As the club(s) desperately need season ticket money to assist them over the barren months of the winter, our club (and others) normally advertise and start to discuss prices at this time of year. Reading League Express yesterday they muted that crowds may not be allowed to watch until April with the season actually starting in March which is a bit different than been told the season will start on Boxing day. I know nobody can foresee when we will be able to watch as a crowd again BUT (for us) after giving them three season ticket refunds is anybody going to do the same again for next season. Boris says its going to be a hard Winter with CV-19
Unless somdbody can find an alternative source of funds where can the money come from?
And now Tim Sheens has resigned. Is this to do with cash flow etc
Furlough ends at the end of October, doesn't it? Maybe the club cannot afford to keep on paying him. How will the end of the Furlough scheme affect the contracted players?
I would find it very hard right now to fork out £200+ on a season ticket with no guarantee we will see any rugby from it. Appreciate plenty of 'proper fans' will blindly throw money at the club but it isn't that easy.
So - it is the only way the club will see income but I would imagine numbers wouldn't be great (across the whole Championship).
The club would have to come up with a way to entice fans to buy tickets. Live streaming of the games would be a basic requirement for me and something many lower league football clubs are doing to bring in revenue. I would expect if Widnes played behind closed doors and the game was live streamed plenty would pay £5-£10 to watch it.
Sincerely hope that the season can start with fans in the stadium and the club can start getting some stability.
There will be a lot of changed circumstances before the club are in a position to look at selling Season Tickets. By then more than a few will be on the dole or struggling at best. Their priorities have to be at home, and that is certain.
Of those left it will be case of how much and for what?
Pensioners generally have survived financially, saving money maybe, and many of us are ST holders. This club is by far my major involvement in sport and it will have my, and others no doubt, support 'until I die'!
Just hope that that is enough, but I don't think that we will be the worst financed club in the game.
As a pensioner I would still buy a season ticket to support the club that I’ve supported all my live. Being somewhat cushioned from the financial difficulties that sadly many are suffering as a result of this wicked virus I look at it the following way.
Having been a supporter since my grandad took me to my first game in 1959 I have seen some of best rugby league in the world by boys wearing black and white. Our club must survive this pandemic and it needs those of us who are able to, to sign up when available to keep us going so that hopefully the good times can one day return.
Just thinking, what Premier league football doing?
I know Liverpool have basically said that they are not doing normal season tickets for 20/21 but Season Ticket Holders will then have the normal renewal come 21/22.
From our point of view, I would presume that the donated ST money plus VIQI would go some part of the way to plugging the gaps until March, admittedly not all the way.
Are we trying to do the impossible? The hints over the past few hours it sounds as if we are struggling with a budget that just isn't big enough. If that is so then we have been fooling ourselves.
Hopefully the club will make some sort of statement to explain just where we stand, if they don't others will fill in the space. I would rather get it straight from the horses mouth.
When I started this thread i was not sure of the responses i would get but it seems to have been pretty positive and similar to my thinking. As a pensioner; again like has been stated we have been pretty well survived financially so we will be buying tickets but are we going to buy them just to rescue the club again. As you say Sandgroper i just hope the club makes an announcement soon to clarify the situation.
Is there a possibility of maybe having a deposit system where you maybe pay a percentage of the season ticket money upfront and then when we know we can go back in, the rest of the fee could be then paid?
Surely there must be some way our Sponsors can help to keep TS's Stats man. I know that times are hard financially for many people and Companies but we cannot let our club die. I just hope that the die has not been cast and that a solution can be found quickly.
Surely there must be some way our Sponsors can help to keep TS’s Stats man. I know that times are hard financially for many people and Companies but we cannot let our club die. I just hope that the die has not been cast and that a solution can be found quickly.
Was only thinking this today. Wonder if there is some sort of solution and we could go and beg for Sheens to stay (though the board may be too proud to do that).
He is/was crucial for the stability of the club, some much needed continuity and experience, and prestige. No one else of his calibre available and he's built the squad.
I think the season ticket sales are very dependant on when the government give the go ahead for crowds to be allowed back in. Hopefully they say in January that crowds will be allowed back in say March if not earlier. There is a big push already from the FA. That would give the clubs a few months to sell them.
I would hope Widnes has everything sorted in terms of pricing etc so as soon as the sport is given the go ahead it can get selling them.
RL especially below SL is very well positioned should they say restricted capacity will be allowed. If it was say 30% capacity, i would say the vast majority of clubs outside SL and many in SL would be able to have most if not all of their usual crowd size in the stadium.
Based on supply and demand if the club was clever it could be able to even increase season ticket sales by saying that there are 3,600 allowed in and therefore we are capping season tickets to 3,000. That would be the only way to guarentee entrance to the games, with the remaining 600 being match day/week sales and possibly some for away team family/fans.
The interesting question is will the resumption result in more people wanting to go the game having missed watching so much, or less with people having not missed it, having financial troubles, or worried about social distancing?
Certainly makes financial planning near impossible and how we bridge paying the players until the revenue starts flowing in I am not sure. VIQI, last seasons season ticket money and a RFL loan i guess.
Regards
DLM
Now the OP Question...?
Lets see....just been on the official website. News ...
Tim Sheens resigns as Head Coach....read more...
there is no more.......ends
Widnes Vikings will be making no further comment.
so Answer NO
The people running this club are no more open than the last lot.................will not be giving unknow people my money unless I know what they are doing or going to do with it...would be madness to expect anyone to do that. If they do get games going I will simply pay as you go .................
and if they perform as of late will find somewhere else to go...........getting fed up with the running of this club by all parties over the last 20 years and the arrogant attitude that Widnes fans will follow the club for ever..................well you can strike one off that list
I will not be making any further comment
PS
Quite like the set up at Swinton for Sunday entertainment ............