Stoke offer free coach travel for all away games

[SLAMMED]

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/wor ... 22308.html

Wonder if any more clubs will follow suit.

[SPARTA]

In the grand scheme of things it's not going to cost a Premier League football club a great deal, so good on them for doing this. With a poor away support like ours this would be a good idea here.

[SLAMMED]

Exactly. The cost of all the extra tickets sold would probably offset the cost of the coaches anyway.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Exactly. The cost of all the extra tickets sold would probably offset the cost of the coaches anyway.

it might if we made any money on away ticket sales.

On the other hand, how much does it cost to hire a coach? £500? How many are we likely to fill even of they were free?

For some reason the number of fans we take on coaches is tiny compared to most clubs, and even if it was free, I doubt we'd add any more than 100 or so extra fans at away games by coach, and many of those would be people who'd have driven up normally.

[Platypuss]

Exactly. The cost of all the extra tickets sold would probably offset the cost of the coaches anyway.

it might if we made any money on away ticket sales.

On the other hand, how much does it cost to hire a coach? £500? How many are we likely to fill even of they were free?

For some reason the number of fans we take on coaches is tiny compared to most clubs, and even if it was free, I doubt we'd add any more than 100 or so extra fans at away games by coach, and many of those would be people who'd have driven up normally.

Pretty sure we get 10% of the away ticket price when they are sold from the MadStad. We certainly always used to.

[Alexander Litvinenko]

All PL clubs will be given an extra share of the new TV money "to be used to benefit fans" - this is how Stoke will be using it. Cardiff, I think will be giving free car parking to away fans, but not sure what the other 18 are doing yet.

Part of it is to try and help reduce falling away attendances, and the rest of the idea behind it is PL officials and chairmen thinking "we've got all this extra money, if we just give it to the clubs like any other money then players will demand wage increases ... so let's earmark it for something different so the players can't get their hands on it."

All power to them for that, but coach travel is a crap was yo spend it as it only benefits those who can bear to go to games by coach.

[Badger Finger]

I would rather rip out my own eyeballs than travel by coach.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Kudos to Stoke for doing it. Top gesture & RFC would absolutely benefit from something similar IMO.

[winchester_royal]

I would rather rip out my own eyeballs than travel by coach.

+15

[PieEater]

It sounds like a good idea, but how are they going to stop it should they ever get relegated? There'll be an outcry.

[Ian Royal]

It sounds like a good idea, but how are they going to stop it should they ever get relegated? There'll be an outcry.

Especially if it takes a few seasons and everyone has forgotten how they're funding it and why they did it.