Bluedell 5,329 Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 RANGERS Chief Executive Martin Bain has spoken for the first time on a number of important topics as the new season opens. He revealed record season ticket sales, explained the reasoning behind the five per cent charge on the sale of away tickets and insisted work is still being done to bolster the squad ahead of the new campaign. During the interview, the Chief Executive also announced exciting plans for Ibrox that will make it amongst the most cutting-edge in European football. He said: "We are well on target to set a new record of 44,000 season ticket holders which has been achieved as a result of our new ticketing strategy enabling a higher saleable capacity within the stadium. In the past four seasons we have reached highs of 42,500 but on the back of last season, the demand for the coming campaign has been such that we will hit the new record figure. "Last season was a journey beyond all expectation for Rangers supporters and was what we all aspire to, which is Rangers competing at the highest level in Europe and on all fronts domestically. The last day of the SPL season was our only downside. "Our new strategy aims to make football more affordable to families, and to maintain and create a great atmosphere in the stadium where supporters are safe. It wasn't just about pricing however, we also wanted to provide some additional benefits to season ticket holders. The first of these takes place on Friday with a free training day which will be a great day out for families. "To date the initiative has resulted in an 11 per cent rise in juvenile season ticket holders with many more on the waiting list and we are absolutely delighted with the ongoing response from the fans. "We had 19 European games last season and with the financial pressures in our economy today we could not have asked for more from our supporters, their commitment has been second to none. Tickets for tomorrow's Kaunas game are going really well and the Liverpool match on Saturday is fast approaching sell-out. "Last year we identified the need to address the playing surface and other aspects of the stadium infrastructure, resulting in the commitment of capital expenditure for an interim overhaul. We have ensured that the items invested in are easily transportable should our long term development plans come to fruition. "First on the agenda was restructuring the pitch and Walter Smith told me yesterday that he is delighted with the new playing surface. "Despite the inclement weather in Scotland we are confident we will have no problems with our pitch this season and let's hope it is the same scenario at every other SPL ground. We have invested in our pitch and it would be good to see the other clubs investing in a similar way to avoid the problems of last season. "Our next priority was to introduce a fully integrated stadium entertainment system. This will be phased in from the first SPL home game where our new state of the art LED perimeter advertising system and LED scoreboards will be unveiled. "The perimeter advertising will run the complete length of the Copland, Broomloan and Govan stands. In September we will install LED jumbotrons, giving Ibrox one of the most ambitious media and entertainment systems in British football. We plan to introduce the system into the concourses thereafter. Even the dugouts, uniforms and Club ties are changing!" Rangers begin the SPL campaign on August 9 against Falkirk, one of four clubs who have refused to accept the Old Firm plan of a five per cent charge for the sale of away tickets. Bain remains unrepentant at the approach taken and commented: "It is incredulous that despite our attempts to explain this rationally to other clubs, some of them continue to refuse to accept our approach. Rangers supporters travel the length and breadth of the country, often paying premium prices for grounds which are often found lacking in their overall facilities. This is about our fans. I believe they more than pay their way in Scottish football and we want to alleviate some of the financial pressure. "I am also disappointed at the other clubs lack of understanding of our continual efforts to make it as easy as possible to distribute their tickets with minimal cost and effort on their behalf. We help maximise ticket sales for SPL away grounds to the region of �£2.5million, but accept that this comes at a cost, hence our proposal for the reciprocal arrangement. This would allow us to remove the costs currently borne by our fans. "I am surprised that other clubs have failed to realise that we have maintained a core fan base for away matches and that base may drop off given the convoluted systems they are operating to sell tickets to Rangers fans. "The actions we have taken have been in the best interests of our fans and the Club and we hope this is recognised by our travelling support, despite the complicated and difficult route that may now exist to obtain tickets for fixtures that were once easy to obtain." The Rangers Chief Executive hopes that those who choose to sell to Old Firm fans directly will ensure that they take all the responsibilities which accompany this decision. He said: "The SPL guidelines are such that every person who buys a ticket has to supply their name and address, and I now look to the SPL to ensure that while these other clubs have taken it upon themselves to sell these tickets that they record all these details. That said, it is unfortunate that I won't have the same level of awareness of whom the tickets are now being sold to. "At this stage Falkirk, Hibs, Hearts and Dundee United have indicated that they will sell tickets to our fans themselves and we await confirmation of the official response from the remaining clubs." Although the signing deadline has passed for tomorrow's Champions League qualifying match with Kaunas, the Chief Executive insisted that work is still being done on the playing front. He said: "We are still working hard to make sure we have a squad capable of challenging on all fronts. "The nature of Rangers is such that we are constantly linked with players with no foundation. But we are used to that and know what our priorities are. I am confident through experience of transfer windows in recent years that there will be movement, both in and out, in the weeks ahead. Walter has a core squad to meet the immediate challenges, although we are disappointed to have picked up a couple of injuries at this early stage." http://www.rangers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,5~1353740,00.html 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,151 Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 I'm glad that they club admin are taking the time to finally explain a few issues but there's not really much for the fans to get their teeth into there... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 I'm against the campaign for plain English as it would reduce the richness of our language but I would join a campaign for CLEAR English. That statement seems more designed to confuse than to clarify. I can't make much sense of it. It seems he's saying we increased season ticket sales due to the amazing initiative of offering a free training day. I would like to know exactly what they've done to the pitch to make it playable in all conditions, but no explanation is there. Maybe Harry Potter has cast a spell on it or something... I can't believe that more intrusive and distracting advertising will provide the ultimate entertainment system. Maybe it's to distract from the perceived lack of entertainment on the park. And is that the full stadium announcement due since May? With a capacity increase of zero. And Rangers are charging clubs 5% distribution fee to SAVE Rangers fans money - please, please explain how. Either Bain is a half-wit with a thesaurus and "Technobabble for Dummies", or he's deliberately trying to pull the wool over the fans eyes. I can see from this why he is so detested. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisabeer 409 Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 I was fully expecting an update on the proposed new stadium (rememer the 70,000 seater pipe dream!) but what the hell maybe they were only pulling our leg with that one! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
juffery 0 Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 I was fully expecting an update on the proposed new stadium (rememer the 70,000 seater pipe dream!) but what the hell maybe they were only pulling our leg with that one! That was made very clear WE HAVE A GREAT IDEA NEW STADIUM, MILLIONS OF SEATS, BLAH BLAH BLAH but that might not happen we have other ideas too 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wija 0 Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 "Despite the inclement weather in Scotland we are confident we will have no problems with our pitch this season" OK, we shall see on that front! Calscot, they are charging the clubs a handling fee for the tickets as we always pretty much fill the away end (as to the Dhims). This fact means they always make money from us, Rangers want to charge them for that privelege, as teams such as Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Dundee, Hibs and Hertz never take more than a few hundred. It does not mean the tickets will be priced higher.... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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