Liverpool FC Forum

CHESHIRE-RED55 wrote:I agree with Rush Job we are paying for the club and for those w@nkers £1,000,000 expenses bill.

Igor Zidane wrote:Another slap in the face for fans ,from our great owners.

Statement from SPIRIT OF SHANKLY. Ripped from RAWK.


Belong". The motto for Liverpool Football Club's new Membership Scheme. Well what if you already 'Belong'? Do you have to cough up £29 or £20, to continue to belong? Or can you still belong, but anyone new who wants to belong, has to pay for the privilege?

The whole idea of someone belonging to a club is fair and right. But to pay for it, where is the fairness in that? We all belong to Liverpool Football Club. From the minute you were born and had your first picture taken with a Liverpool scarf. Or from when your Dad, Mum, Aunty, Uncle, Cousin, started taking you to the match or when you watched MOTD and realised there was only one club for you. The point is, you didn't start belonging, when you paid YOUR club, a certain amount of money, a membership fee, each year. So why is Liverpool Football Club, a religion to most fans, now charging for you to 'Belong'?

The "benefits" of this new scheme mean improved access to tickets, in the form of a Ticket Exchange. What about existing fan card holders? Do we have improved access to tickets, such as Window Sales, an Improved Internet service for buying tickets online, or an improved telephone system for buying tickets? How much access do fans get to tickets via this exchange for their fee? Will those subscribing to the new Membership Scheme receive any priority over existing fan card holders? How will the PTS scheme be affected? Will they still have the same number of tickets available to them?

For your £29 membership fee, you can join the Season Ticket Waiting List.  A list that up until this point was free to join. Can people still join the waiting list for free, or do you have to pay to join it? If so what about all those fans presently on the waiting list, what happens to them?

This Membership, is replacing fan cards. You can no longer buy a £3.50 fan card. So any new fans that previously weren't able to go to the match and haven't got a fan card have to pay £29 a season if they want to realistically even consider going to a game, young kids wanting to start going to games, have got to pay £20 a season. This is just for the CHANCE of a ticket, to be able to record loyalty. Existing fan card holders – well no one seems to be willing to say what exactly will happen to them. What we do know is that an S.O.S Committee Member contacted the Ticket Office about this proposed scheme a few weeks ago. We were told that fan cards would be ok for the 2008/09 season, but not for the 2009/10 season. So what happens to fan card holders then? A card that was described as being the only card you will ever need, is it now going to be rendered useless? They said so. It means everyone has to cough up to stand a chance of getting a ticket. Have they decided sensibly against this? Have they any intention of informing us?

The Club’s very own charter says this about fancards:

“The Fan Card is the only card that you will need with Liverpool Football Club”

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/club/charter.htm
See the section on fan cards. It tells you this. So why the change?

Did the club consult with supporters? If it has – and in the charter it claims to on a regular basis – then can it release the minutes of those discussions? Do you know of anyone who has taken part in them on this issue? If it hasn’t consulted with supporters, well, why not? We’re the ones who go through the ticketing rigmarole week in, week out. We’re the ones frustrated by the ticket office, by losing tickets to touts. Is it in any way arduous to actually remember simple values of customer service or to carry out surveys? The club calls upon the twelfth man when it requires it and then casts him aside from its thoughts other than as a minor irritant to be bled dry at all other times.

What about Season Ticket Holders? They currently pay a minimum of £650 per season. Do they get the same benefits of this new membership? Will the receive the discounts and the special offers?

There are so many questions that the club need to answer. So many questions that we, as fans, need answers to. We will be asking the club for these answers, a letter has been sent to Rick Parry, and to the Ticket Office Manager, asking for answers to all these questions.

The only answer we have for definite is cost. £29 for adults, £20 for children. Per season. So a family of 4 must pay £98. Per Season. Just to give themselves a chance of getting a ticket in a season. A young supporter, living in the shadows of Anfield, who might want to attend just one game, as they can't afford it regularly, now has to pay £20, just for the 'privilege' of applying for a ticket. This is even before fans have to consider the rises in ticket prices, of £3 per ticket, per game.

From a one off payment of £3.50 to £29 per season. With an estimated
250,000 people holding fan cards, that is £7,250,000 extra revenue per season.
The cynic in us, might wonder exactly where that money will be going.

This isn't like Barcelona, where they have members, who pay their money and have a say. This is pay your money, maybe get a ticket to take your seat and be happy with it.

We have also learnt today, that the Development Association, who provide tickets to fans (which they pay for) who sell pools on behalf of the club (http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/tickets/devassoc/ ), are to lose their allocation of tickets. Supporters Clubs, many of whom have fans who come every week from all over the country, are to have their ticket allocations cut in half. Where will these tickets go? To Corporates. So less tickets for fans who go every week, everywhere. More tickets for those who swell the clubs coffers, and want to turn up for a “jolly good afternoon of sport”.

So we will ask the questions. We will get the answers. And we’ll help the club do what it seems to find so hard – tell supporters what is going on. But in the meantime, why don’t you ask the club. Or if the club ignore us, let’s ask the Liverpool Echo to ask questions on our behalf. Email Tony Barrett - [email=tony.barrett@liverpoolecho.co.uk.]tony.barrett@liverpoolecho.co.uk.[/email] Lets put pressure on them to ask questions to those who make these decisions, and lets pressure the club in to answering OUR questions.

Spirit Of Shankly

This makes my blood boil. With every passing day I'm detesting football that little bit more.

We have this and we have a footballer offered a 4 year deal worth £7m per year holding out for a fifth year. Then sky kindly write to me and tell me that they're putting my subscription up again.

stmichael wrote:

Igor Zidane wrote:Another slap in the face for fans ,from our great owners.

Statement from SPIRIT OF SHANKLY. Ripped from RAWK.


Belong". The motto for Liverpool Football Club's new Membership Scheme. Well what if you already 'Belong'? Do you have to cough up £29 or £20, to continue to belong? Or can you still belong, but anyone new who wants to belong, has to pay for the privilege?

The whole idea of someone belonging to a club is fair and right. But to pay for it, where is the fairness in that? We all belong to Liverpool Football Club. From the minute you were born and had your first picture taken with a Liverpool scarf. Or from when your Dad, Mum, Aunty, Uncle, Cousin, started taking you to the match or when you watched MOTD and realised there was only one club for you. The point is, you didn't start belonging, when you paid YOUR club, a certain amount of money, a membership fee, each year. So why is Liverpool Football Club, a religion to most fans, now charging for you to 'Belong'?

The "benefits" of this new scheme mean improved access to tickets, in the form of a Ticket Exchange. What about existing fan card holders? Do we have improved access to tickets, such as Window Sales, an Improved Internet service for buying tickets online, or an improved telephone system for buying tickets? How much access do fans get to tickets via this exchange for their fee? Will those subscribing to the new Membership Scheme receive any priority over existing fan card holders? How will the PTS scheme be affected? Will they still have the same number of tickets available to them?

For your £29 membership fee, you can join the Season Ticket Waiting List.  A list that up until this point was free to join. Can people still join the waiting list for free, or do you have to pay to join it? If so what about all those fans presently on the waiting list, what happens to them?

This Membership, is replacing fan cards. You can no longer buy a £3.50 fan card. So any new fans that previously weren't able to go to the match and haven't got a fan card have to pay £29 a season if they want to realistically even consider going to a game, young kids wanting to start going to games, have got to pay £20 a season. This is just for the CHANCE of a ticket, to be able to record loyalty. Existing fan card holders – well no one seems to be willing to say what exactly will happen to them. What we do know is that an S.O.S Committee Member contacted the Ticket Office about this proposed scheme a few weeks ago. We were told that fan cards would be ok for the 2008/09 season, but not for the 2009/10 season. So what happens to fan card holders then? A card that was described as being the only card you will ever need, is it now going to be rendered useless? They said so. It means everyone has to cough up to stand a chance of getting a ticket. Have they decided sensibly against this? Have they any intention of informing us?

The Club’s very own charter says this about fancards:

“The Fan Card is the only card that you will need with Liverpool Football Club”

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/club/charter.htm
See the section on fan cards. It tells you this. So why the change?

Did the club consult with supporters? If it has – and in the charter it claims to on a regular basis – then can it release the minutes of those discussions? Do you know of anyone who has taken part in them on this issue? If it hasn’t consulted with supporters, well, why not? We’re the ones who go through the ticketing rigmarole week in, week out. We’re the ones frustrated by the ticket office, by losing tickets to touts. Is it in any way arduous to actually remember simple values of customer service or to carry out surveys? The club calls upon the twelfth man when it requires it and then casts him aside from its thoughts other than as a minor irritant to be bled dry at all other times.

What about Season Ticket Holders? They currently pay a minimum of £650 per season. Do they get the same benefits of this new membership? Will the receive the discounts and the special offers?

There are so many questions that the club need to answer. So many questions that we, as fans, need answers to. We will be asking the club for these answers, a letter has been sent to Rick Parry, and to the Ticket Office Manager, asking for answers to all these questions.

The only answer we have for definite is cost. £29 for adults, £20 for children. Per season. So a family of 4 must pay £98. Per Season. Just to give themselves a chance of getting a ticket in a season. A young supporter, living in the shadows of Anfield, who might want to attend just one game, as they can't afford it regularly, now has to pay £20, just for the 'privilege' of applying for a ticket. This is even before fans have to consider the rises in ticket prices, of £3 per ticket, per game.

From a one off payment of £3.50 to £29 per season. With an estimated
250,000 people holding fan cards, that is £7,250,000 extra revenue per season.
The cynic in us, might wonder exactly where that money will be going.

This isn't like Barcelona, where they have members, who pay their money and have a say. This is pay your money, maybe get a ticket to take your seat and be happy with it.

We have also learnt today, that the Development Association, who provide tickets to fans (which they pay for) who sell pools on behalf of the club (http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/tickets/devassoc/ ), are to lose their allocation of tickets. Supporters Clubs, many of whom have fans who come every week from all over the country, are to have their ticket allocations cut in half. Where will these tickets go? To Corporates. So less tickets for fans who go every week, everywhere. More tickets for those who swell the clubs coffers, and want to turn up for a “jolly good afternoon of sport”.

So we will ask the questions. We will get the answers. And we’ll help the club do what it seems to find so hard – tell supporters what is going on. But in the meantime, why don’t you ask the club. Or if the club ignore us, let’s ask the Liverpool Echo to ask questions on our behalf. Email Tony Barrett - [email=tony.barrett@liverpoolecho.co.uk.]tony.barrett@liverpoolecho.co.uk.[/email] Lets put pressure on them to ask questions to those who make these decisions, and lets pressure the club in to answering OUR questions.

Spirit Of Shankly

This makes my blood boil. With every passing day I'm detesting football that little bit more.

We have this and we have a footballer offered a 4 year deal worth £7m per year holding out for a fifth year. Then sky kindly write to me and tell me that they're putting my subscription up again.

yep i wrote a post while back saying how much football is turning into what it is today i to am falling out of love of what football is over paid over rated.

Dont get me wrong i still watch it as i love football in its purest form but how long i will keep it up is well as saying goes with the string.

Will we ever seen football back in the days when it was about football i dont think we ever will.

Sad i am just very sad atm about football.   

NANNY RED wrote:Good read


News Features

Soccer punch

There are, believe it or not, more hated Yanks overseas than George W. Bush: the Americans who own European football teams

By STEVEN STARK  |  July 16, 2008  |  Recommended By 2 People

When Barack Obama arrives in England in a few weeks on his celebrated European tour, he’ll probably disembark assuming that George W. Bush is the most despised American in Britain.
If so, he’ll be wrong. Currently, sitting atop the most-hated Yank chart is Tom Hicks, co-owner of the Liverpool soccer club and a Texas businessman who ran with the same crowd as the incumbent president when Bush was governor of the Lone Star state.

Hicks is part of a growing wave of Americans who have purchased English soccer teams (including the owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Malcolm Glazer, who now also owns controlling interest in the world’s most recognizable soccer team, Manchester United), convinced that owning a leading franchise in the top league of the world’s most popular game is a sure path to riches. Maybe so, but in the process Hicks — and, to a lesser extent, other American millionaires — managed to infuriate the locals.

Liverpool FC•Barack Obama•George W. Bush•more >>

To be sure, it’s not just an American gold rush. The owner of the Chelsea club is a Russian businessman — one of the richest men in the world — named Roman Abramovich. And Manchester City’s squad was recently purchased by Thaksin Shinawatra, the disgraced former prime minister of Thailand.

But such purchases don’t tend to rile the Brits nearly as much because  those men, extraordinarily wealthy as they are, have demonstrated a willingness to pour hundreds of millions into their new clubs. In contrast, some of the Americans have been accused of  being too willing to use debt to fund their investment, making the team appear to be subject to the whims of the market — which, last anyone looked, isn’t doing so well.

What’s even worse from the locals’ perspective is that men like Hicks — who also owns MLB’s Texas Rangers and the NHL’s Dallas Stars — don’t seem to appreciate the traditions of a club like Liverpool, which has a place in the city and the nation’s heart is similar to that of the Boston Red Sox . . . times a hundred. That’s why Liverpudlians are practically begging for a group from Dubai to buy out Hicks and Co., and there has even been talk of Liverpool’s fans trying to pool their money and make a bid of their own.

Arrogant Americans
What has Hicks done wrong? To American eyes accustomed to the George Steinbrenners of the sports world, not much, as the team continues to perform relatively well on the field. But to apoplectic English and Liverpool fans, to whom tradition is vital, Hicks couldn’t be a more bumbling, stumbling embarrassment. In fact, when his son attended a game in February and went to a pub afterwards, he was spit upon, had beer thrown at him, and had to be rescued.

Hicks and his co-owner, Canadian George Gillett Jr. (owner of the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens), have publicly quarreled on more than one occasion. It was reported that Hicks had sounded out another potential manager (coach) for the team, undermining the current and highly respected skipper, Rafa Benitez. He even asked one of the club’s most solid links to the past, chief executive Rick Parry, to resign, on grounds he was disloyal (Parry refused). The always-excitable English press has occasionally taken to calling the team “Hicksville.”

But the final straw, for many fans, came two months later. While Liverpool played its key game of the year — a Champions League clash with Arsenal — Hicks stayed home in Texas to watch the Rangers on opening day. “I would never miss our home opener,” he was quoted as saying, “but I will have the Liverpool game on my TV.” That, of course, drove Liverpool fans bananas.

None of this, clearly, rises to the level of a foreign-policy crisis, of course. But it is indicative of a clash of cultures — of which Obama should be aware. Having lived in Europe recently, I can attest to the fact that most Europeans do like individual Americans (though not President Bush). But when they think about the United States, what does tend to irritate them is the arrogance of some Americans who convey the idea that everything stars-and-stripes is superior.

European soccer — especially in Liverpool — is something close to a sacred rite. What Bush buddy Hicks has done is akin to walking into a church, lighting a cigarette, and cracking open a beer. Note to Obama: the best way to reach out to our British friends and improve Anglo-American relations would be to get Hicks to sell the team.

JoeTerp wrote:currently the demand for tickets is clearly MUCH greater than the amount of tickets available per each match. In an economic system of perfect information, LFC would know the most amount of money each fan was willing to pay for a ticket, and then sell in small installments starting with really high prices and working their way down until all 44,000 tickets are sold. This isn't exactly feasable, especially because most fans would just wait until it dropped more and then take the risk of not being able to secure one in time (although that would readjust itself over time because the people who waited beyond their max that they would pay and missed out on tickets would end up buying them the next time at an earlier stage to ensure that they get to go, making it more scarce at the cheaper stages, which means more people will miss out and be willing to pay closer to their max willingness to pay the next time.

Anyway I think this is a plan to get away with not raising ticket prices, and to weed out people who just put their name on the waiting list for the hell of it. With hopefully a new and improved capacity coming, there should be a lot of room for people to be coming off of the waiting list and its important to know how many of them are serious.  What type of people are more likely to only go to one game? The obvious answer to me would be OOT day trippers that are just barely classified as fans. This scheme to me seems to try and weed them out, because the only way it becomes worth it is if you are planning on attending multiple games, and the fact that you have already paid for the right to attend you are going to be more willing to try and go  and make it worth your money