Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Friday 24 May 2013
24 May 2013
Miss Guest Diary writes: Earlier this week I was sat in a pub talking to a QPR fan and a Wigan fan. Not wanting to dwell too long on the dreaded 'r' word - we all know how painful that is - the conversation quickly turned to season ticket prices. The QPR fan had actually given up his season ticket when the club was promoted into the Premiership, in protest at a 40 per cent price rise to around £700. The club's justification had been that it was commensurate with other London teams - obviously looking to Spurs and Arsenal rather than their nearer neighbours at Fulham. Before I could pose the question as to whether £266 to watch non-League football from the Pontoon represented good value for money, the Wigan fan piped up that her husband and son paid £275 for a joint season ticket. It makes you wonder why Wigan don't have more fans.
The QPR fan did then say that his club was putting its ticket prices down for next season - but I bet it won't be by anything approaching 40 per cent. Of course, Town's ticket prices have never been reduced despite the successive relegations, but they have remained the same for so long that they now compare favourably with other teams in the Conference Premier. The club has just published a list of dates which states that season tickets will go on sale from 3 June, so we will have to wait another few days to find out whether that holds true for the coming season. Also listed are a number of pre-season games, which I was happy to see included a match at Brigg on 16 July - a favourite which was sadly missed last season.
Not included was the date when the Conference fixture list will be published, so I had to do a bit of googling to discover that it will come out on 5 July. Once again, this is two weeks later than the Football League will announce their fixtures, even though the Conference season finished weeks ago. This seemingly unnecessary delay means that we can't yet get to planning next season's away trips and are reduced to indulging in idle speculation about who might sign for Town in the coming weeks. Someone has suggested Town should go for Exodus Geohaghon. I have no idea what his playing qualities are but, with a name to rival the great Manny Panther, I say sign him up.
My other summer distraction of supporting Nottinghamshire is not much fun at the moment: wearing three pairs of socks and a winter coat takes all the joy out of a cricket match. When I was braving the elements this morning, optimistically purchasing picnic supplies for a trip to Trent Bridge on Sunday, I heard on the car radio that today's stage of the Giro d'Italia has been cancelled due to snow. It seems the UK isn't alone in suffering unseasonal weather, but we can count our blessings that it's only unpleasant and not life-threatening.