Reserved Kids' Seats £25

[La Scimmia Rossa]

Even simpler from Woodstock Jag. Good idea.

 

Can i suggest any JH season ticket holder who wants to go to the NS pays an extra 25 quid too.

I mean,all those premium seats that are going unused?

 

Can i make the point again. I helped fund the JH Stand. With thousands of others. I've sat in the same area, with the same group of friends for 20 years. My son has now become part of that group. It's how football works for most people. Last season there was no issue whatsoever. Now i , and many others, need to pay 25 quid extra to ensure we sit together in a half empty stadium?

 

Pay 25 quid or move seat. Where's the solidarity lads? That disappeared pretty quickly.

 

OneThistle my ars* . Kids For Free? Terms and conditions apply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[La Scimmia Rossa]

Oh and it's interesting how young Thistle fans become "your wean" or "your kid". How about, your fellow supporter?

[La Scimmia Rossa]

Email sent to Ian Maxwell. I nicked WJ's idea( hope you dont mind!)

 

"Hi Ian, hope you are well.

 

I've just read the announcement re the above.

 

Last season was my son's first. It was absolutely brilliant. As you know, he was mascot against Hibs a day he'll never forget.

 

What made the season was sitting in the JH stand with people ive known for twenty years and longer and introducing my son to that. It's part of football. A tradition. We both know it's how it works.

 

Now we'll have to pay 25 quid extra or move seat. I'm not sure why fans like us are being penalised for indiscretions of others. It'll certainly hit fans with more than one kid harder.

 

If this is really about ensuring that seats are freed up, then can i suggest two or three things?

 

Firstly, the 150 kids' tickets that went unclaimed. Those names should be barred from having a ticket for at least a season.

 

Secondly, only put a sticker on a seat when the ticket has been uplifted. That way you have an accurate picture

 

Monitor use of kids' tickets via the electronic system. Send out emails to those not using their ticket and warn them it will be revoked.

 

Lastly, sell advertising space on the back of the card to cover the costs of the scheme. Preferably to someone who will take it as a discount card.

 

I'm not going to throw a fit, boycott the club, or withdraw my funding from the club.

 

I'll buy a ST, probably two. I'll sponsor another first team jersey.

 

I just find it disappointing that my matchday experience, and that of many others in the same boat, seems to be worth less than those that shout and bawl and threaten to remove funds from the club they support.

 

 

Regards

 

Colin"

 

[allyo]

Turn for an unreserved seat it's free , want a reserved seat it's £25..... What is the problem with that ?!

 

I think it seems reasonable enough, but I still don't understand what happen at all ticket game if you have an unreserved season ticket. Is the season ticket not valid for these games? If that's the case then that's okay, i reckon. But I don't think it's been made clear.

[allyo]

Barring people from having a season ticket is a daft idea. Sorry red monkey.

Edited May 21, 2014 by allyo

[La Scimmia Rossa]

Barring people from owning a kids season ticket when the last one they ordered lay in the office all year?

[potty trained]

I can totally understand the frustration of some who feel let down by the club by them taking this route, it seems this is the route they see fit to take to resolve the pain points regarding KGF.

 

What I do find disappointing is a few posters who, rather than stick to the specific matter at hand and coming up with a strategy to work with the club to iron out any issues, have chosen rather to go down the route of using this item, as tool to bash the federation after a successful meeting last week. It's almost being used as a future divisive tactic that plants a seed in people's heads... Well you didn't back us on kids go free, so we're not backing you on this.

 

I would suggest that those who are unhappy with this would probably garner more support if they didn't post in such a manner.

 

It's worth noting that the club when they brought this up, advised it would be £50 for a reserved seat and £5 for u16 PATG. Thanks to the federation, the £5 has been removed and £50 reduced to £25.

 

As I said I understand the few folk who have raised objections, concern.

[La Scimmia Rossa]

Successful meeting for the NS guys . Some of us are at least 25 quid down on the night...

So, who is the Federation rep for parents and families? What was their view? Was anyone there actually affected by this?

Solidarity was the watchword last week. Loads of people waiting and seeing. Chatter about following up with the club. Consultation.

 

All bollocks. Seems those affected have to formulate their own strategy?

At least we know where we stand. Or sit.

Edited May 21, 2014 by La Scimmia Rossa

[peagreenboy]

Oh and it's interesting how young Thistle fans become "your wean" or "your kid". How about, your fellow supporter?

 

Your fellow supporter that gets in for nothing.

 

My football club gives me something for free. Now they want me to give them £25. I don't want to.

 

Firhill has been a great place for several seasons for children who have no interest in the game to be taken care of on a Saturday afternoon. I don't think anyone should get in for free - as I have already posted in this thread.

 

What's wrong with having a kid's section? I want to go and shout and act as an adult (swearies), which I couldn't as the kids season tickets WERE ALL PUT IN A LUMP RIGHT WHERE I'VE BEEN SITTING SINCE THE JACKIE HUSBAND STAND OPENED. Was it fair that my matchday experience was dented by people who got something for free? I don't want to be stuck in the kids section without even getting asked!

[potty trained]

Successful meeting for the NS guys . Some of us are at least 25 quid down on the night...

So, who is the Federation rep for parents and families? What was their view? Was anyone there actually affected by this?

Solidarity was the watchword last week. Loads of people waiting and seeing. Chatter about following up with the club. Consultation.

 

All bollocks. Seems those affected have to formulate their own strategy?

At least we know where we stand. Or sit.

 

Again with the "us & them" to start your post, demonstrating anything but solidarity, Colin. I'm not sure why you are using this tactic or where you think it will get you, or the fan base as a whole.

 

I'd suggest that to post in this manner doesn't help in any way at all. Especially if you are trying to garner support of those who this decision doesn't effect.

 

Have you PM'd Digger who posts on here? Ian Bateman. He is the fans rep to the club.

 

You say it seems those effected must formulate their own strategy, as if this is a bad thing, but that's exactly what the NS folk had to do. It was the NS folk who did exactly this.

 

Are you suggesting that the parents should have someone do the hard work for them?

[buchanio]

Happy with £25 each for my two kids. Sensible decision from above..!

[Mediocre Pundit]

Even simpler from Woodstock Jag. Good idea.

 

Can i suggest any JH season ticket holder who wants to go to the NS pays an extra 25 quid too.

I mean,all those premium seats that are going unused?

 

Can i make the point again. I helped fund the JH Stand. With thousands of others. I've sat in the same area, with the same group of friends for 20 years. My son has now become part of that group. It's how football works for most people. Last season there was no issue whatsoever. Now i , and many others, need to pay 25 quid extra to ensure we sit together in a half empty stadium?

 

Pay 25 quid or move seat. Where's the solidarity lads? That disappeared pretty quickly.

 

OneThistle my ars* . Kids For Free? Terms and conditions apply.

 

This is actually a decent point.

 

First, surely if we offered free unallocated season tickets, with the proviso that you could get an allocated seat if you went to the office and filled out a form, at which point the office staff did a wee bit of due diligence to ensure you understood the issue this could cause the club if you were rarely going to use it, would improve the system? I can't see many people that don't intend to use the ticket both making the effort to turn up and then fabricating a story to a member of office staff.

 

Secondly, if an allocated seat is chosen then surely they could only be allowed access to that stand (i.e. their chosen allocated seat)?

 

If we did both of the above then you would imagine the problem would be vastly reduced - and if that's the only reason for the £25 fee then surely we wouldn't need it anymore?

[Mediocre Pundit]

Monitor use of kids' tickets via the electronic system. Send out emails to those not using their ticket and warn them it will be revoked.

 

Or, better, if we can monitor use of Season Tickets then use this information to also give consideration to how we can get some kids to want to attend more often. Like we all know, it's a habit.

[La Scimmia Rossa]

Good point MP.

 

PT apologies, it just feels like you NS boys got what you wanted and now some-not all-don't give a feck.

I'll stick to the topic. You can be nice to me again ;-)

Edited May 21, 2014 by La Scimmia Rossa

[sabbath]

I can’t really see where the argument is here, at the end of the day kids still go free. I think the main point is that until the new season starts we are required to maintain inane pointless arguments. And surely there should be some sort of poll for a debate of such magnitude..

[Sinistar]

Me and the wean have season tickets for the JHS. It was our only choice at start of last season as kids weren't allowed into the NS.

 

When they starting allowing over 12's into the NS, we were there in a shot. Yes the view wasn't as good but we could sit with friends and we both loved the atmosphere. Also avoided the problems we had with the same group of guys sitting in our "reserved" JH seats each week.

 

If we can both get unreserved NS season tickets this year, great. Will save £25 and happy to give up our "good" JH seats. It's not clear yet (to me) if you can get a kids season ticket for the NS for next season.

 

If I have to pay an extra £25 to reserve our JH seats this year, but we can still sit in the NS when we want, then fair enough. Would prefer to sit with our NS friends for every game, but it wasn't a big sacrifice for us to move back to the JH stand for the odd game, apart from having to move a few seats along due to our reserved seats usually being occupied. Luckily there was usually a few free seats in my row (despite every seat being reserved) that allowed us to do this.

 

I have some sympathy for those that are unhappy with the £25 kids season ticket charge, but I feel it's still a good deal so will pay it if I have to with no complaints although if we can't get adult +child NS season tickets together I'll essentially be paying £25 to reserve our seats for the Celtic game! Maybe consideration of putting names on seats in the JHS would help - might soften the blow of parents having to pay to reserve their child's seat. Personally, I much prefer the unreserved ethos in the NS, although I get that people like to reserve "their" seat.

 

It's never going to be possible for the club to keep everyone happy (short of building a new stand in the city end) but overall I think they have got it almost right on this one. I've always been a big fan of the KGF scheme, it's a brilliant idea to encourage kids to get into the habit of attending matches and they still can attend for free. Want to reserve a better seat, then fair enough, you pay the £25. Whether it's free, £25 or £100, as long as I can watch the Thistle with my son and friends that's all that really matters to me

[Bleeding Gums Murphy]

 

 

Says the guy who hasn't contributed one comment in six months.

 

You want a free ticket for your wean? You can have one.

 

Wow!

 

A stalker.

 

Think there were a few folk posted on North Stand thread when it affected them & openly admitted they hadn't posted in long enough.

 

Didn't see you criticise them.

 

Or are you a federation rep & don't want to take this battle?

[Lionel J. Botch]

The premise for the charge is the to improve the match day experience. I assume this is to stop seats being unoccupied each week. As has been mentioned, does this mean the guys in the NS can't select a JH seat? After all an empty seat spoils the match day experience.

 

How does the walk up tickets work for the Celtic game, I suppose non season tickets don't get in free. If so it is hard to argue with the logic that the club is losing a potential 150 match tickets. In effect the £25 covers the match ticket cost for this game.

 

Looking for a solution, if one is required, is it possible to have the same arrangement as this year, but it does not include a Celtic ticket. Then have a cover charge for these games, say £10. Anyone who does not want to take the kids to this game free up a ticket to be sold at full cost.

Otherwise, on a match day against Celtic, where do the non allocated free tickets go? You need to give them a seat somewhere.

 

Let's keep it together guys, no us and them chat. We are thistle!

[blakey]

I think this makes sense from the club. In my own case - I have 2 boys that have season passes, but I don't have one. We went to most of the home games.

 

Initially I just got match tickets for them on the day. The stewards then encouraged me to get season tickets for the boys so I did. But I don't think we actually ever sat in our seats, as I was not sure what they were. Also - every game we went to - we always took some of the boys pals with us. It's worth saying that this has really worked as lots of the boys at our school are now converted. I've even converted a few of the dad's too.

 

But we did miss a few games - including celtic at home - and I did wonder if that would financially penalise the club. As they could not sell those seats.

 

Anyway - no problem for me - we just won't get season tickets but try to get to as many games as we can. I just hope it continues to be as much fun. I really think the free kids thing is going to have a longer term benefit and have no issue with this change.

[gianlucatoni]

I am dismayed to say that I must be both guilty and a downright crap parent/fan as my season ticket holding daughter (aged 9) only went to about 5 home league games last season ... however the stadium was approximately 2/3rds full for most of the season and, as such, I fail to see that this one seat lying empty has negatively impacted on the matchday experience as stated by the club. I suppose it's easier to turn a blind eye to the crap catering and other aspects of the matchday experience (like a 3 sided stadium, no half time entertainment, no soap in the main stand bogs etc) and turn the guns on the bairns - when my daughter comes down for her breakfast tomorrow morning I'll rip her head off and put squarely the blame for our almost season long failure to secure a home win right at her door - she'll be grounded for the summer and will be banned form any interaction with chocolate biscuits.

 

I am particularly disappointed with the statements " to dissuade those youngsters who take a season ticket and don’t then turn up for the club’s matches " and " not put off any genuine young fans "- does the club seriously expect these young fans to attend every match - this is unreasonable for many reasons and in the case of my daughter, her other activities include:

• weeknights - going to her kip at 8.30pm so she can stay awake at school next day
  
• Saturday - birthday parties/friends over at hoose/brownie trips
  
• Sunday - horse riding or swimming
  
• no getting to go when she wants to go cos I canny go
  

I totally agree with Drew37 - reason given by the club is absolute pish and part of a continuing theme this close season on 'how can we piss off out customers' mantra currently permeating at board level. Can't wait to see those vacated empty seats filling up next season.

 

Beattie 2012

The club is currently in a very positive position as last years accounts show and with initiatives like Kids go Free we are a very attractive brand

Club Statement on OS 2014 (shoved through a bullshit translator and heavily paraphrased)

Kids who don't attend matches are not fkin welcome - infact let's rebrand Kids go Free as Cash for Kids - show us yer dosh for the bairns and GIRFUY ya mugs.

[blakey]

Mr Toni - I guess the main question is will your daughter benefit from, or need, a season ticket? She can still go free.

 

I

[Lenziejag]

 

 

Tongue in cheek.... but, folk here are complaining about empty seats they could use in the JHS. If I guarantee that you can sit in mine (assuming it is a seat you would like) what is it worth to you? If the answer is nothing then you can see why some of us are unhappy at paying £25.

 

 

 

I have a season ticket for the JHS and have done for many years. At the moment my son has a free season ticket. My son will no longer have free entry to Firhill unless we move and that means either giving up my seat or leaving it empty each week, whether I am in the North Stand or somewhere else in the JHS. There doesn't seem to be any argument that adult ST holders in the JHS shouldn't be going into the North Stand and leaving their JHS seats empty. However, as a responsible parent I want to be sure that my son can sit beside me. This IS apparently a problem for the club and for a good number of the posters on here despite the fact that we have come nowhere near to filling the ground all season.

 

There are a couple of points here.

It seems to me that the seats are important to you so you shouldn't really complain about having to pay for them.

The 2nd is that reserving a seat for kids used to be 30 - so really we are back to what it was before

[La Scimmia Rossa]

We used to have to pish in toilets that had no roof on the old terrace, therefore we should be happy that the current toilets are less than acceptable . Is that the argument?

 

Back to my other point, anyone who has a ST in the JH but uses the NS should pay the fee too. Right? (Of course not...)

[ian_mac]

I can sympathise with those people who did not abuse the system and feel they are now being punished for other peoples actions.

 

However, as has been said, attacking those fans who attended the federation meeting will achieve nothing. It certainly won't earn you any support or increased representation.

 

Some people are talking as if those who attended the federation couldn't care less about this. When in actual fact the proposal would have been a lot worse had we simply said nothing.

 

I take on board that the deal still isn't acceptable to some. If that is the case then voice your concerns to the club and SF - don't start making pessimistic assumptions about how much we care about the issue.

[Alan Murray]

The post on official site is poorly worded however I do not see anything wrong with charging this. However I would not have charged a parent any more than £25. Meaning if you have more than one child you get them free.