Update after a long chat with JR & Shaun Lockwood

[gartom]

Hi all,
JR called me from South Africa yesterday, and apologised that I had nt been informed about the ST situation. JR tells me he is in a difficult position in that he wants to push the Rovers forward, he wants to sign players like Sharp & Shackell, he wants to sign Emmanuel Thomas for the rest of the season – but the finances are against him.
He regrets the March deadline, but he needs to know ASAP what the ST sales will be and what the budgets will look like for next year. I really believe he has not done his homework here – and told him so......I think a better timeline, maybe the 3 monthly spread of deposits would hqave been a real winner.....but the decision is made and therefore we need to look at helping fans.

I spoke to Danum Credit Union yesterday, and also to Zebra Finance – they specialise in ST loan deals for clubs such as Man Utd, Man City, and around 60 other football clubs. I also suggested that DRFC look at the range of 0% finance deals that are currently on offer by some credit card companies – so we can put together some real options as to how fans can buy in March and secure the lower priced deals.
JR & Shaun are concerned that we don’t get fans into debt by pushing finance options, but at least we should look at this as its something DRFC have overlooked,  and I have stressed the need for them to sort this ASAP just to help their customers!
Rob Clarke & I have spent some time on the phone trying to sort this, and Zebra reckon they could put something in place in 3 -4 days!  I will chase JR again today.
I also think that the March deadline might have to be stretched given the weight of animosity generated on the forum about the tight deadline – but I cant promise. It was poor marketing, I told JR  so  - and lets see how it spans out.

Rob and I wont let this drop. We will look at finance deals to urge DRFC to help our fans, and we will get a list of cheap finance options out to help our fans –if they want to look at this option.

Finally, I think we need to really market the Leeds Building Society  / Rovers Saver account for fans to make regular savings. So many don’t budget then moan about costs – yet the Rovers Saver helps the fans – and helps the club too.....’every little helps’ as one mega brand says – yet I think we don’t do enough to encourage folk to think about planning for the dreaded ST purchase.....

Rob and I will look at the options today and post an update later this evening. I welcome your constructive comments folks!
Cheers, Gareth

[bobjimwilly]

Thanks to you and Rob for your work so far on this Gareth. Just remember to keep doing your \"proper\" work as well; don't want you getting sacked over spending too much time helping the VSC instead of doing your job  

[steve@dcfd]

\"JR tells me he is in a difficult position in that he wants to push the Rovers forward, he wants to sign players like Sharp & Shackell, he wants to sign Emmanuel Thomas for the rest of the season – but the finances are against him.He regrets the March deadline, but he needs to know ASAP what the ST sales will be and what the budgets will look like for next year.\"

I honestly believe the response will not be good and therefore
signing of Sharp, Shackell and retaining Emmanuel Thomas will be against him. We need these players to attract more supporters to the club without them we will not progress in fact we will go backwards.Lets not forget without Sharp and Shackell we would not have had the run of winning games and our postion in the league would have been poor.

[danrover82]

Cheers Gartom for the update, I think we could do with putting to JR some of the following:

Non refundable deposit, this would give JR his indications of numbers for season tickets and freeze the prices for fans buying.

Direct Debit Scheme, this would work where few tickets are only distributed from the fans season ticket upon successful payments. This would give the fans the same benefits and the same seats all season as a ticket holder. I believe this could be done through paypal at no cost to the club and tickets could be picked up!

Updating the membership scheme, where by people can pay per game but reserve their chosen seat until a set deadline before each game the club would make more moent this way for the membership and the fans dont feel the burden as much and have the benefits of ST.

I have to agree with JR to some degree, I think the loan options could and probably would be seen as irresponsible lending, no?

What if, some families who have had credit problems through loss of work etc, (that would have passed for credit in the past with these companies, but wouldnt be able to this year due to circumstances and restraints by credit companies). They would have no options at all in getting a ticket at a lower price or later at a much higher one. I know a few people that would fall into this category. Its the familes that need the most help I feel.

I appreciate that JR needs to know numbers but contracts with Direct Debits and Non refundable deposits would be a fairer way and promote a better image for the club then the, get in to debt culture to fund your luxury, that could be misread by promoting such finance companies for ST loans.

I look forward to hearing your updates.

[bigal]

I have not got a problem with the 50£ increase as i have had excellent value over last 2 seasons.If the early bird deadline was increased by a fortnight giving every one a better idea of what league we will be in next season that would be better and would not hurt the fiances of the club, on a brighter note we may be safe come end of march

[Filo]

bigal wrote:

I have not got a problem with the 50£ increase as i have had excellent value over last 2 seasons.If the early bird deadline was increased by a fortnight giving every one a better idea of what league we will be in next season that would be a better and would not hurt the fiances of the club, on a brighter note we may be safe come end of march

Reading that, I take it you`re going to ditch us if we get relegated?

[Filo]

Some of these credit cards offer 0% on purchases for 10 months!

moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/purchases/

[Thinwhiteduke]

Cheers for the info Gartom. Good to know you are on the case.

My situation, like many others, is simple. I have no objection to the prices whatsoever - it is simply the timescales involved.

The timescale has nothing to do with seeing what League we are playing in, that has no influence on my purchasing a season ticket, it is purely a cash flow issue.

Its this simple. End of March to renew - No season ticket for me, end of April to renew - My season ticket renewal guaranteed plus one for the first time for my little girl, and that aplies whether we are playing Championship or League One football.

[Filo]

gartom wrote:

He regrets the March deadline, but he needs to know ASAP what the ST sales will be and what the budgets will look like for next year.

Where there`s a will, there`s a way.

A £100-£150 non refundable deposit will give him an idea on what the budgets will look like for next year, thus giving people time to find the rest until say the end of May. People are not going to kiss goodbye to £100-£150 are they. It`s a difficult economic climate we are in here, surely a compromise can be reached for the good of the club and it`s supporters, it`s clearly not the price increase thats the problem, so lets see some movement DRFC!

[arsenal of the north as if]

dont hold your breath over this for to long.They have made there minds up and thats it end of.If this was to be untrue then i think they would have told Gartom so he could pass the info on.

[River Don]

The early deadline wouldn't have been a problem if they'd let people know in decent time there was going to be a change. They could have announced it months ago.

I suspect this whole idea was probably inspired by Sheffield Wednesday's recent announcement of a similar plan and they've rushed it through without giving the consequences enough thought. They've gone and shot themselves in the foot with this one.

[Old Popsider]

JR called me from South Africa yesterday, and apologised that I had nt been informed about the ST situation.

Probably too busy organising his seats at the World Cup to give too much thought about the dilemma his club admin people have put the supporters in.

I reckon the non-refundable £100 deposit is the better option for most people, this will give JR his indicated sales numbers reasonably accurately.

Gareth, please please get some kind of reply from John as to what he's going to do about the DRFC piss poor admin people.

[bigal]

Filo wrote:

bigal wrote:

I have not got a problem with the 50£ increase as i have had excellent value over last 2 seasons.If the early bird deadline was increased by a fortnight giving every one a better idea of what league we will be in next season that would be better and would not hurt the fiances of the club, on a brighter note we may be safe come end of march

Reading that, I take it you`re going to ditch us if we get relegated?

Don't know not made my mind up yet.Loose all our best players possibly manager no atmosphere due to lack of season ticket sales plus if i don't buy before April a price increase of £130 pound what would you do

[Filo]

bigal wrote:

Filo wrote:

bigal wrote:

I have not got a problem with the 50£ increase as i have had excellent value over last 2 seasons.If the early bird deadline was increased by a fortnight giving every one a better idea of what league we will be in next season that would be better and would not hurt the fiances of the club, on a brighter note we may be safe come end of march

Reading that, I take it you`re going to ditch us if we get relegated?

Don't know not made my mind up yet.Loose all our best players possibly manager no atmosphere due to lack of season ticket sales plus if i don't buy before April a price increase of £130 pound what would you do

I will be here next season regardless, in football you live with the downs as well as the ups!

[Thinwhiteduke]

bigal wrote:

Don't know not made my mind up yet.Loose all our best players possibly manager no atmosphere due to lack of season ticket sales plus if i don't buy before April a price increase of £130 pound what would you do

Always look on the bright side of life eh?

All I know is I want to watch Rovers regardless of who pulls on the shirt, who picks the team, or what tier they are playing in. Thats whats important to me as a supporter of this Club.

I just hope I can find away of cobbling together the required funds before the March 31 Early Bird deadline.

[redbrez]

when and if u get a deal can u put the information on a flyer or poster with prices of season tickets and i can put a load up at work and if other people do it at there place of work it might even get more people intrested who might not be rovers fans? it might help them that cant afford one plus drum up new customers?

[Glyn_Wigley]

gartom wrote:

JR & Shaun are concerned that we don’t get fans into debt by pushing finance options

They should have given us more bloody warning then, shouldn't they?

[Dagenham Rover]

The deposit idea is an excellent one noone is going to give up £100/150 unless they have really got to.

Earlybird deadline extend to the end of April as a compromise
or perhaps a combination of both?

[mpc123]

Just what I expected really , I was only having a conversation a couple of weeks ago wondering what was going to happen with season tickets. It had to happen sometime if we want to go further . JR has already stated his reasons and I think they are perfect , let the good times role and lets get behind them . A few options are available eg leeds building options and other credit options also the mobile phone www.drfcmobiles.co.uk website should have next years season tickets on soon so if you are getting a new mobile why not get a season ticket with it.

Come on Rovers!!!!!

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Filo wrote:

bigal wrote:

Filo wrote:

bigal wrote:

I have not got a problem with the 50£ increase as i have had excellent value over last 2 seasons.If the early bird deadline was increased by a fortnight giving every one a better idea of what league we will be in next season that would be better and would not hurt the fiances of the club, on a brighter note we may be safe come end of march

Reading that, I take it you`re going to ditch us if we get relegated?

Don't know not made my mind up yet.Loose all our best players possibly manager no atmosphere due to lack of season ticket sales plus if i don't buy before April a price increase of £130 pound what would you do

I will be here next season regardless, in football you live with the downs as well as the ups!

Damn right, I have enjoyed the lower leagues more than the CCC at times to be honest.  I find it disgraceful that a mid table Championship side has been booed and players who got us promoted have received abuse.  That's been most frustrating for me in this league, last season we weren't as good, but the support was better, I enjoyed that more than this season.

[jmt]

i'm a bit gutted about all this,the board seem to be too far removed from the everyday grind
most of the doncaster population are in.
doncaster is a financially depressed area, even in the best economic climate, but given the last year
and the next two years ahead, i find this increase silly at best.

to move drfc \"onto the next level\" requires more than just better players, the club has to invest in the fans equally. we need to attract the floaters for more than the odd big or bank holiday games.

why oh why can the club not do a deal, like huddersfield did, say if the fans bought 11500-12000
season tickets before the end of the season we could have them  50 POUND cheaper than this season,
how many times this year have we had more bums on seats? not many if any.

here's the wierd bit, i'm not against paying more, as we probably watch the best football in the
league, but it's a short term answer, to a long term problem.

[MrFrost]

mpc123 wrote:

Just what I expected really , I was only having a conversation a couple of weeks ago wondering what was going to happen with season tickets. It had to happen sometime if we want to go further . JR has already stated his reasons and I think they are perfect , let the good times role and lets get behind them . A few options are available eg leeds building options and other credit options also the mobile phone www.drfcmobiles.co.uk website should have next years season tickets on soon so if you are getting a new mobile why not get a season ticket with it.

Come on Rovers!!!!!

Nice plug.

[RTID75]

Is John concerned about the (probably quite high) chance of a massive backfire to this plan? I'd be very worried given the amount of people on here who've said they can't renew in time and have said they won't. What happens if that eventuality does arise? Are all signing ideas scrapped? Do we lose our other best players? Do we lose our manager? Do we (the fans) get blamed again?

Some simple thought, careful planning and good ideas (such as the non refundable deposit idea) submitted to the fans (in good time) by those whose idea this was could have made the situation so much better for fans and club. Saying 'this is what's happening, get your money out quick, else tough' is not conducive to good fan relations, neither is it at all good for the chances of getting the required money in. It's another easily avoided Rovers marketing cock up, only this could turn into the biggest yet.

Oh, and I (we?) still have no renewal letter from the club. If it weren't for this forum I wouldn't have known...

It's all very depressing.

[mpc123]

yes all the ways to help afford a season ticket were plugged.

[MrFrost]

So taking out an over priced mobile phone contract is the way forward?

[mpc123]

why over priced??

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

MrFrost wrote:

So taking out an over priced mobile phone contract is the way forward?

I'll introduce a new word for you - Positive.  You could be getting something for free and you'd still probably moan, try being positive for a change.  If it's not the airport closing, Rovers getting relegated, having no season ticket holders it's overpriced phones, are you ever happy?

[BobG]

It must be catching BFYP. There's another one on here, just like that, who vents his depression at us all most nights.

BobG

[mpc123]

I find it crazy , you can go and get a phone from the shops for say £35 per month and get a free phone and be happy with all its free mins etc etc but then rovers mobile site gives you the same and a free season ticket and still a moan . Yes if you dont need a new phone then fair enough but to yet again be negative about something that is again another thing that the club wanted to do to help especially in these times. People are changing their mobiles all the time so to get nothing with it or a free rovers season ticket is not a bad offer you know surely even in your book

[mushRTID]

A free season ticket?