I have £1420 stacked in bundles in front of me as I prepare to go and buy our two season tickets tomorrow. The trouble is I keep looking at it and thinking that it is one hell of a lot of money and there are a lot of other things I could do with it. In terms of entertainment it is the largest amount of money I spend on one thing. I go to the theatre and to shows and spend no where near this amount of money. I keep looking at this money and asking myself if watching the Saints is really the best way to spend this money? Perhaps I should stick it in an ISA.
If I lived in Southampton and didn't work some Saturdays, I would be camped out there already. You have to weigh up the pleasure you get from watching Saints (then subtract the misery) and compare it to anything else that you could buy. You know (and we know) that you are going to get that season ticket.
You'll get 2% at best from an ISA, so forget that. If you can afford to go to shows regularly, and also buy two season tickets, you are an extremely lucky man. Give thanks for your good fortune to whatever god you believe in, and go down to St Marys with a smile on your face.
I saw Cabaret at the Mayflower and it was superb. It cost less than a match day ticket to watch Saints play Stoke or West Ham and neither game would I refer to as superb. On a more serious note is Nicola's insistence on charging a handling fee for card payments creating an increased security risk for fans and the ticket office as both are handling large sums of cash?
I travel nearly 350 miles for every home game and I told everybody that this season would be my last as too many games are played on a Sunday and quite frankly when you add in fuel, food and drink its getting too expensive. However, I sat there at the game against Stoke and thought this can't be my last game as a STH can it? No it can't
We just can't forget those Adkinisms.... I have been having the same thought recently. £700 - what could I do with that? A new Telescope? (don't ask), a new computer? a holiday? (well the wife and daughter can pay for their own..) However, as Fran says, if you take the pleasure (minus the misery), it is quite good value for money....
In the event of Saints ever playing against the likes of Bayern Munich or Real Madrid you might regret having the priority for buying tickets that a season ticket will give you.
I'd rather have spent 90 minutes at the dentist than endure the loss at home to Sunderland last December. But other games more than made up for it. What show or movie could provide the dramatic twists and emotional roller-coaster of the Man Utd game? An afternoon I would hate to have missed, despite walking out feeling like I'd been shot.
I have friends who quite happily smoke way over that figure a year. You could get on a plane to somewhere hot, lie on a beach and eat, drink as much as you like for a fortnight. Maybe go windsurfing while you're out there, but then you have to wait a year before you can do it again. It maybe paying £1,400 to watch Lambert and friends for about 30 hours but I can't think of a better alternative
I saw us lose at home to Spurs, QPR and West Brom. If I had a season ticket I would have seen us beat Liverpool, City and Chelsea. The home draw to West Ham wouldn't have been the highlight.
I saw Saints twice this season... Wigan at home and Sunderland at home the last 4 times I have been to St Marys we have lost... (Bristol City and Reading last season)
I have a season ticket but couldn't get To the Man U, Man C, or Chelsea games. so the value of my ticket was arguably reduced. I can remember sitting in a car in Ireland listening to the commentary of the Chelsea game with my fingers crossed.
I was seriously considering not renewing this year , but I will . It seems the magic is leaving Football ( money killing it ) , just as it has very nearly done in my first love of sport F1 ( Money and big manufacturers killing it ) , but I will give it one more year .
Its the best investment known to man. Would give up beer and the wife before my beloved season ticket?
Full Season Ticket Information Pack: http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/documents/season-ticket-information-pack148-831075.pdf
When I saw that the instalment plan was interest free I got quite excited then I saw the £50 administration fee and sighed. I thought I was going to be able to hang onto my money a little longer. When I have bought individual match tickets this season I have always paid cash so that I don't get stung by the handling charge. Does this apply with season tickets if I pay with a card?