By Mark Davis

The cost of Silver Membership goes up again

When Arsenal first launched the Ticket Registration Scheme (TRS) back in the Highbury days (since re-branded as Silver membership), the cost was £19 per season. And each time you purchased a ticket for a home match, you received a £1 discount, meaning of course that if you bought a ticket for every game, you would recoup your outlay of £19 and the scheme would be free.

How far they have sunk from that worthy beginning. Somewhere along the line – I forget exactly when – the price increased to £26, and the discount against each ticket bought disappeared, turning the now re-branded Silver membership into a nice little earner for the club. Of course, Arsenal never told us the discount would disappear, and neither did they tell us the cost was increasing; they simply sent our renewals in the new amount. This was a sign of things to come.

Having charged us £26 simply for the privilege of buying tickets for a few seasons, they woke up to this money-making opportunity in time for the 2011/2012 renewals, which were offered at £39 for the season — an absolutely whopping 50% increase in the cost. In keeping with the now established norm, when Arsenal kindly invited us to renew at this new bargain price, they once again couldn’t be bothered to mention the increase in the accompanying letter; it was simply stated as the cost for that season. You might think they would feel moved to apologise for such an increase, and to make some attempt to explain and justify it, but that most basic level of customer service was clearly too much trouble, so they didn’t bother.

When I wrote to complain, not only about this mammoth increase, but also about the sly, underhand way they had implemented it, I received what was clearly a standard response which, when you stripped away the window dressing, basically said there are thousands on the waiting list, mate, so if you don’t like it, kindly sod off and we’ll sell it to the next punter. When I pursued the issue with a further letter, challenging the weak and feeble points they had offered, I was completely ignored and no further correspondence was forthcoming from the club.

The team’s performances on the pitch may be frustratingly inconsistent, but that is not a failing of the faceless, corporate money-makers behind the scenes. Certainly not.

True to form, this year’s renewal has emerged and, yes, it’s gone up again. This time the increase is to £45 (for Silver lite – I believe it’s £55 for Silver…erm…heavy?), thereby contenting themselves with a mere 15% increase for the coming season. Still, when coupled with last year’s rise, it means the cost has gone from £26 to £45 in just two years. That is a quite breathtaking 73% increase and, once again, they made no attempt to excuse or justify it, or to offer even the merest semblance of an apology for the latest hike. The letter simply states the cost for the year, along with some marketing drivel. Naturally, I have already despatched my complaint to the club, but having emailed them over a week ago (at the time of writing), I have yet to receive a response.

Quite frankly, Arsenal’s behaviour in the whole matter is nothing short of a disgrace. Safe in the knowledge that fans are not customers – we can’t simply go to another club because it’s cheaper, the way you might shop at Asda instead of Sainsbury’s — they plan to abuse their position to the maximum. To paraphrase Denis Healey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government of the early ’70s, Arsenal obviously intend to “squeeze the fans until the pips squeak”, and to make no apology for so doing.

The basic increases in price are shocking enough. Remember, Silver Membership doesn’t actually buy you anything; it simply buys you the right to buy something, i.e. a match ticket. The cost of that Silver membership now exceeds the cost of actually attending a match, which has to be unacceptable in anyone’s language. But if that were not bad enough, perhaps the most offensive aspect of all this is Arsenal’s total contempt and disregard for the fans. Never once have they made the increase public, made even the slightest attempt to justify or explain it, and certainly they have never troubled themselves to offer even the most insincere of apologies.

Arsenal is my club, as it was my Dad’s and my Grandad’s. I’m 51 and have supported the club for over 40 years through thick and thin. But since our move to Ashburton Grove, they think and act more and more like a big, faceless corporation, trading on fans’ loyalty to fleece them with ever-higher prices for tickets, memberships, food, drink and anything else they can think of. I used to love Arsenal with a passion. Identify with the club. Feel part of it. But since we left Highbury, they seem intent on destroying that connection with the fans, and the behaviour over the TRS pricing exemplifies that. The scale of the price hikes, the failure to be honest about them, to justify them, even to bother to apologise for them, is a shameful disgrace — an exercise in contempt for the fans of which the club should be truly ashamed. I can safely say I have never felt so disconnected from my club and so disillusioned with them.

Arsenal used to be a byword for class, for doing things the right way. No longer, it seems. I hold them out as a disgrace. I call them to account for their shameful, appalling, contemptible treatment of their supporters. I ask that they explain themselves, apologise for their shameful behaviour and undertake to start treating their fans with a great deal more appreciation and respect.

Unfortunately, since the move to Ashburton Grove, they act increasingly like a faceless corporation, and therefore I expect no such change and that my hope for improvement will remain unfulfilled.

Subsequent to the submission of this piece, the club finally got around to responding. Here is what they had to say…

Dear Mark Davis
Thank you for your email.
We do understand and empathise in respect of this matter. I do appreciate that your email is detailed and heartfelt and I do apologise for the brevity of my response.
In respect of this issue, there is a paragraph within the membership Q and A’s that addresses the increase in cost of Silver membership. This was a joint response issued by the commercial, communications and marketing departments.
“Why have we increased membership again?
Silver Membership provides you with a priority window for ticket access two months ahead of the fixture, and one month ahead of Red Membership. Silver Members have a far higher probability of securing a ticket for the match in the location they want than Red Members. Unlike Red membership it is a closed scheme and the maximum number of Silver Members remains the same from one season to the next. It still represents strong value for money, and its price reflects the benefit of the priority access.”
Once again, thank you for your Email. This matter has been logged and will be reported upon.
Regards
Arsenal Box Office SL
Highbury House,75 Drayton Park, London, N5 1BU
Tel: 020 7619 5000
Fax: 020 7704 4161

I think their response demonstrates clearly that they couldn’t give a stuff. To simply cut & paste something from a Q&A — something that didn’t even begin to answer my points — shows their total contempt for the fans. Interesting as well that the reply is anonymous. Further evidence that Arsenal has become a faceless corporation and not a football club. Very sad.

25th May 2012

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