General Season ticket prices

[RyanioBirdio]

Free cup games is a nice touch.

Unless otherwise clarified / amended, you’re paying for them by losing your free club shop voucher, and at least one of them will be a tinpot trophy game that less than 1,000 people are willing to go to on average anyway. Early season cup games are discounted to £10 adults and £5 concessions as standard 95% of the time, so any U16 or O65 gets nothing for “free” if the £10 shop voucher is simply transferred over and applied to two £5 cup tickets. If you aren’t able (or willing out of principe in the case of the tinpot) to attend either of the first two home cup games then even full price adults aren’t any better off once the shop credit is taken into consideration.

The club also charged everybody for the playoff game last season when people already overpaid by anything from £50-£200+ versus what they received. Yes, people “knew the risks”, but the club had the chance to provide a small acknowledgment and thank people for their loyalty and chose not to. I said at the time that I found it a little mean spirited. Nothing was “normal” about last season, so the “you don’t get playoff games in a ST anyway” argument is weak. I don’t normally pay nearly £500 to watch 23 games on a laptop or phone, especially when other people could pay half that amount for the same experience, but it happened.

There also appears to be a message of “only people who renew AGAIN are worthy of acknowledgement, last season was a given and we’ve already banked that, so you need to go once more to be thanked. Oh, and you’ve got seven days. Your time begins… NOW.”

No attempt at a mutiny from me - people can pay whatever they like and I have no intention of encouraging anybody not to support the club. Even if I don’t renew I’ll still go to a number of games and put money into the club that way, albeit not as much as previous. But I’m continuing to lay all the pieces out on the table and I’m increasingly unimpressed by what’s on offer. Personally.

Merely my own opinion. It’s up to each individual how they feel and choose to view it all. I would like to think that the TRUE fans stuff between renewers and those who don’t for whatever reason can be left at the door.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

To everyone moaning about how much they lost last season from their season ticket, how about calculating how much you gained?
In 2019/20 I spent £986 on train fares, £29 on buses and £318 on tickets for away games and cup matches. That's before factoring in (a) pint, a pie and a programme. That was for a short season, and so for 2020/21 I'm at least £1000 up.

That's an interesting way to look at it.

If you normally travel to work but have been at home recently, I hope for your employer's sake that you offer to take a pay cut at your next review

 

[Paul Cannell]

We'll see. If the club had wanted an independent group they could have supported OxVox.

 

[McXal]

There also appears to be a message of “only people who renew AGAIN are worthy of acknowledgement, last season was a given and we’ve already banked that, so you need to go once more to be thanked. Oh, and you’ve got seven days. Your time begins… NOW.”

To me this was the most problematic part of the release. I agree that tonally the press release was far more ‘sell sell sell’ than it was grateful for last year’s support which sits uneasily with me. Hence my comment/suggestion that the ‘fan wall’ token gesture would have been better suited to last year’s ST holders rather than as part of a marketing scheme for new sales…

(not to denigrate or disregard the rest of your post btw. I don’t necessarily disagree with anything you’ve said)

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Hence my comment/suggestion that the ‘fan wall’ token gesture would have been better suited to last year’s ST holders rather than as part of a marketing scheme for new sales…

I think you perfectly articulated that and it’s a really valid point. That was an open goal for me. It sums up a lot of the problems I have with the manner of it all. I consider it to be a marketing drive dressed up as a favour. Feels a bit… not great. I think it’s a little disingenuous when there was a chance here to have a really honest conversation. That’s all.

I understand the complexity and difficulties of this situation, particularly as someone who used to work there. I remember all too well how it can feel when it seems as though you’re damned either way. But I do feel that there is a lot that has been handled very clumsily, and at times genuinely inconsiderately.

I don’t feel as though I’m being asked to continue being an important and valued part of something, I feel as though I’m being told that I’ll be excluded and not given so much as a nod of acknowledgement if I don’t double down. I think that’s really pertinent.

I’ll continue to think on. Maybe a bit more detail and clarification will be made available in the coming days.

 

[Junior_1]

i’m not privy to the balance sheet but to give you some idea, Reading* supporters were asked to put £70 to reserve their seat last season due to covid and they have had that £70 deducted from their ST price this season.

*the same Reading that are a fag paper away from being skint btw.

Reading have had the same prices for this seasons ST as two seasons ago. Think it’s £299 for a adult ST on the side stand. Very good value.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

For Christ’s sake people we never used to get all this criticising going on in the old days.
Season tickets came out and we used to renew they usually went up in line with inflation.
Never used to hear what the club should/should not be doing
If you want to renew go ahead if you don’t fair enough it’s up to you but please stop the endless debate.
I will renew by the way

 

[m]

Yes, let's stop the debate. On any and every subject.

Let's just nod at eachother.

 

[horseman]

I think you perfectly articulated that and it’s a really valid point. That was an open goal for me. It sums up a lot of the problems I have with the manner of it all. I consider it to be a marketing drive dressed up as a favour. Feels a bit… not great. I think it’s a little disingenuous when there was a chance here to have a really honest conversation. That’s all.

I understand the complexity and difficulties of this situation, particularly as someone who used to work there. I remember all too well how it can feel when it seems as though you’re damned either way. But I do feel that there is a lot that has been handled very clumsily, and at times genuinely inconsiderately.

I don’t feel as though I’m being asked to continue being an important and valued part of something, I feel as though I’m being told that I’ll be excluded and not given so much as a nod of acknowledgement if I don’t double down. I think that’s really pertinent.

I’ll continue to think on. Maybe a bit more detail and clarification will be made available in the coming days.

i'm afraid Loyalty is just another word used when it's convenient

I recognized many of my customers would be struggling last year and gave service several times "Free" many months at a time, i added further free service for 2 months of this year so for the best part of 12 months have worked and given my time for virtual nothing only to see those people walk away 90% of them gone.Many of them of 5 year standing some no doubt received some income through furlough but not this individual.

I admire those who stood the loss with tickets last season especially when for a football club but sadly as you've seen it's just come back to bite you where it hurts most and we all made the mistake of thinking Loyalty would work both ways.

 

[Wallop]

To everyone moaning about how much they lost last season from their season ticket, how about calculating how much you gained?
In 2019/20 I spent £986 on train fares, £29 on buses and £318 on tickets for away games and cup matches. That's before factoring in (a) pint, a pie and a programme. That was for a short season, and so for 2020/21 I'm at least £1000 up.

Very good points Mark although I’m slightly worried you were tracking this to the nearest pound by category........

 

[ECYellow]

For Christ’s sake people we never used to get all this criticising going on in the old days.
Season tickets came out and we used to renew they usually went up in line with inflation.
Never used to hear what the club should/should not be doing
If you want to renew go ahead if you don’t fair enough it’s up to you but please stop the endless debate.
I will renew by the way

we didn’t pay for something we didn’t receive in the old days and season ticket holders were not paying substantially more money than those without season tickets in the old days.

Do forgive those of us without bottomless pockets to question just how much loyalty means to our football club.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

Why are football clubs any different to any other leisure business and be allowed to get away with it? If you didn't get a refund for a cancelled theatre show, or a rock festival, or a holiday there would be absolute uproar and they would be named and shamed in the papers and social media to the point where they have to do the right thing. To pay £299 to see a max of 2 games of football live and a further 21 games on a really crap quality screen service and not get any refund at all is a bit of a kick in the guts. Free entry for 2 Mickey Mouse cup games that 75% of us wouldn't have bothered going to anyway but will now do so (extra travel costs incurred on top etc), your name on a wall - wow. For those of you old enough we used to get the first cup game with our season ticket anyway before that was snatched away from us as an subtle way of increasing the overall price without us really noticing.

In particular I will stand up for the under 18s again here, who weren't even allowed to subscribe to the iFollow service because they were underage so didn't even have the benefit of getting this in the 2020/21 ST deal. This group, the future of our club, have been particularly hard done by with this. Given a choice I would have liked to see a free 2021/22 season renewal for this group. Over 18s then have to suffer the injustice of no refund. But I would be more comfortable with this knowing that there are always going to be winners and losers and I think giving something back to youngsters to maintain their interest in our club by effectively forcing them to come back by giving them free entry for next season would have been a fantastic example to give, something completely different that no one else has done, and a PR huge positive as a result.

Otherwise what can you do? Will be off to renew shortly...it's our way of life and the club know it so take advantage of it. But it is simply wrong that they think they can provide a service, get paid up front for it, and then not deliver it nor give any money back. We should all have MUG stamped on our forehead when we next go to a match because that is basically what we all are for allowing this to happen and subconsciously accepting it all for the love of our football club.

 

[guyellow]

Unless otherwise clarified / amended, you’re paying for them by losing your free club shop voucher, and at least one of them will be a tinpot trophy game that less than 1,000 people are willing to go to on average anyway. Early season cup games are discounted to £10 adults and £5 concessions as standard 95% of the time, so any U16 or O65 gets nothing for “free” if the £10 shop voucher is simply transferred over and applied to two £5 cup tickets. If you aren’t able (or willing out of principe in the case of the tinpot) to attend either of the first two home cup games then even full price adults aren’t any better off once the shop credit is taken into consideration.

The club also charged everybody for the playoff game last season when people already overpaid by anything from £50-£200+ versus what they received. Yes, people “knew the risks”, but the club had the chance to provide a small acknowledgment and thank people for their loyalty and chose not to. I said at the time that I found it a little mean spirited. Nothing was “normal” about last season, so the “you don’t get playoff games in a ST anyway” argument is weak. I don’t normally pay nearly £500 to watch 23 games on a laptop or phone, especially when other people could pay half that amount for the same experience, but it happened.

There also appears to be a message of “only people who renew AGAIN are worthy of acknowledgement, last season was a given and we’ve already banked that, so you need to go once more to be thanked. Oh, and you’ve got seven days. Your time begins… NOW.”

No attempt at a mutiny from me - people can pay whatever they like and I have no intention of encouraging anybody not to support the club. Even if I don’t renew I’ll still go to a number of games and put money into the club that way, albeit not as much as previous. But I’m continuing to lay all the pieces out on the table and I’m increasingly unimpressed by what’s on offer. Personally.

Merely my own opinion. It’s up to each individual how they feel and choose to view it all. I would like to think that the TRUE fans stuff between renewers and those who don’t for whatever reason can be left at the door.

I get your point. Nonetheless, whatever the club does will be acceptable to some and considered inadequate by others.
The point about paying for Playoff tickets is tricky - if they had not been charged for then the fans who were unable to go (I believe around 1000 didn't apply for tickets?), may have felt doubly disadvantaged, firstly by not being able to attend the match, for whatever reason, and secondly by missing out on the financial gesture. I wouldn't want to be the one navigating all this!

 

[The mighty Aldo]

Yes, let's stop the debate. On any and every subject.

Let's just nod at eachother.

Yes
Things would be so much better without Social Media
I don’t know you but I will make a point of nodding at everyone when I next go to a match

we didn’t pay for something we didn’t receive in the old days and season ticket holders were not paying substantially more money than those without season tickets in the old days.

Do forgive those of us without bottomless pockets to question just how much loyalty means to our football club.

I know we weren’t able to get to games but we were able to watch games, so surely that counts towards something

 

[Wallop]

Why are football clubs any different to any other leisure business and be allowed to get away with it? If you didn't get a refund for a cancelled theatre show, or a rock festival, or a holiday there would be absolute uproar and they would be named and shamed in the papers and social media to the point where they have to do the right thing. To pay £299 to see a max of 2 games of football live and a further 21 games on a really crap quality screen service and not get any refund at all is a bit of a kick in the guts. Free entry for 2 Mickey Mouse cup games that 75% of us wouldn't have bothered going to anyway but will now do so (extra travel costs incurred on top etc), your name on a wall - wow. For those of you old enough we used to get the first cup game with our season ticket anyway before that was snatched away from us as an subtle way of increasing the overall price without us really noticing.

In particular I will stand up for the under 18s again here, who weren't even allowed to subscribe to the iFollow service because they were underage so didn't even have the benefit of getting this in the 2020/21 ST deal. This group, the future of our club, have been particularly hard done by with this. Given a choice I would have liked to see a free 2021/22 season renewal for this group. Over 18s then have to suffer the injustice of no refund. But I would be more comfortable with this knowing that there are always going to be winners and losers and I think giving something back to youngsters to maintain their interest in our club by effectively forcing them to come back by giving them free entry for next season would have been a fantastic example to give, something completely different that no one else has done, and a PR huge positive as a result.

Otherwise what can you do? Will be off to renew shortly...it's our way of life and the club know it so take advantage of it. But it is simply wrong that they think they can provide a service, get paid up front for it, and then not deliver it nor give any money back. We should all have MUG stamped on our forehead when we next go to a match because that is basically what we all are for allowing this to happen and subconsciously accepting it all for the love of our football club.

Answered your own question very succinctly. Personally I have no issue in paying £300 for my ST last year. I was able to watch all of the games on iFollow so the net ‘loss’ of c.£70 was less than I spend on an average away trip. As Markg has pointed out, many of us will be £1000 up if you look at last season in the round.

Appreciate that others feel differently mind.

 

[Oxt1]

Why are football clubs any different to any other leisure business and be allowed to get away with it? If you didn't get a refund for a cancelled theatre show, or a rock festival, or a holiday there would be absolute uproar and they would be named and shamed in the papers and social media to the point where they have to do the right thing. To pay £299 to see a max of 2 games of football live and a further 21 games on a really crap quality screen service and not get any refund at all is a bit of a kick in the guts. Free entry for 2 Mickey Mouse cup games that 75% of us wouldn't have bothered going to anyway but will now do so (extra travel costs incurred on top etc), your name on a wall - wow. For those of you old enough we used to get the first cup game with our season ticket anyway before that was snatched away from us as an subtle way of increasing the overall price without us really noticing.

In particular I will stand up for the under 18s again here, who weren't even allowed to subscribe to the iFollow service because they were underage so didn't even have the benefit of getting this in the 2020/21 ST deal. This group, the future of our club, have been particularly hard done by with this. Given a choice I would have liked to see a free 2021/22 season renewal for this group. Over 18s then have to suffer the injustice of no refund. But I would be more comfortable with this knowing that there are always going to be winners and losers and I think giving something back to youngsters to maintain their interest in our club by effectively forcing them to come back by giving them free entry for next season would have been a fantastic example to give, something completely different that no one else has done, and a PR huge positive as a result.

Otherwise what can you do? Will be off to renew shortly...it's our way of life and the club know it so take advantage of it. But it is simply wrong that they think they can provide a service, get paid up front for it, and then not deliver it nor give any money back. We should all have MUG stamped on our forehead when we next go to a match because that is basically what we all are for allowing this to happen and subconsciously accepting it all for the love of our football club.

Season Ticket Rebates

Oxford United supporters who held a 2019/20 Season Ticket are now able to to decide how to use the rebate amount for the five cancelled fixtures at the end of the campaign.

www.oufc.co.uk

They are just like anybody else and offered a refund, if you decided to not request one that is fine and laudable, but to say they didn't and somehow have got away with ticket money in some highway robbery is frankly just not factually correct.

 

[southwarkox]

One thing that's confused me - "price freezes across the board when you renew before 5pm on Wednesday 30th June"

This suggests prices will be higher if you don't renew immediately, however it appears the prices have been frozen for everyone, not just renewals.

I do think there should be a (small) financial incentive for renewals

 

[Jason N]

One thing that's confused me - "price freezes across the board when you renew before 5pm on Wednesday 30th June"

This suggests prices will be higher if you don't renew immediately, however it appears the prices have been frozen for everyone, not just renewals.

I do think there should be a (small) financial incentive for renewals

I'm assuming if you don't renew before the end of the month, you won't get the 2 cup games and a chance of the golden ticket?

 

[RyanioBirdio]

The point about paying for Playoff tickets is tricky - if they had not been charged for then the fans who were unable to go (I believe around 1000 didn't apply for tickets?), may have felt doubly disadvantaged, firstly by not being able to attend the match, for whatever reason, and secondly by missing out on the financial gesture.

What if people can’t attend the two cup games this coming season while others can? Why is it fair that some got their “free” games while others lost out and couldn’t carry anything over? The principle is basically the same, so I’m not sure it holds.

It seems that the club pocketed the cash for the in-demand playoff match at full whack, despite every last person attending already overpaying all season long, and are offering already heavily discounted and undesirable cup games instead, most likely knowing that the uptake will be fairly low. Plus it will seemingly be offset financially by removing people’s club shop voucher anyway.

It is what it is. My personal opinion is that the club have come up a little short morally, others seem to feel that legally it’s all fine and so that’s the end of it. I think that as with most things in life, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

 

[southwarkox]

I'm assuming if you don't renew before the end of the month, you won't get the 2 cup games and a chance of the golden ticket?

You are correct, but that's not what's said. It specifically mentions price freezes... I hate marketers