Season Ticket Prices

[Gaspode]

Davie McKinnon did a lot of talking at the last forum about improving the website, shop etc. What exactly has happened since then? Nothing. Very poor.

[Stevie Clarke]

So they won't even take a cheque! Money laundering is a concern of mine too. I'm tempted to say "I'm out" but the repercussions of our support falling even further doesn't bear thinking about so I guess I'll pay up in cash, reluctantly. Club is a shambles though.

[AcciesFCSLO]

So they won't even take a cheque! Money laundering is a concern of mine too. I'm tempted to say "I'm out" but the repercussions of our support falling even further doesn't bear thinking about so I guess I'll pay up in cash, reluctantly. Club is a shambles though.

Cheques will be accepted apologies should've made that clear Cash and cheques only.

Have updated my earlier post.

[AcciesFCSLO]

Davie McKinnon did a lot of talking at the last forum about improving the website, shop etc. What exactly has happened since then? Nothing. Very poor.

Likewise Gaspode its something that I felt would've been rectified at the outset its as much an annoyance of yours as it is mine.

[porcupine]

So they won't even take a cheque! Money laundering is a concern of mine too. I'm tempted to say "I'm out" but the repercussions of our support falling even further doesn't bear thinking about so I guess I'll pay up in cash, reluctantly. Club is a shambles though.

Cheques will be accepted apologies should've made that clear Cash and cheques only.

Confirm that two of us each paid by cheque today with no problems. More secure for the people behind the till and cuts out any suggestion of my money being laundered.

But "TheThirdProclaimer" sums it up exactly here!!

[quote=]The reality is that had this been another business, and not a football club, the business would have closed years ago. The lack of convenience, online presence and customer service would have driven its customers away very quickly.

.[/quote].

[AcciesFCSLO]

So they won't even take a cheque! Money laundering is a concern of mine too. I'm tempted to say "I'm out" but the repercussions of our support falling even further doesn't bear thinking about so I guess I'll pay up in cash, reluctantly. Club is a shambles though.

Cheques will be accepted apologies should've made that clear Cash and cheques only.

Confirm that two of us each paid by cheque today with no problems. More secure for the people behind the till and cuts out any suggestion of my money being laundered.

But "TheThirdProclaimer" sums it up exactly here!!

[quote=]The reality is that had this been another business, and not a football club, the business would have closed years ago. The lack of convenience, online presence and customer service would have driven its customers away very quickly.

.

.[/quote]

No money is being laundered I can assure that club has to submit its accounts to SFA,SPFL & UEFA for licensing purposes I would like to hope that one of these organisations would've picked up on anything untoward should that be an issue, However you will never stop scaremongering we should be talking about being positive staying in the premiership, Season Book prices being kept to the absolute minimum however again I see some wish to lay negative comments about the club.

Club will accept Cash & Cheque Payments for all tickets and merchandise, As per the last x amount of years the club will not be taking card transactions, This should put an end to this conversation over this.

If anyone has any issues over the club not taking card payments they are more than welcome to contact the club directly office@acciesfc.co.uk or calling 01698 368650 and asking to discuss with the commercial dept.

[Bomber Harris]

What's the negative comments here Sean? The lack of cash payment facilities and club, matchday advertising is abysmal. That's not negativity thats the truth.

[TheThirdProclaimer]

We absolutely should be talking about staying in the Premiership, and having cheap season ticket prices. From a football perspective it's mostly great being an Accies fan. But it's not a one-sided discussion. The club itself has to be at the forefront of the positivity, and promised to get better at the last forum. In reality absolutely nothing has changed, and once again we're being made to feel like we're asking for the earth when in reality a card reader etc is the absolute minimum effort for a business in 2017, no matter what their financial past or supposed cost to the club.

We pay good money year in, year out to help the club in as many ways as we can - you've just said earlier the club have had offers of free help from fans to remove/replace stickers on seats etc. This is something the club hasn't bothered to do for years, if that's not the fans being positive I'm not sure what is. All we ask is that our views and suggestions are treated with respect, and acted on when reasonable.

It's not the 80s anymore, and the club has moved forward so much in terms of its actual football philosophy and the way it helps the community as much as it can. But it's so lacking in any sort of business awareness in terms of its consumer base it's embarrassing at times. I wish it wasn't like this every pre-season, with such simple fixes seeming so difficult, and fans feeling like they're being unreasonable for requesting the basics.

[Stevie Clarke]

We absolutely should be talking about staying in the Premiership, and having cheap season ticket prices. From a football perspective it's mostly great being an Accies fan. But it's not a one-sided discussion. The club itself has to be at the forefront of the positivity, and promised to get better at the last forum. In reality absolutely nothing has changed, and once again we're being made to feel like we're asking for the earth when in reality a card reader etc is the absolute minimum effort for a business in 2017, no matter what their financial past or supposed cost to the club.

We pay good money year in, year out to help the club in as many ways as we can - you've just said earlier the club have had offers of free help from fans to remove/replace stickers on seats etc. This is something the club hasn't bothered to do for years, if that's not the fans being positive I'm not sure what is. All we ask is that our views and suggestions are treated with respect, and acted on when reasonable.

It's not the 80s anymore, and the club has moved forward so much in terms of its actual football philosophy and the way it helps the community as much as it can. But it's so lacking in any sort of business awareness in terms of its consumer base it's embarrassing at times. I wish it wasn't like this every pre-season, with such simple fixes seeming so difficult, and fans feeling like they're being unreasonable for requesting the basics.

Excellent post.

Thanks Sean for clearing up that cheques can be used, I will do this. I'm happy about a lot of Accies things just now, but they are a bit of a shambles in this important matter.

[AcciesFCSLO]

We absolutely should be talking about staying in the Premiership, and having cheap season ticket prices. From a football perspective it's mostly great being an Accies fan. But it's not a one-sided discussion. The club itself has to be at the forefront of the positivity, and promised to get better at the last forum. In reality absolutely nothing has changed, and once again we're being made to feel like we're asking for the earth when in reality a card reader etc is the absolute minimum effort for a business in 2017, no matter what their financial past or supposed cost to the club.
[/b]
We pay good money year in, year out to help the club in as many ways as we can - you've just said earlier the club have had offers of free help from fans to remove/replace stickers on seats etc. This is something the club hasn't bothered to do for years, if that's not the fans being positive I'm not sure what is. All we ask is that our views and suggestions are treated with respect, and acted on when reasonable.

It's not the 80s anymore, and the club has moved forward so much in terms of its actual football philosophy and the way it helps the community as much as it can. But it's so lacking in any sort of business awareness in terms of its consumer base it's embarrassing at times. I wish it wasn't like this every pre-season, with such simple fixes seeming so difficult, and fans feeling like they're being unreasonable for requesting the basics.

I agree and the club has listened to the fans views on this but they simply have made the choice they wont be getting the facility and I really don't know what more I, yourself or any other fan can do other than accept that cash and cheque are the method of payment that our club will accept.

All views are treated with respect and are acted upon where possible and I can assure you that you aren't alone in sometimes feeling that requests are unreasonable I am fan of this club to first and foremost.

I agree that the business side of the club could do with a revamp but its limited in its constraints of staffing but to run at the best possible financial state it has to run as it does currently.

Match day advertising and advertising in general is right at the forefront right now in terms of looking at ways to get the fantastic season book prices out there as well the matchday prices closer to the season beginning, I hope to update later in the week on this as to various marketing ideas that have come via fans and myself.

[TheThirdProclaimer]

Appreciate the reply, and the time and effort you put in to your role. Keep doing a good job.

"Looking at ways to get the prices out there". Wow. How long have the club been looking, since the forum? That's what they said then as well. Print leaflets, print posters. Get a Facebook account, and pin the season ticket tweet to our Twitter. Use the Ham Ad contacts to get it all over the paper(s). Adverts on radio stations, BBC website, Terrace & independent podcasts. That took 15 seconds.

Part of the issue the fans have is that we see wages put into several rotten players per season. The combined wage would easily pay for someone to work at the club solely tasked with PR and advertising, and alleviate a lot of the pressure on the the board. I'm sure the club will say it's not as simple as that, but it does look awful from the outside looking in.

What else can we do? Stop going to games and propping up the game with our support. The young football fan in 2017 has plenty more to spend money on than an industry hell bent on driving the customer away. We all love our football, and our club, but times have changed, and the clubs must too.

[Yer Sisters Yer Maw]

I remember years ago flyers were made to advertise upcoming games and were distributed by fans locally who volunteered. I'm not sure now if they were done via the club or by supporters through work connections, but could something similar not be done again to advertise this great season ticket offer to become acknowledged by as many locals as possible? The £150 season books last year was the perfect opportunity for the club to attract new potential customers, but sadly it failed, and I reckon that was partly down to poor advertisement. I hope we're not going to be making the same mistake again.
Also, regarding the card payment machine. It would be interesting to know out of the leagues 42 senior clubs, how many don't have this facility available? I don't imagine it would be very many.

[Euan]

On another similar point, Shirt Sponsorship, we are also very reasonable but this is not promoted either with regards to selling sponsorships or of giving any acknowledgement to those who do.

I've sponsored a number of shirts through my business, going back to Carrigan(XXL), Offiong... to Docherty in 15/16, paying on average £100.
There's no publicity on the player profile on the website or anywhere else, other than a minuscule print in the programme, which nobody buys or reads as it's never available to buy.

As an advertising opportunity it's a waste of time. I'm fairly certain nobody on here could list any of the shirt sponsors of last season unless they are one of them. I didn't bother last season.

It's good to have the jerseys, although I've given most away, and it was great to get my photo taken with Greg Docherty after the play off victory with me wearing his old jersey (good fit ). Was also good when Richard Offiong came over to Larkhall to buy Contact Lenses for his girlfriend, so I've had personal enjoyment from sponsoring, but it's not effective advertising.

Again it would be easy to change this by promoting it on the website as other Clubs do under the player profile etc, which would encourage more uptake.

As it stands it's just an indulgence rather than a business opportunity, which relys on me being a fan.

[monkeybones]

Yes PayPal would great, simple and costs very little. Still need card facility when paying at stadium ticket office/shop.

[AcciesFCSLO]

Thanks to those who expressed an interest in helping around the stadium I've been in contact with you via email and hope to confirm this today or tomorrow as to when this will take place. I am now on the lookout for some assistance for some ideas & tasks that I have coming up over the coming weekends in relation to advertising the clubs season ticket & match day prices and getting as much awareness around the Hamilton area as possible.

If you have some spare time over the next 2/3 weekends please let me know via email sean@acciesfc.co.uk or PM on here.

Looking for around 8-10 folks to assist me and any spare time you have would be extremely appreciated.

[Big Wurzil]

What are you/club planning Sean? I might volunteer if I knew what was the plan.

Think we've missed the boat for flyers round the secondary's.

League starts 5th august a week before the schools go back, great timing

[AcciesFCSLO]

What are you/club planning Sean? I might volunteer if I knew what was the plan.

Think we've missed the boat for flyers round the secondary's.

League starts 5th august a week before the schools go back, great timing

Agreed on the schools and this is something we can look at when they go back and we have hopefully started our season well, however we do have another angle to go at the youth of today and their families with the youth clubs, boys clubs, local shops etc.

The plan (which is all ideas put forward by fans) is to leaflet homes in specific areas across Hamilton & Blantyre that we have profiled in various ways as well as leafleting Hamilton Town Centre to shoppers at weekends, local businesses in the Hamilton area and the supermarkets specifically at peak times over weekends along with this the club is looking at billboards (TBC) and social media advertising namely on Facebook as a way of promoting itself and looking to grow the support.

The club as we all know has lacked in this area massively over course of the last few years and I for one like you all want as many people in the Hamilton area to see and hear what Hamilton Accies are offering for season ticket and match day prices, For me despite Celtic and Rangers being just up the road we can still grow our support and this could be the starting point of it all.

If anyone has any other ideas on how they feel we should be advertising the club then I'm all for suggestions and will certainly endeavor to get the club to approve.

[Stevie Clarke]

Great to hear Sean but long, long overdue. You have to wonder why astute businessmen like Les and Ronnie have not made this effort before.

The local paper did nothing to publicise the tickets last year. I had a twitter conversation with Andy McGilvray who said they had featured it on the back page. I checked every week, they didn't. The only mention of it was tucked away inside in one edition in a side column. I didn't check it last week, can anyone confirm if it was on the back page? Nothing this week.

[TheThirdProclaimer]

You also have to wonder why astute businessmen like Les and Ronnie don't seem to realise that any club wanting to appeal to anyone under 50 needs a significant online presence. Leaflets at the supermarkets etc are great, and I commend Sean and any volunteers doing that, but the simple fact is that people throw leaflets in the bin as soon as they get them. Online marketing is the way to go, and has been for years. The club's Twitter is great for game updates, but other than that we have no promotional tools online whatsoever.

A sustained approach (which is what we need as opposed to one-off leaflet campaigns) requires the club to employ someone to deal with media and PR, and I'm fed up saying this should be given priority over two or three empty jersey signings. Posts on an internet forum doesn't achieve anything right enough! Back to the baseball for me I think.

[AcciesFCSLO]

You also have to wonder why astute businessmen like Les and Ronnie don't seem to realise that any club wanting to appeal to anyone under 50 needs a significant online presence. Leaflets at the supermarkets etc are great, and I commend Sean and any volunteers doing that, but the simple fact is that people throw leaflets in the bin as soon as they get them. Online marketing is the way to go, and has been for years. The club's Twitter is great for game updates, but other than that we have no promotional tools online whatsoever.

A sustained approach (which is what we need as opposed to one-off leaflet campaigns) requires the club to employ someone to deal with media and PR, and I'm fed up saying this should be given priority over two or three empty jersey signings. Posts on an internet forum doesn't achieve anything right enough! Back to the baseball for me I think.

To a certain extent I agree with you it does require a sustained approach however I/we have to start somewhere the one thing we have with this is a blank canvas as the club have never like we've all said done anything to bring fans in targeting it online and via the use of leaflet dropping that in my professional experience if you get the leaflet right it will give you a return.

Online marketing use of twitter and the Facebook advertising especially is something that will be marvellous for this it's about getting the right post & key words making it eye catching to any user and something I'll work with the club on and the potential reachable user could be in ten of thousands each day in the Hamilton area.