FAQs regarding our Stop Exploiting Loyalty Campaign:
Why should we care about this – lots of senior citizens aren’t hard up?
Senior citizens are on fixed incomes and many are on very low, fixed incomes – that’s why the government, and many institutions provide specific discounts for pensioners, such as reduced rate travel, concessionary rates in cinemas and theatres etc. These cuts are targeted at supporters who have cheered on the team through thick and thin: they’ve loyally supported the team for decades and should not be penalised now that their working days are over
The Club say Seniors have been passing on their season tickets to full paying members and have pocketed the difference in price – surely that’s not fair.
Up until now there has been no possible way for seniors to sell their tickets and to pass on the difference to the Club. In fact seniors had previously emailed the Club asking how to do this and were told that it was fine to keep the difference.
Now that the Club has found a way for people to pay the difference to them, why not see how well this works and enable people to pay the appropriate rate. This option has never previously been available.
Why are seniors passing on their season ticket anyway?
It’s understandable that, as we age, we might need to miss a few matches, for example whilst recovering from illness / surgery etc. So long as tickets are passed on using the Club’s formal systems, there should be no issue.
You should be focusing on young people – they’re the future after all
We’ve already seen that some other clubs are following in Spurs’ footsteps and reducing their senior offers too. If we tolerate these cuts, then who knows who is next? Seniors today? What cuts to concessions might follow? It’s vital that we all stand together and fight these unfair and unnecessary cuts.
Why should I care?
We hope that as a member of the Trust you would share our commitment to football being a game for everyone, regardless of age, gender, access, needs and income. We successfully lobbied for the introduction of the Young Adult concession category, and we believe that all concessions should be valued and protected. THST have long lobbied for stretch pricing to enable everyone to attend games. We recognise that the Club currently offers affordable tickets for many cup games and still offers concessions on individual match day tickets. However, seniors should not be forced to relinquish their long-held season tickets in order to access concessionary rates. They should not have to sit away from their friends and family, and they should not be made to feel that their support is no longer required.
Why are you bothering with a petition? Petitions are pointless…
Petitions are one way of showing the Club the strength of feeling against their proposals. They are certainly not the only way and we will continue to lobby the government and ensure that the new legislation has teeth to address these issues. We will continue to fight for change via the Fan Advisory Board, along with the other supporter representatives who are unanimous in their opposition. We have supported other groups, such as Save Our Seniors with funding, publicity and on matchdays and we will continue to support initiatives that seek to achieve our shared goals.
What can I do to help?
- Please sign and share our petition widely
- Talk to your friends and family and urge them to take action too
- Share the petition on social media
- Ask seniors that you know, to share their stories with us, and if possible give us permission to share publicly.
If you have further questions, please email us on info@thstofficial.com