Shrimpsvoices

So what happened last night.....

Not much by the silence on social media

Generally fans priced out, a friend was there that had previously won a table of 10, "Santa" was also there.
No kit reveal till Tuesday, (which was often the highlight for fans in previous years) It also started half an hour early and was soon into Disco mode.

Player sponsor board didn't look busy, Cole only went for £225, certainly not the heights of years ago but i expect most of the people in the room didn't know the players?
Derek was sponsored for £600 and Les £500...

Oh and I won 3rd prize in the draw

Just picking up on the point that the kit should be launched at the Gala Draw - I really don't think that it should. The kit needs to be launched much earlier IMO - we should not be waiting around for a black tie event on the eve of the season that by design is supposed to be for sponsors and excludes general supporters.

I understand that the club have been reluctant to release the new kit so far because they've been let down by suppliers and are waiting for stock to arrive. They have to launch on Tuesday regardless, as we play our first preseason game that day. Ideally they wanted to launch the new strips and have it available to sell in the club shop simultaneously.

Given the difficulty getting replica shirts last season, and the delays getting the order this time around - it makes more sense launching much earlier as "coming soon" and having an option to preorder. That way they can monitor stock levels for sizes, and perhaps be in a position to place another order before the first one even arrives. Last season I was unable to buy my nephew a strip because it seemed to be permanently out of stock in his size all season.

RedRedWine wrote:Just picking up on the point that the kit should be launched at the Gala Draw - I really don't think that it should. The kit needs to be launched much earlier IMO - we should not be waiting around for a black tie event on the eve of the season that by design is supposed to be for sponsors and excludes general supporters.

I understand that the club have been reluctant to release the new kit so far because they've been let down by suppliers and are waiting for stock to arrive. They have to launch on Tuesday regardless, as we play our first preseason game that day. Ideally they wanted to launch the new strips and have it available to sell in the club shop simultaneously.

Given the difficulty getting replica shirts last season, and the delays getting the order this time around - it makes more sense launching much earlier as "coming soon" and having an option to preorder. That way they can monitor stock levels for sizes, and perhaps be in a position to place another order before the first one even arrives. Last season I was unable to buy my nephew a strip because it seemed to be permanently out of stock in his size all season.

Not strictly true as fans could attend if they forked out £40 as has happened at all other Gala evenings.

As for the late availability of the kit it transpires that other clubs are suffering the same problem from other manufacturers as well so not sure how soon the club would have had to order to ensure deliveries pre season. Our order will be small in favour of bigger clubs unfortunately,

redrobo wrote:Not strictly true as fans could attend if they forked out £40 as has happened at all other Gala evenings.
,

It was £40 in the past when a table of ten was £450, it is now £1000 with the organiser getting a free ticket, so £900.
£100 a head, plus raffle and kings n queens, for a 'fan' is out of reach for most

redrobo wrote:

RedRedWine wrote:Just picking up on the point that the kit should be launched at the Gala Draw - I really don't think that it should. The kit needs to be launched much earlier IMO - we should not be waiting around for a black tie event on the eve of the season that by design is supposed to be for sponsors and excludes general supporters.

I understand that the club have been reluctant to release the new kit so far because they've been let down by suppliers and are waiting for stock to arrive. They have to launch on Tuesday regardless, as we play our first preseason game that day. Ideally they wanted to launch the new strips and have it available to sell in the club shop simultaneously.

Given the difficulty getting replica shirts last season, and the delays getting the order this time around - it makes more sense launching much earlier as "coming soon" and having an option to preorder. That way they can monitor stock levels for sizes, and perhaps be in a position to place another order before the first one even arrives. Last season I was unable to buy my nephew a strip because it seemed to be permanently out of stock in his size all season.

Not strictly true as fans could attend if they forked out £40 as has happened at all other Gala evenings.

As for the late availability of the kit it transpires that other clubs are suffering the same problem from other manufacturers as well so not sure how soon the club would have had to order to ensure deliveries pre season. Our order will be small in favour of bigger clubs unfortunately,

Marky has elaborated on the point that I was making re the gala draw - you are way out on the cost.

Regarding replica kit, if you read my post, although lead times are the reason for the current delay in launching - I'm arguing that these should be largely irrelevant anyway as we should be unveiling the kit a lot sooner than we currently do and allow people an opportunity to preorder. To me its just common sense, particularly if we are back of the queue as you hypothesise - get people spending from the end of the previous season, and give yourself the information that you need to accurately procure the correct quantities of stock. We've a limited window to actually sell merchandise anyway, as after Christmas everything gets discounted before it becomes obsolete. To me it makes very little sense to delay releasing the kit for as long as we have.

Pre order online is from 7.30 tomorrow night, just before kick off

Oh well, pre order has already started online, liking the blue shirt, shame both 3XL sizes are already sold out, dont know how that works for pre order, but if that is right they need to get ordering more, sharpish

Like both of the kits but the red one although rather simple is a touch of class in my opinion.

The blue away kit is certainly different and is unique to our club.

Well done to the design committee on our BoD....

Does anyone know if there is discount for season ticket holders / trust members etc

Redalert1970 wrote:Does anyone know if there is discount for season ticket holders / trust members etc

Previously there has been 10% or buy one get one half price, but it looks like a straight £47 now

marky No.1 wrote:

Redalert1970 wrote:Does anyone know if there is discount for season ticket holders / trust members etc

Previously there has been 10% or buy one get one half price, but it looks like a straight £47 now

We have gone from around 700 to maybe 3,000 season ticket holders so that would be a lot more discounts of 10% if all ST holders buy shirts.

I think the very good value season tickets more than compensate for a discount of £4-70p on a replica shirt.