LICENCE TO RIP-OFF (by Craig and Eric)
The title of this article is exactly what Chris Robinson and Leslie Deans have after our unforgettable Scottish Cup victory in May. The main reason for my anger is the cost of season tickets and the prices for individual matches for the coming season.
Take the season tickets. Where I sit in the Wheatfield stand it costs £320 for which you get 18 guaranteed home games of which six (Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen) are £18 and twelve are £16. If I didn't have a season ticket it would cost me £300 to watch every home game. With a season ticket you also get one Coca Cola cup tie free and one Scottish Cup tie if we are drawn at home. (now that we have drawn Raith, in the Coca Cola Cup no doubt the board will bodyswerve the criticism again).
Knowing that cup draws are a lottery it is possible that we may not be able to take advantage of these free tickets. The bottom line is that I have paid £320 up front, but if we don't get any home draws in the cups I will have paid £20 more than the punter who prefers to pay cash at the turnstile - where's the advantage in paying up front?
In the past I have always viewed having a season ticket as a "discount", meaning that if you attended all games you made a "profit". I always felt that I had shown a bit of loyalty towards the club and my "reward" was that if I divided the total cost of my season ticket by the number of home games, i would average less per game than the cash-per-game fan. Not so now. Admittedly I could change the stand that I sit in and move to the old stand where the price is £275 per ticket but why should I punish myself in this way just to look for a reasonable deal, surely we deserve something?
As for the actual walk up on the day prices, the board saw it in their wisdom to raise the prices by £2 to £18 and £16 which, in my pinion is quite scandalous, we are now the dearest club alongside Rangers in Scotland to watch and that is the reason I predict that Tynecastle will NOT be full for most games this season. people cannot afford these ridiculous prices, made by people who don't have to pay the prices. We have around 11,000 season ticket holders but after last season, it is only the greed of some board members that have prevented 18,000 season tickets holders.
One last point. How the board could charge £10 for the friendly involving Coventry is beyond me. This game should have been on our season ticket and the other tickets sold for £5 and £2. Result? Full house, Jambos singing everywhere. I was really disappointed that this game wasn't turned into a celebration of our cup win to celebrate our triumph after 36 years. What we got was embarrassing, under 7,000. I know for a fact that this game was boycotted by ripped-off season ticket holders, and I hope Chris Robinson is reading this because it didn't have to be like that - have a serious word with yourself.
One final point (I'm on a roll). Hearts have announced that a new strip will be launched every season starting with this season. This is another example of the fans being fleeced, as the strip is identical to the one from last season apart from a hideous and totally unnecessary strip down the side.
We are a bit miffed at the current antics of the board and we will try to bring you an exclusive interview with one of the "main men" in the next issue. Let's not mince words, many people believe that whilst we have broken our "duck" in the trophy department, we cannot let incompetent board members rip us off without fighting back - be warned. We at this fanzine are not here just to rake in profits and provide the occasional amusing article, we exist to give the disgruntled fan his say.
Assuming either Chris Robinson or Leslie Deans grant us an interview (which they have done in the past), what would you have us ask them?