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Vote now on admission prices for the 2008/09 season

The FC United board met recently to discuss ticket prices for next season. The club’s manifesto states that we will ’endeavor to make admission prices as affordable as possible’ and we will always abide by this. Should a decision be taken to raise admission prices, it will not be prompted by the desire to increase profits or governed by the maximum we feel that supporters are willing to pay.

We are a supporters owned and managed football club, and should we ever feel that a price increase is necessary it will be with a heavy heart. At the same time though supporters have to be aware that our overheads, most notably Gigg Lane and the associated costs of staging home matches, are having an effect on our finances. We have operated at a loss for the past two seasons and this cannot continue.

The economic reality is that the club needs to bring in more money, and the most obvious route to take to do this is to increase ticket prices. But we are FC United and we do things differently, we make rather a habit of it. We want to keep prices as they are, and we want the club to ride out our spell at Bury and be in a strong position when we move to our own home, whenever that may be.
The board are confident of delivering on a budget that will see us break even, providing that the following targets are achieved:

• Season ticket sales continue to be strong (the board would ask that any supporters who have not yet committed to buy a season ticket consider doing so)
• Sponsorship revenue is increased from last season (again, the board would like to urge supporters who run their own businesses or know people who do to consider the sponsorship opportunities available at the club)
• Sales of the new away kit go well
• We are able to reduce our stewarding costs by using FC volunteers

Should these provisos be met, we have a budget that will see us break even without increasing ticket prices. If not, then we will all have to once again confront the issue of how to increase income to the point that the club is not losing money.

As always, the membership of the club should be given the final say on such matters, and therefore the club will hold a members’ vote this week in order to receive a mandate from the club’s owners to maintain the current pricing structure and budget accordingly. The vote will simply be either yes or no to the proposal that:
’The ticket prices for FC United of Manchester 2008/09 will be £7.50 adults, £5 Concessions and £2 U18s on the basis that the conditions proposed by the board are met. Should the conditions not be met, the board will defer back to the members for a further decision.’

2008-09 Club Members who have their email address on file with the club can vote online at the following address:

*link no longer active*

You will be required to select your vote and enter your email address. You will then receive an email from the club containing a link which must be clicked in order for your vote to be validated.

Any members who do not have internet access or who do not have their email registered with the club should vote by writing to the club stating "accept"?? or "reject"?? and including their name and membership number. The vote should be posted to:

FC United
Hope Mills
113 Pollard Street
Manchester
M4 7JA

The deadline for votes to be counted is 1pm on Friday 15 August 2008.

The board recognizes that holding such a vote predominantly online at such a late stage is not ideal, however the board was required to balance its desire to keep prices down with the necessity of having as full a picture as possible with regards to season tickets, sponsorship, etc, and thus, in order to be as confident as possible in budgeting for the forthcoming season, the decision to recommend the above prices had to be left as late as possible.



First Posted ~ 13:45 Fri 15 Aug 2008
News ID ~ 1752
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021