Why do I get a Season Ticket?

It can’t be to enjoy the football can it? That hardly ever happens these days.

So what is it that not only compels me to go but which also compels me to get a season ticket?

It works out as being quite cost-effective. Getting an ST probably lines up 5 or 6 free games compared to the total cost of paying on the day each time but that isn’t it either. To be honest the psychological wrench of handing over £400 is far greater than the drip drip drip of paying £24/match as you go. I know that there is the direct debit scheme being run by the club so I don’t actually see £400 disappearing from my bank account at any one time but you know what I mean.

It’s not the cosy, altruistic feel of contributing to the club in the Summer months either. I do get that feeling, of course, but it does not sway me one way or another when it comes down to it. I like feeling that I am “in the club”, as it were, and my ST (or membership as the club likes to refer to it) certainly makes me a member but it isn’t really that either no matter how positive that might be.

I get a discount in the club shop. Well that too is wonderful and that too makes almost no difference to me.

So there is a list of things, all of them good, which have minimal impact on my decision making process. So now you know what does not make me buy an ST but not yet what does!! Here goes:

I get an ST mostly because I cannot be bothered with getting a ticket in advance every week. If I did that then I might not be able to get a seat with my friends and if you can’t go with your mates then the social aspect of a day at the football has gone leaving behind only the game and we all know how unrewarding that tends to be!!

I also get one because I want to be as sure as I can that I will be able to get a ticket for the big games when they come along. We’ve not had many of them recently but the Arsenal cup-tie last year was a case in point and the 9000 tickets went to the ST holders with very few left over for anybody else.

And that is it really. I like saving money, helping the club, being a member and discount in the club shop and I am grateful for all of those things but I don’t really want or need them. What I do want and need is to be there and to be there with my mates with as little hassle as possible. That’s why I get an ST.