HamsterChops wrote:
They did exactly the same last year. The way they're pushing the "Loyalty" campaign is so transparent, it may as well be made out of glass. It's the same thing Chalmers has done since he took over. Constantly asking the fan base to be loyal and using emotional blackmail to make sure they cough up as much money as possible and hand it straight over to the club, playing that loyalty card to mask the fact that actually it's often a rip off.
If it was any other place you were a customer, you'd refuse and tell them where to go. But the emotional attachment makes people overlook it and hand their money over. And Chalmers knows that full well. And honestly, while thousands of people continue to do it, I can't say I blame Chalmers, as it works.
But we
all know that club merchandise is, basically, a rip off and a way to raise money - and absolutely we would never buy from the Hight St on that basis. However we're not expecting any return from the high st, well, not beyond the goods. We
are expecting some return from the club though; we expect a competitive team, with proper back-up and coaching, all run as a professional operation with appropriate staff to deliver all that.
Like it or not, to use an abused term, we truly are stakeholders in all this and one way or another, if we want it, we will have to pay for it. A club, any club, costs. A succesful one costs even more. No-one's arm is being twisted and the "emotional blackmail" is nothing more than reminding folk of that awkward fact. Whilst I fully accept that some will find it difficult/impossible to pay higher prices the vast majority have a simple choice and anyone not happy can just refuse.
The club has made a judgement that the majority will go along with its decision. Let's hope that is correct.
