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ULTIMATE SAINTS
Are we fans or customers?
by Jamie Dear
14-04-04
'Your Team, Your World, Your Adventure'. The start of a new business motivation video? The end of a sci-fi adventure thriller? No, actually. It is, in fact, the new Southampton FC slogan for the 2004-5 season, replacing this season's rather lamentable 'Red Hot' slogan. It can be found on the front of a letter that dropped through my door last week, impersonally addressed 'Dear season-ticket holder', though reassuringly signed by Rupert Lowe (with 'warm wishes'). But it begged a question in my mind: Is it really 'my team'? Especially considering that financial pressures are forcing me to reluctantly relinquish my season-ticket next season (crossing the threshold between being a 'teenager' and an 'adult' means a season-ticket is, sadly, unattainable on a student loan).
We live in an increasingly commercial football climate. Ten years ago, at the Dell and under directors with limited financial savvy, Saints hadn't adapted to this climate. Lowe's leadership has seen the club not only adapt to this market, but ruthlessly exploit it. It is now possible to wake up in the morning, throw off your red-and-white duvet cover, gaze out of the window of your house (bought with a mortgage from Southampton Financial Services and insured by Southampton Insurance Services - advertised as a 'great idea' by financial expert Claus Lundekvam), turn on The Saint radio station while having breakfast, flick through the Saints Mag, stroke the dog (insured by Southampton Pet Insurance - yes, really!), get changed for work, pulling on your fashionable Southampton formal shirt and tie, check your wallet to ensure your Southampton FC credit card is there, get into your Southampton Smart car, insured by Saints Motor Insurance - get the picture? A couple of side-questions are raised here. First, does anyone actually use these financial schemes? (If anyone is interested, do call 'Mark' or 'Jason' at the numbers on the website). And, secondly, as many other clubs don't seem to have such financial schemes, could us Saints fans perhaps be a little more creative in our matchday chants? Instead of 'if Heskey plays for England so can I', why not cry 'Heskey plays for England, but is his Rottweiler covered by Southampton Pet Insurance?' (especially important if he lives on Merseyside). Or, instead of encouraging Pompey Westwood to stick his bell up his backside, why not sing 'Ok, he has a bell, but has it been insured by Mark or Jason?'
But we are getting side-tracked from the main issue here, the question of whether the commercial success of Southampton FC has alienated the fan from the club. Is Lowe's running of the club great financial leadership or ruthless exploitation? Are we seen as 'fans' or as 'customers' and are we being taken for granted? This is an issue of increasing importance in the context of the 10% increase on season tickets for next season and the introduction of a new platinum band for matches. With pre-season tours, travel expenses, away-match costs, the cost of merchandise etc. the expense of supporting the Saints has never been higher.
So, are the season-ticket cost increases valid? On the pitch, the football served up this season has been a bit like Sven-Goran Eriksson's post-match press conferences: bland, boring, dull and predictable. But, like Sven's love life, things can occasionally get very interesting. At times this season Saints have reached that 'next level' of football that we all desire to see. It is a sign of the success of the club as a whole that the fans have been slightly disappointed simply by being in the upper-mid table reaches of the league.
Off the pitch, Saints are now a financial paradigm for any football club. Lowe and his board must take great credit for the work they have done - including massively expanding the commercial side of the club. Since 1999, annual turnover has increased by a massive 307% to almost £50m. This is an outstanding achievement, obviously helped by the move to St Mary's, another Lowe masterstroke. The move has been the biggest contributory factor to Southampton's current success.
The increase in season-ticket prices shows the club are not prepared to stand still. One of the fans' greatest pre-season criticisms is of the lack of ambition shown by the club in big-name signings. There is a paradox here: we fans often want the club to show ambition, but at a minimal cost to ourselves. We must realise that, if we are to move forward as a club, we have to pay the price of funding better-paid stars to raise us up the league.
There are, however, two concerns that spring to mind, both relating to Chairman Lowe. The first concern is of the massive increase in his wages. Undoubtedly Lowe has achieved much at Saints. But a look at the figures shows that between 1999 and 2003 his total annual salary has increased by a whopping 280%, to £406,513. Andrew Cowen, Joint Managing Director of the club, has seen a similar wage rise of 253% in just four years. To put this into context, if one combined their total increase in wages since 1999, this would be enough to increase the cost of each of the current 22,000 season tickets owned by the fans by £20. There are those who suggest that they have deserved their wage rises. I agree to an extent. But, given that Lowe consistently criticises the scourge of wage inflation, and, given that season-tickets are to increase primarily because, according to Cowen, "our costs keep rising because of 'unfortunate' wage increases", surely Lowe, Cowen and the board need to curb their escalating wages too.
The second point is this: despite the club seemingly wanting to be ambitious, it seems this ambition is not extended to certain areas. First, one might think that an ambitious club would be willing to take the risk of making a small loss so that more of their loyal fans can go and support the club playing away against the Champions League semi-finalists. And second, one might think that an ambitious club could accept constructive criticism from both fans and the local media. The answer is, rather mystifyingly, 'no' on both accounts. Witness the Chelsea ticket fiasco. Witness Lowe's agitation with the fans and the Echo over 'Hoddle-gate'. The rantings against the 'lunatic fringe' and the absurd suggestion that, often, the majority are wrong have won Lowe few friends among the fans. The consistent criticisms of the Echo are becoming tiresome but does he want the paper to be a Pravda-esque propaganda mouthpiece?
It does, sadly, appear that the club, in general, views the fans as customers. Perhaps I am being too sentimental when I lament the passing of an age in which the club felt more open, more honest. The lamentable 'Tell Rupert' scheme is more an exercise in self-promotion on the part of Lowe than an exercise in openness. It would be a shame if the club - whose greatest quality has always been its friendliness and honesty - were to lose loyal fans through this 'closing of ranks' and through out-pricing hardcore, faithful supporters.
It is all very well criticising from the comfort of an armchair, but is there any way we can help reconnect fan and club? I suggest three ways. First, the club needs to be more open, to have more dialogue between fan and club and to end the silly feud with the Echo. Second, a greater variation in season-ticket prices is necessary: increase the prices for seats in certain areas and use the revenue to subsidise cheaper seats in other areas. Third, Lowe, Cowen and the board need to consider if their wage increases are truly proportionate to the job they do. Oh, and one more thing: initiate student season-ticket prices! Introduce all these suggestions and then it really could be 'Our Team, Our World, Our Adventure'.
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