Why? Surely you mean the PL should be? Then explain why exactly. It'll tell us if you understand the mechanics of sponsorship. They, along with...wait for it...EVERY OTHER CLUB...have done what they were told to by the PL. There are genuine reasons to complain about things around our club, things the Trust should have been concentrating on. Instead we get Mister Personal Vendetta writing his usual snidey digs and suggestions it's just us as the voice of the Trust.
I'd blame both the Premier League and the club. If the Premier League had anything about them they would have told Sky and BT that Virgin had made this offer and see what they come up with - Sky or BT might have offered the same and then the fans get what they want, sponsors aren't annoyed and the Premier League doesn't take any criticism. I still think its a weak excuse from the Premier League as commercial relationships have stopped fans from having more affordable tickets and it's not like Virgin are directly taking anything off Sky or BT from this other than a bit of publicity. Or if City had anything about them they would have subsided the tickets or done free travel like they suggested - it would have cost them about £5k which is nothing and would have helped the team by having more fans there - exactly what they say they want to do. All it shows is City aren't willing to put in enough effort into helping fans support the team. You defend them for doing what the Premier League says but then they directly ignore Premier League rules on concessions, its a very convenient excuse for the club.
Give it up mate. You're flogging a dead horse. It was a sly opportunistic move by virgin. The fsf come out of it poorly for allowing themself to be used.
So the fsf shouldn't welcome attempts to help football fans get to games? Why couldn't Hull City embrace the spirit of the offer and help their fans get to Stoke by offering a ticket subsidy? How about the club being proactive for once and actually encourage fans to support the team?
Twenty's Plenty is a key campaign for the FSF, this promotion has given them massive publicity and achieved £20 away tickets, albeit just for one weekend. I've been dealing with them on an unrelated matter today and I can assure you they don't feel used, far from it.
Somewhere some **** is giving himself a pat on the back for judging demand 'just right' and having no empty seats in our section. He'll probably see this 100% take up of tickets as vindication of his judgment.
You'll only pay £20 for your game down here, as Virgin have done it for every away fan at St Marys this season. Kinda strange to do it for away fans rather than our own though. They've given us one game at £20 though, which is Chelsea... and the club only took 1,500 tickets, which is quite frankly ridiculous when it's probably our 2nd closest game after Bournemouth I'm assuming this indeed just them that have done that for that game rather than this initiative, as I only paid £20 for my ticket?
I disagree. I don't care if they get a bit of good publicity out of it, fair play to them, they're doing something good for the average fan in a time when fans are getting badly treated.
They're doing it to get publicity. I don't mind that either, but I understand why other businesses are reluctant to get involved and I don't blame them for taking that stance.
I'm not sure what you mean by other businesses? Sky/BT? Virgin spending £100k (or whatever figure it is) on subsidised tickets for a couple of weekends is a drop in the ocean compared to what Sky and BT pour into the game, it will have no impact on them. If they're that bothered by it then put the money up themselves and get some good publicity - sky making football affordable for fans would be a great headline for them. Or the clubs could have done it themselves for the same reason. I'm sure if the premier league and clubs wanted to help fans an arrangement could have been made, they're just not interested. Fans will still benefit, it's just a pain they've now got to do it by post when it could have been so easily done by the clubs, so I guess many might not bother with the hassle.
