[Ghostbuster]

What a spectacular own goal by the club on the price of match day and season-ticket prices. For the first time in years I was starting to feel positive about the future following Mr Khan’s takeover.
In my opinion, we have somewhere in-between 1000 & 1200 hard core supporters. (Doubled in ten years which is an achievement sometimes overlooked) We are all aware of the need to attract the further 800 to 1000 required to sustain a football league club. I thought the club had started this by offering £5 deals and offers on the three remaining games in order to bring these people on board. Some season-tickets holders begrudge people paying these low prices, when they have committed a lump-sum up front for discount; however I tend to look at the bigger picture and can see the reason the club would need these people.
However the decision to increase the season-tickets by such a large % has disgusted me (and I don’t use that word lightly.)It has been a hard slog being a Stanley fan during the past 4/5 years and this is not the way to treat us, although I appreciate there would be some increase. I am fortunate enough to be able to pay the new price but these are tough times especially in a town like Accrington, but I will have to think long and hard on this as a matter of principle.
Ilyas, when you talk about Rob and his team making these decisions, it leaves me cold, given their track record and if I thought that every avenue for extra revenue had been exhausted such as attracting the extra fans we need, corporate hospitality, ground sponsorship, shirt sponsorship, advertising etc. I would pay £500 or more per season to keep this club going.
This is clearly not the case and it is the loyal few who are being targeted and if you then start with ticketing deals next season, you will then further alienate us.
We cannot escape the geography surrounding Accrington Stanley, the two major clubs we are sandwiched between and what they have to offer the consumer for less. You would not expect someone to pay the same price for a Ford Ka from a second hand dealer when you could buy a new Audi ten miles away, and then ask to pay another £50 for the privilege of signing up for it in the portacabin.
We can’t keep making these shocking decisions as a club, as they are nails in our coffin. Accrington’s clubs have died before. Let’s use some of the knowledge our supporters have. Learn the lessons from the past. One idea would be to have a fans forum/think tank to work with the club. A team of say five people whom the supporters could feed ideas into and kick it off with people such as Macca and Steve Lowe and we could take turns on serving on this committee.
We stand on the verge of a bright future-don’t miss the opportunity. This should have been a promotion to attract 1000 season-ticket holders –family deals etc. What a waste-the people making these decisions would not last two minutes in any other industry!