Edinburgh season tickets

Anyone know how they are going? RDW - you seem to have contacts at Murrayfield. This will be the acid test of the interest in Scottish rugby and if the tickets don't sell well, we are in the poop because if anHC semi (that sounds a bit rude actually) doesn't work, I don't know what will

Haven't heard anything- Glasgow have been publicising how well theirs are going but Edinburgh haven't, which is a bit worrying.

I'll do some digging!

That doesn't sound good at all. Out of interest, what sort of numbers are we talking about for Glasgow?

Don't know the numbers but they've already sold more than last year.

Good on them. Cash Converters must have been busy recently

Good on them. Cash Converters must have been busy recently

I went on the Edinburgh website on Monday to buy mine and the internet purchase function didn't seem to be working. I was asked to either turn up and purchase in person or download a form and purchase by post. Seemed slightly backwards.

Will check again and try this weekend.

Glasgow had sold 650 or so a month or so ago. I am sure they re-qualified the "Sold More than last year" statement with a "More than this time last year". Last season from what I am hearing we sold just under 1,000 season tickets.

Its hard to judge what final sales will be, as we don't know how many of the 650 "early birds" are like me current season ticket holders who are only renewing at such an early stage, so I can book a decent seat for the season ahead.

I would think we will pass last years total easily enough, with 3 months or so to the season starts and also I know a few people who hold off on renewing until the fixture list is published.

One thing I can't fault is the clubs efforts to push sales. Ok, Ticket prices could have been held or not increased as drastically, what prices are Edinburgh this year? But the effort the club has made with Open Days etc has been first class.

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:Glasgow had sold 650 or so a month or so ago. I am sure they re-qualified the "Sold More than last year" statement with a "More than this time last year". Last season from what I am hearing we sold just under 1,000 season tickets.

Its hard to judge what final sales will be, as we don't know how many of the 650 "early birds" are like me current season ticket holders who are only renewing at such an early stage, so I can book a decent seat for the season ahead.

I would think we will pass last years total easily enough, with 3 months or so to the season starts and also I know a few people who hold off on renewing until the fixture list is published.

One thing I can't fault is the clubs efforts to push sales. Ok, Ticket prices could have been held or not increased as drastically, what prices are Edinburgh this year? But the effort the club has made with Open Days etc has been first class.

Dorothy - how does it work with Scotstoun? Do you actually get assigned a dedicated seat?

Just bought my season ticket at Edinburgh for next season

George Carlin wrote:

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:Glasgow had sold 650 or so a month or so ago. I am sure they re-qualified the "Sold More than last year" statement with a "More than this time last year". Last season from what I am hearing we sold just under 1,000 season tickets.

Its hard to judge what final sales will be, as we don't know how many of the 650 "early birds" are like me current season ticket holders who are only renewing at such an early stage, so I can book a decent seat for the season ahead.

I would think we will pass last years total easily enough, with 3 months or so to the season starts and also I know a few people who hold off on renewing until the fixture list is published.

One thing I can't fault is the clubs efforts to push sales. Ok, Ticket prices could have been held or not increased as drastically, what prices are Edinburgh this year? But the effort the club has made with Open Days etc has been first class.

Dorothy - how does it work with Scotstoun? Do you actually get assigned a dedicated seat?

Yes, its allocated seating. Bit of pain to be honest, but without the capacity at the ground would be about 4,000 so I can fully understand why the club have gone down this route.

Should Season Ticket holders want to bring friends to particular games as long as they phone the club before hand the club will do its best to allow all the party to sit together.

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:Glasgow had sold 650 or so a month or so ago. I am sure they re-qualified the "Sold More than last year" statement with a "More than this time last year". Last season from what I am hearing we sold just under 1,000 season tickets.

Its hard to judge what final sales will be, as we don't know how many of the 650 "early birds" are like me current season ticket holders who are only renewing at such an early stage, so I can book a decent seat for the season ahead.

I would think we will pass last years total easily enough, with 3 months or so to the season starts and also I know a few people who hold off on renewing until the fixture list is published.

One thing I can't fault is the clubs efforts to push sales. Ok, Ticket prices could have been held or not increased as drastically, what prices are Edinburgh this year? But the effort the club has made with Open Days etc has been first class.

Dorothy - how does it work with Scotstoun? Do you actually get assigned a dedicated seat?

Yes, its allocated seating. Bit of pain to be honest, but without the capacity at the ground would be about 4,000 so I can fully understand why the club have gone down this route.

Should Season Ticket holders want to bring friends to particular games as long as they phone the club before hand the club will do its best to allow all the party to sit together.

Yes, the Corporate Man has to be paid and it's probably worth it for such a nice facility (which I still think it is). They'll probably be fine fiddling seating arrangements if it keeps the regulars happy.

Dot - am assuming you already have a brass plaque screwed into the back of your pitchside Lazee-Boy.

George Carlin wrote:

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:Glasgow had sold 650 or so a month or so ago. I am sure they re-qualified the "Sold More than last year" statement with a "More than this time last year". Last season from what I am hearing we sold just under 1,000 season tickets.

Its hard to judge what final sales will be, as we don't know how many of the 650 "early birds" are like me current season ticket holders who are only renewing at such an early stage, so I can book a decent seat for the season ahead.

I would think we will pass last years total easily enough, with 3 months or so to the season starts and also I know a few people who hold off on renewing until the fixture list is published.

One thing I can't fault is the clubs efforts to push sales. Ok, Ticket prices could have been held or not increased as drastically, what prices are Edinburgh this year? But the effort the club has made with Open Days etc has been first class.

Dorothy - how does it work with Scotstoun? Do you actually get assigned a dedicated seat?

Yes, its allocated seating. Bit of pain to be honest, but without the capacity at the ground would be about 4,000 so I can fully understand why the club have gone down this route.

Should Season Ticket holders want to bring friends to particular games as long as they phone the club before hand the club will do its best to allow all the party to sit together.

Dot - am assuming you already have a brass plaque screwed into the back of your pitchside Lazee-Boy.

Any more news on the venue for the pre-season friendly versus the Chiefs, Dot?

I've actually not gone for an Edinburgh season ticket. It is mainly financial (I ain't got 180 quid kicking about!) but I also don't think I'd actually save much. The big savings they are qouting are based on £20 buy at the gate tickets. I pretty much always buy my tickets in advance so only costs me £15. I would have to go to 12 games before I started seeing any kind of saving, and I don't think I make it to that many a season.

Yes it has its advantages - like not having to order tickets every week - but with the "print your tickets at home" system they now have that is now no problem at all.

So it's not for me, and I'm not that interested in having a seat as I always stand now!

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Any more news on the venue for the pre-season friendly versus the Chiefs, Dot?

Not yet, was mentioned that a number of venues are being looked at and not all are in Glasgow.

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Any more news on the venue for the pre-season friendly versus the Chiefs, Dot?

Not yet, was mentioned that a number of venues are being looked at and not all are in Glasgow.

Burnbrae the favourite then?

I'll be going to games as and when I can, but with my ob I can't be sure where I'll be any given Friday or Saturday, hence a Season ticket isn't a smart Idea.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I've actually not gone for an Edinburgh season ticket. It is mainly financial (I ain't got 180 quid kicking about!) but I also don't think I'd actually save much. The big savings they are qouting are based on £20 buy at the gate tickets. I pretty much always buy my tickets in advance so only costs me £15. I would have to go to 12 games before I started seeing any kind of saving, and I don't think I make it to that many a season.

Yes it has its advantages - like not having to order tickets every week - but with the "print your tickets at home" system they now have that is now no problem at all.

So it's not for me, and I'm not that interested in having a seat as I always stand now!

RDW, game prices are up to 25 quid on the day 20 in advance. So you only have to make 9 out of 14, 15 if you include the friendly, hence why I've bought an Embra ST this season. For the first time I may add, as like you I just rocked up to games when I could last year.

Where you got that from? They've kept that quiet! Bad move imo - need to being the crowds in and raising prices wont help

RDW_Scotland wrote:Where you got that from? They've kept that quiet! Bad move imo - need to being the crowds in and raising prices wont help

They announced it at the end of the season, can't find the link, but its also on all the ST promos at the end of every article on the site, this;

2012/13 season ticket membership

Unreserved/roving season ticket %age saving on match tickets* Reserved seat**

Adult £180 50% £225

Student / Senior citizen £100 46% £135

U18 £50 33% £70

* Saving based on 2012/13 match-ticket prices: Adult (£20/£25 on the day), Student (£10/£10 on the day), U18 (£5/£5 on the day), Senior Citizen (£12.50/£12.50 on the day)

If I was you I'd get in there and get a ST.

Bawbags! Nae cash unfortunately...

Couple of months to go. No more shelling out for the rest of the season after that, so worth thinking about.

As an aside I think it would be a good idea for the club to set up a Direct Debit option. Say 6 payments of 30, there are lots of small firms who will run that sort of things for pennies per transaction, I used to use one when I worked for a charity.

Yeah that would be perfect, but they probably need upfront cash.

Really annoyed if they've raised prices! Can really see it affecting attendances - that's more than some SPL games.

RDW_Scotland wrote:that's more than some SPL games.

Quite right. The SPL will be a nonsense next season. Ross County vs Motherwell. They'd have to pay me to go, and I'm a pretty big football fan.

Agree though that ticket rises are not a smart move. They should freeze them, and simply promote to sell more. Grow the engine as they say. It's not as if supply is an issue here. I'll eat my hat the day they actually sell out Murrayfield for an Edinburgh game.

Yes, there have been some exciting signings, but on the back of a dismal season in the league last year, raising tickets from £15 to £20 is a steep rise on those circumstances.

The ticket price rise seem a bit steep to me too.
£20 per ticket for a game isn't going to encourage many new fans to come along especially when a lot of people are struggling financially at the moment.
Surely to encourage more people through the gate and get a decent crowd at murrayfield they should have been lowering the prices to maybe £10 for adults and £5 for students and kids.
If they do this then they would get a bigger crowd as I know alot of people at my rugby club are keen to go see Edinburgh play but don't want to pay what they are asking for tickets currently.
Lower the price and they will get a bigger crowd and make just as much money if not slightly more through merchandise, food, drink sales.
Also the marketing people at edinburgh/sru need to really make a bigger effort into getting new fans in, especially the large student population in Edinburgh which has not been tapped into. Have some promotions like a free pint when you come to a game and that will draw a lot of new fans. The potential is there for a big fan base to come to games but it just isn't being tapped into.

As far as the ticket price rises are concerned, they have been a few years in the pipeline... Both Glasgow and Edinburgh had been running close to the edge of the profit margin with regards to ticket prices and it seems that it was decided that they had to raise the prices this year to make sure both teams could afford to pay for themselves.
Glasgow season tickets are definitely on the up from last year and as far as I can remember they were very close to the 1000 mark last time I was over at the office...

Some great banter from the Edinburgh guys on Twitter - someone has wrapped Tim Visser's fancy beemer entirely in cling film for his arrival home! I don't think he's very happy about it....

Just seen that Bristol have signed Kyle Traynor. Really pleased about that. He's still young and whilst I don't think he's good enough to play for Edinburgh, I don't like to see players drop out of the system. Props tend to peak in their late 20's/early 30's, so young Kyle may well turn out to be useful.

Yeah it's a good move for him - Bristol are an AP club in terms of professionalism and set up, plus they won't make the same mistake next season by not getting promotted (unless the London Welsh appeal means Newcastle get relegated).

Do think the Bristol coach was being a tad over-enthusiastic when he described him as an "excellent" scrummager!

Great to see that the Edinburgh stalwarts - Godman, JT and Traynor have got clubs. Will be intresting to see is Kelly, Macdonald and Gilding continue with pro rugby somwehere.

Although there are rumours that Al has been persuaded to play in the Royal High School FP's game against the school first 15 tonight! Should be interesting if he does...

RDW_Scotland wrote:Although there are rumours that Al has been persuaded to play in the Royal High School FP's game against the school first 15 tonight! Should be interesting if he does...

Seems a tad unfair on the school XV!

I remember watching a uni rugby match in which my side lost. Thought the opposition hooker was a bit handy. It was Anton Oliver.....

The school first XV when Al Macdonald and Ben Cairns were in 6th year is still the only school team to beat the Royal High FPs (now RHC Cougars) in an FPs match! I came off the bench for 20 mins at the end so am claiming some credit.

Al was a total beast and Cairnsy just ran the show.

Those were the days!

I must have just missed you RDW. I played in that game for a few years but not that one

No way??? Small world eh! Might have to pm you to find out how small a world it really is!

Way!

Due to our newly improved financial situation (the Mrs has just got a new credit card) we're thinking of getting season tickets!

Out of interest what phyiscally are the season tickets? The website mentions a membership card that what you use - is that what it is? Credit card or something like that?

Always thought it was paper vouchers that tore off every game. Maybe that's old fashioned now!

I don't know - they haven't delivered it yet (although they took the money pretty sharpish!).

Am hoping for a credit card type of thing, will let you know when it comes through.

They have the electronic scanners for the print at home tickets so would be good if they extended it to season tickets

Still no sign of my ticket either. Receipt had the normal tickets posted 4 days before the game blurb.

Back to the original question, anyone know how sales are going?

Oh, and OT, but has anyone heard anything about a new forwards coach? Bit worrying that we're well into pre-season without one.

The rumour in the Rugby Paper at the weekend, justified, was Neil Back - could be decent?

Thanks AsBO, that's interesting, I missed that. Always liked him as a player, (lying - hated him as he was playing for the oppo), let's settle for respected him as a player. Not sure how he's come on as a coach though?

Has he not recently confirmed his future with that lower league team?

He had a troubled time with Leeds, then turned up at the Rugby Lions in ND3(?) with a big financial backer, but that proved to be all smoke and mirrors, and Back ended up paying players out of his own pocket apparently. He quit at the end of the season

I wish for once we'd get a grizzled, experienced forwards coach instead of a young inexperienced coach like we always seem to get.

Not heard the Back rumour - will see how it pans out. We've got great potential in the forwards but really need a decent coach to push us to the next level.

So who would you like RDW? Most forwards/backs coaches see it as a stepping stone to the main job, so difficult to find. Most good ones are signed up, pinching one would probably not come cheap.

On the specialist coach to head coach let's not forget when we tried a very good backs coach as a head coach at Embra.

I have no idea - coaches are a lot more under the radar than players in terms of knowing who is who, so cant think of any names.

Nor do I, join the club.

What concerns me is that most clubs will have their coaches in place already, so we may have to scrape the barrel for someone

Personally I'd fully endorse Neil Back's appointment. He's got good recent experience in the game, and whilst I think the head coach job at Leeds came too soon for him, I suspect he has a pretty good handle on forwards coaching, particularly breakdown techniques.

The issue with a grizzled veteran is whether they'll be up to speed with current rulings and techniques, one of the advantages of having a recently retired player. As an example, Jim Telfer is probably the most grizzled forwards coach of all time, but I suspect he's probably had his day.

One of the most highly rated forwards coaches in the business is Rowntree, hardly a grizzled coach. I reckon Back could be equally as good, especially when given the chance to focus on the forwards solely.

I would add the crucial importance of the forwards coach understanding how key the link play between forwards and backs is, especially under the brand of rugby Bradley employs. Neil Back was one of the best link forwards to have played the game, hopefully as a coach he can impart some of that to the Edinburgh forwards.