repeat the same reasons for not renewing every summer. On the question of wanting Wanyama, Mane and Koeman to commit, they already have, they are under contract for next season, Koeman has said he will fulfill that contract, Mane has never uttered one word about wanting away, al the rumours are press fuelled and with no substance and Wanyama will probably have to go because he is entering the last year of his. But supporting a football club these days is not about whether players are loyal its about replacing them, players will always come and go and the trick is to sell them at a profit and replace them for less and keep rebuilding. As for the past Mick Channon demanded a transfer at the start of the 1975/76 season and it was rejected, what is different between that and Wanyama last summer apart from the fact that in those days the likes of Spurs didn't behave so underhand. As for the promotions squad, yes it was a breath of fresh air the loyalty of players back then, you didnt have players demanding to go out on loan when they were dropped in League 1 rather than fight for their place and then preferring to go on loan to a Premier League club the next season than help us in the Championship, but surprisingly suddenly being happy at St Mary's when we got to the Premiership, although two months after signing a new contract will signing on fees etc demands a move for family reasons . Jason Puncheon he sh*ts when he wants, yes mainly over Southampton Football Club from a great height for two years, but hey never mind lets not let facts get in the way of myth

2

BoondockSaint added 13:51 - May 20 Expansion means more luxury boxes and new seats with good sight lines. No new or former fans will come on board for the leftovers of what we offer now.. Reduction in ticket prices can be offset by food, drink, shirt, etc sales. We have to grow the brand to compete. I don't want to hear any complaints about fickle fans or band wagon jumpers-their money is a good as anyone else's and the name of the game today is money (it probably always was)

0

helpineedsomebody added 14:25 - May 20 1st of june 20 epl club share 2.4 billion pounds per season 2nd of june most of the epl clubs DEDT- FREE 1st april 2017 dick turpin aka the tax man wants his cut [unless you have spent it] where on earth are sfc going to spend 160million pounds on no excuses southampton up grade st marys please & not pay any tax
2

lemmsy added 15:19 - May 20 It's all very well saying I won't commit until players or the manager do but in today's football hat ain't gonna happen .Ronald is a great manager & an even better man & if he see's out his contract that's all he's obliged to do . Of course everyone wants him to stay but it has to be remembered Nigel Adkins was committed to the club , with a contract & was dismissed I n the name of progress. Loyalty has to work both ways & generally in modern football it doesn't exist.

2

SonicBoom added 15:26 - May 20 Maybe a radio station ?
0

schatfield added 16:02 - May 20 I live in London and see ads for West Ham games in the local paper all the time; they do amazing deals, kids for a quid, really cheap seats for mid-week cup games and so on. Location wise it is always hard for me to get to a saints game these days but when I do, it's annoying to see what the club charges especially after seeing how good hammers fans get it
2

BUCK added 23:56 - May 20 Saint brock,what a daft thing to say. I've renewed mine and couldn't care less if wanyama and mane go, or koeman. We're a team, no one is better than the saints. Mines done, block 41 as usual, the loud mouths of saints end. Looking forward to it
0

saintmark1976 added 08:57 - May 21 So by expanding or having new grounds built Arsenal,Spurs,Liverpool and West Ham have got it wrong and we have got it right? Somehow I think not. When St Mary's was built was it not suggested that the capacity could be increased relatively easily? If the owner does not increase capacity then in a few seasons time we will find ourselves in a similar situation to when we were at the Dell.Once again unable to compete with the "big boys".

0

BUCK added 12:02 - May 21 I say increase stadium size and reduce season ticket price to fill it
1

simmo400 added 09:10 - May 23 Too expensive. £737 is just too much. No discount for me. My season ticket is £80 per month SKY bill.
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls