Town fans vent their anger at Saturday's abandonment
Boro offer to help fans after Ipswich Town abandonment
By Dave Gooderham
Monday, February 13, 2012
11:34 AM
MIDDLESBROUGH have vowed to help fans hit in the pocket after Saturday’s match at Ipswich Town lasted just 37 minutes.
A total of 730 MIddlesbrough fans attended the match but saw little over a third of the action after referee Dean Whitestone called the game off due to concerns over a strip of the pitch next to the Britannia Stand.
While Boro fans will already be entitled to a 50 per cent discount on tickets for the rescheduled match – as laid out by Town chief executive Simon Clegg – the Teesiders have gone above and beyond that.
The club have vowed to make up the shortfall on the rearranged game and are also looking at providing free coach travel for those who made the original trip and wish to return to Portman Road.
Boro’s chief operating officer Neil Bausor said: “Our travelling support this season has been absolutely magnificent and is one of the reasons the team’s away form has been so good.
“The club, the manager and the players all very much appreciate the fantastic backing they give us and the considerable sacrifices they make in terms of their time and their hard-earned money in order to do so.
“We also share their disappointment at the game being abandoned at an early stage after they had made such a long journey to be at Ipswich on Saturday.
“This is a way of thanking the fans for their continued loyalty and to express our gratitude to them.”
Clegg is expected to make a statement on how Ipswich Town will help fans later today.
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31 comments
brisie58, I am bitter at the way our club is being dragged down by our ineffective administration. However, when it comes to supporters views and comments, which I acknowledge, vary widely, I feel we should expect consistency, don't you?
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Brian Betts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Mr betts,would it not be better for you to worry about the situation the club is in and not nit pick on remarks we care to make.you sound a very bitter man.
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brisie58
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
brisie58, please read the posts carefully and not select the parts that suit your response. I am not confused in your first post which as you say referred to the shambles and called for Clegg to go. However, in your next post you aligned yourself to another poster who was glowing in his verdict of Clegg's action. It is difficult to 'have your cake and eat it' Finally, you are not alone in having a season ticket since the 'sixties' some of us go further back than that so take care who you imply ar 'armchair' wailers for had it not been for the many 'wailers' and 'whingers' CEO Clegg would never have made the concessions he has !!!!!!
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Brian Betts
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Brian betts,i think your confused,i said i dont like what clegg does and it is an utter mess,but as YOU are well aware football is a business and whether we like it or not what the club decide to do we have no choice but to adhere to,other than boycott every game to prove a point ,but as most of us are loyal supporters not like some of these so called armchair wailers.and yes i did take my 3 grandchildren to the match as you seemed to intimate i did`nt.
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brisie58
Monday, February 13, 2012
Okay some facts for you all. At full price tickets, the clubs needs attendences of around 23,000 to BREAK EVEN on a matchday. Do any of you have any idea how much under-soil heating costs, to install and run? £500,000 to install and the club would probably have to knock the cobbold stand down as we dont have anywhere suitable for a heat pumping station. Running costs go into thousands of pounds a week. Which means to cover that we would have to sell more tickets to cover the expense. And Under-soil heating wont prevent a water-logged pitch, which the cover does. Another draw back is, under-soil heating systems last about ten years before the begin to need replacing due to pipes becoming brittle etc. The pitch cover, cost just over £110,000. Has lasted more than ten years now, and only costs a couple of hundred pounds to run a week. Since the club bought the cover we have had two games called offabandonned. Even teams with under-soil heating would struggle to beat that record in the last ten years. And when was the last time we had temperatures reaching -11? Although i would like to see the club allow free entry to those who bought tickets, i certainly wont be slating the club for not doing so. Clegg has a budget to monitor.
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Jim-Bob
Monday, February 13, 2012
Okay some facts for you all. At full price tickets, the clubs needs attendences of around 23,000 to BREAK EVEN on a matchday. Do any of you have any idea how much under-soil heating costs, to install and run? £500,000 to install and the club would probably have to knock the cobbold stand down as we dont have anywhere suitable for a heat pumping station. Running costs go into thousands of pounds a week. Which means to cover that we would have to sell more tickets to cover the expense. And Under-soil heating wont prevent a water-logged pitch, which the cover does. Another draw back is, under-soil heating systems last about ten years before the begin to need replacing due to pipes becoming brittle etc. The pitch cover, cost just over £110,000. Has lasted more than ten years now, and only costs a couple of hundred pounds to run a week. Since the club bought the cover we have had two games called offabandonned. Even teams with under-soil heating would struggle to beat that record in the last ten years. And when was the last time we had temperatures reaching -11? Although i would like to see the club allow free entry to those who bought tickets, i certainly wont be slating the club for not doing so. Clegg has a budget to monitor.
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Jim-Bob
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tom - Please don't be Frank - we've got one already in Mr Weston thanks - just be content with being Tom......Oh and btw I think a traditionally family club should've tried to do the right thing by the very people who they will be trying to entice into buying season tickets, merchandise etc etc rather than reaching for the rule book as was Mr Cleggs initial reaction - PR disaster by Mr Clegg regardless of the outcome whichever way you dress it up - gladly but belatedly rectified.
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bluearmy78
Monday, February 13, 2012
To be frank, I've got better things to do than exchange cheap and weak jibes with fellow supporters on this issue. I've given my view, if you disagree that's obviously fine, if you can't express that disagreement intelligently or without resorting to cheap shots ( have you ever been to Portman Road?"" come on, for goodness sake, that's pathetic), then that's not my problem. Come on you blues.
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Tom
Monday, February 13, 2012
brisie58, you can't seem to make your mind up, on Sat 11th Feb you claimed to have taken your 3 grand children to the abandoned match declaring it was a shambles. You described it as an utter mess and blamed Clegg and urged him to go. Now you are aligning yourself to another misguided poster condoning Clegg's mean action !!!!!!!! Am I confused or are you?
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Brian Betts
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tom, feel free to defend the actions of Clegg, you have the floor. I have made my views and the evidence upon which I base them clear. Have you ever been to Portman road?
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Kevin Bailey
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tom you and brisie58 deserve each other and I hope you both enjoy watching a once great football club being systematically being ruined by Evans,Clegg and Jewell.
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Brian Betts
Monday, February 13, 2012
Look upon it as a bonus, how many times do 1p5wich play on a Saturday and not lose?
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Behind enemy lines
Monday, February 13, 2012
are you kidding me it should be free you paid for 90 mins not 37 mins. plus money to get there. clegg. how about all the fans who have showed up to watch the rubbish for weeks have a heart man.
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mike benham
Monday, February 13, 2012
Boro have handled this impeccably - something town could perhaps learn from.....For instance refunding ticket costs for those of us who turned up at Burnley when our team didn't - no football was played by ITFC on that fateful night
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bluearmy78
Monday, February 13, 2012
Pretty girl in the AAT advert...left
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colin mayes
Monday, February 13, 2012
Kevin, you say I am "factually" incorrect, but what evidence do you have that the food and programme sales covered the costs of the game? Or is that just your observation based on no particular evidence? And if an individual has bought food or a programme, they have bought a product and are not required to give it back, so what is their loss there? As for bringing in morals, that's merely your own particular view. I could equally say that the club have done nothing wrong, they have operated entirely within the law, and more fool you if you don't read the contract you enter into.
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Tom
Monday, February 13, 2012
SO do you bluetoo for making stupid comments like that.get a grip of the real facts,football is a business now.we all have to live in the real world even if we dont like the outcome of events.
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brisie58
Monday, February 13, 2012
Have heard Major Clegg on 3or 4 occasions and he seems very concerned about budgets and targets.No doubt this is part of his remit but must look at wider picture.PR seems to be one of his weak points,another could be his negotiating skills re transfers.He is using the League regs as an excuse as far as I can see,because no where can I find saying that 50% is MAX min yes.If he wants to see how he should behave,look at MK Dons who in addition to full refund or using tickets again,laid on two coaches from Carlisle for visiting supporters.He will no doubt know (or will he?)that the bookmakers Bobby Swift who run the betting in Club are also giving 100% refund. Just like with the painting of the turnstiles Clegg has showed how he is not fit to be CEO of this once great club.
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Seasider
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tom i didn't think you could make more of a fool of yourself - but congratualtions on so doing.... I suspect even you must be slightly embarrased to find yourself in accordance with brisie. I suspect the EADT are censoring all sensible posts at present but when the people who run ITFC can be contacted I am sure this festering PR gaffe will be nipped in the bud. The mistake is to think that Major Soundbite has any say in the running of the club so of course his every utterance looks foolish in the extreme.
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Rob Steroo
Monday, February 13, 2012
I just wonder when the 50% rule should kick in. Fans didn't see half a match. Would it still be 50% if the decision had been made to abandon after 5 minutes? If you go to the theatre and the show was abandoned half way through for whatever reason would you not expect a full refund. Yes, no doubt the ground staff tried valiantly to save the match but hopefully after this and Watford last year, the club will realise that this tent is not the answer when temperatures are so low and not waste everyones time including that of the poor ground staff. Oh, and perhaps a decent gesture would be for ITFC to foot the cost of the returning Middlesbrough fans coaches unless they want to blame Tony Mowbray for the abandonment .
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Tim Bartlett
Monday, February 13, 2012
Kevin, I do understand that the Boro match saw a 25% reduction in ticket prices. That is indeed one of the problems - the club was likely to lose money anyway on that game alone, let alone putting on the replay. In addition, if you are right about the club losing money on, say, Norris (because I don't agree that the likes of Healy, Priskin, Eastman etc really were worth much at all by the time they left), then surely that makes it all the more understandable that now, particularly in the middle of an economic slump, they can't simply throw away hundreds of thousands of pounds to put on a replay. I am afraid I simply do not agree that the club are doing anything other than looking after their financial interests, within the law, and that is what all businesses do, particularly at the moment.
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Tom
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tom I've got some things I'd like to sell you... you seem like the sort of mug that can be ripped off!
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Iamabluetoo
Monday, February 13, 2012
Very humiliating for ITFC, especially Cleggie. The whole affair was pathetic from start to finish, with ITFC losing out on what should have been 3 points. Mowbray saw which way the wind was blowing.
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JOHN BURLS
Monday, February 13, 2012
The club had the chance to abandon the game, as the referee would be heavily guided by the opinion of the groundsman. So, once the go ahead was given after a second inspection, the club has to accept that they have made that call. If a game is called off prior to kick-off then programmes, food and so on have all been paid for. So, in reality, the overheads of stating the game are more than covered by food and programme sales alone, so your point is factually incorrect and morally wrong as well.
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Kevin Bailey
Monday, February 13, 2012
Thought there may have been a joint statement from both clubs, though that would require preparation and planning.
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Iamabluetoo
Monday, February 13, 2012
Saturday's game quite clearly should not have gone ahead. It defies reason and logic that it was allowed to start. At the 11am inspection, the Club, if they had had no axe to grind, should have advised the match officials that the pitch would quickly become unplayable once the covers were off, given the prevailing freezing temperatures. But apparently they did not do this. For their own financial reasons, they supported the decision to start the match. Any official from the Club or League who believed conditions would improve rather than deteriorate after 11am would be guilty of gross negligence. Given the Club's culpability in allowing the game to start, they should bear the full cost of allowing ticket holders to see the rescheduled match free of charge. Much has been said about Mr Clegg's standard of performance in public relations. It is difficult to disagree with these adverse remarks.
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Bertie Shrimp
Monday, February 13, 2012
TOM,your wording is spot on,its just a shame others dont think this way.
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brisie58
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tom...what you don't understand is that the Boro game was supposed to be the club trying to reduce ticket prices to attract more supporters. If the club wants to allow players such as Priskin, Healy, Eastman, Mc Cauley, and Norris just to mention a few to walk away for nothing, and then complain about the cost, then it is idiotic in the extreme.
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Kevin Bailey
Monday, February 13, 2012
A nice gesture, but a lot less expensive to pay 50% of ticket prices for probably 400 or so who will actually make the midweek game, than the thousands of Ipswich fans who will go, plus the costs of the ground being opened up. What people don't understand that the cost to the club will be significant.
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Tom
Monday, February 13, 2012
Now that's the way to do it!
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FRANK WESTON
Monday, February 13, 2012
Boro 1 Clegg 0. Embarrassing and further evidence that our CEO is out of touch. Well done Boro.
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Kevin Bailey
Monday, February 13, 2012