As a lifelong fan of Gillingham Football Club, I’ve paid out my hard earned money every year to follow my club. Sometimes it’s not really been a sensible move to shell out such a sizeable amount of money in one go, but I’ve done so nonetheless. Indeed, I put myself further into debt by buying my season ticket for this season. I did so because I’m a fan and I want to follow my club. 
I’m moving house next month and I’m getting married at the end of the year. As you’d expect, money is therefore pretty tight, even though I have a decent job. To get news of such unwarranted and unfair increases in season ticket prices is hardly what I need right now – and I’m sure there are many other fans out there who, in their particular situations, also feel the same way.
As far as I can see, all we’ve received for our commitment and early investment this season are empty promises. We were promised that we would never have a season like last season again. That promise, if I remember correctly, was made in a statement by our chairman after our last gasp escape last season. That promise has sadly not been met, we’ve been every bit as bad as we were last season, at some points even worse – and despite this, we’ve now been rewarded for our loyalty during the dullest two seasons we’ve endured for quite some time by a season ticket price hike. Well, thanks a lot!
Purchasing a season ticket requires a great deal of commitment from individuals. As fans, we’re asked to fork out not inconsiderable sums of money before we know what sort of season lies ahead. We’re told how things will improve in the coming season – how we’re a forward-thinking club and how, together, we can make strides towards a better future. However, it seems the only people making a serious commitment to this venture are the fans. I expect the club to deliver at least the same amount of commitment as me, and the rest of the fans who pay their money to follow the club. Sadly, I’m of the belief that the club has let us all down in that respect. In fact, I’m beginning to think they are taking the Michael somewhat with their treatment of season ticket holders, of which I am one.
Contrary to some of the rhetoric we’ve heard from club officials over the past 12 months, Gillingham fans do NOT have high expectations. Despite hearing talk from the chairman and our former manager of squads being capable of automatic promotion, or talk of playoff ambition for this season, the fans have kept their feet firmly on the ground. Nobody I’ve spoken to has even thought we were remotely capable of achieving a playoff position this season. We have, however, demanded nothing less than 100% commitment to what is our local club. Sadly, it seems that mismanagement has cost our club dearly – and it seems that yet again, the innocent party in the whole episode, the fans, are the ones being asked to foot the bill.
The release of next year’s season ticket prices was rather craftily timed, you’ll notice. In past seasons, the prices have been given out at the turnstiles. When you consider what the chairman has decided to do to prices for next season, is anybody really surprised that there were no such leaflets handed out to fans this season? I expect the chairman is all too aware that the fans would not be happy – and he didn’t want that to spoil the atmosphere in what was an important game (as they all are at this stage).
When I found out about the ticket price hike, I was both angry and gobsmacked in equal measure. My seat in Block C of the Medway Stand (Lower) cost me £350 last season, as I renewed in March. To renew at the same time this year will cost me £418. That’s a £68 increase on this season.
When you consider the joke of a football team we’ve had to endure for the last two seasons, that increase is simply an insult. Club officials will point to the fact that fans can renew in February for a lower price, but to ask fans to find that sort of money in such a short space of time (prices were released on February 12th, leaving just two weeks to find the money. In addition, the February price of £385 is considerably higher than last season – and based on what we’ve seen over the last two seasons, we’re unlikely to get anything vaguely approaching value for money either.
To get a feel for our ticket prices in the marketplace in which the club operates, I had a look at Charlton Athletic’s website and found ticket details for their forthcoming match with Leicester City in the FA Cup. A seat in Block G of the East Stand, which is the same position in the stadium in comparison to Block C (Lower) of the Medway Stand and found the ticket price for that match is £20. To buy a seat for Block C of the Medway Stand for this season’s home game with Leicester (a AAA game) cost the fans £30.
The opposition is the same, the seats are the same, but Gillingham’s facilities are inferior, Gillingham’s pitch is inferior, Gillingham’s team is inferior, Gillingham’s standard of play is inferior, yet Gillingham fans have to pay £10 more for that seat than a Charlton fan.
That, in a nutshell, illustrates the problem. Our football club is asking fans to pay over the odds for a vastly inferior product. While there are some football fans who will quite happily get on the Valley Express and watch Charlton instead, the vast majority of fans are totally loyal to their club and want to watch their club week-in, week-out. I believe that the increases in season ticket prices clearly show that the club is all too aware of this – and they’re taking advantage of this to the full. In my mind, increasing prices when the quality of the product has dropped markedly is totally out of order.
Another thing that has left me amazed is the cheek of the club to offer poor excuses for raising prices when in all likelihood we will be playing League One football next season. Talk of disappointing season ticket revenue is a bit of red herring in my opinion. The problem is the quality of the product. To put it in the most basic of terms, the football on display has been crap. Aimless long ball, with nothing resembling entertainment on view. In our current situation, the fans are leaving these thoughts to one side in the hope that we can simply battle our way to safety. But the truth of the matter is we’ve played abysmally for the last two years – and that, over and above anything else, is the reason why ticket revenue has gone down.
Season ticket holders may have increased slightly, but what must these new season ticket holders be thinking tonight with the news that they will now be asked to fork out even more to watch their side next season, despite having to endure one of the worst seasons in years, both for results and, perhaps more importantly, for entertainment? The pay-on-the-day fans are voting with their feet too, and the verdict is pretty unanimous. They will come to watch a side that is playing well, but they aren’t prepared to fork out such high ticket prices to watch a bad side.
If only there was some sort of encouragement for fans to attend matches these days. Sadly there is precious little. Even derby matches, which often attract better gates, have been drab, boring affairs. I write this column after watching a dismal 0-0 draw with Millwall, where the only quality we showed was the ability to hoof the ball up in the air and give away possession.
The match grading system has also been a failure, as the big games, which might help attract fans to the ground, are massively overpriced, meaning even some of those fans who usually go to games choose to give the big ones a miss. To put it bluntly, it is impossible to justify paying £24 to sit in a roofless stand with poor facilities to watch a side play dismal football in a match they are, more likely than not, going to lose, while failing to provide a performance worthy of the name. Of course, the facilities are markedly better than the BMS in the other areas of the ground, but then the prices increase too. It would cost £30 to sit in my seat for an AAA game, which, regardless of the opposition, is an insult when you consider just how bad a football team we have at the moment.
If there were signs that the money from the fans was being ploughed into the side, then the attitude of fans might well be better. However, there is clearly a sizeable group of supporters, who can be found all over the ground, who are resentful of the way the club is treating the fans.
Money seems to be disappearing into loan repayments on the Medway Stand and conferencing & banqueting facilities, while the actual product the fans are paying to see, the team, has been largely neglected. We’ve got Conferencing facilities – and, at times, conference-standard football. In footballing terms, we’ve gone back four or five years in the last two seasons.
My view on this is clear. To charge top-dollar prices for a sub-standard product is fleecing the fans. The club is taking liberties with the loyalty of the fans – and that, quite simply, is out of order.