Spurs fans have revealed their views on a unique period in the Club’s history in the latest survey of fan opinion carried out by the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust. The survey reveals a positive mood, but there are some warning signs about the future and the Trust will be urging the Club to work with it to find positive solutions.
The new stadium, the season away at Wembley and the performance of the team and the Club’s owners all came under scrutiny in what is now well-established as the largest independent regular survey of Spurs fan opinion. Questions on these issues and more were answered by 3,500 fans at the end of June.
Just over half of those responding were happy with the year spent at Wembley. The stadium had been the overwhelming fan preference of the options available when it was revealed Spurs would have to move away from home for a season, but the time away was always going to be a challenge. In that context, a 51% satisfaction rating is very good.
Wembley’s catering operation did not get the same level of approval, however, with dissatisfaction with prices and quality running high.
With all thoughts now turning to the new stadium, we asked a lot of questions about ticketing in what is the largest change in the Spurs home crowd in generations. We always knew tickets would be in demand in our first season back home, but the survey findings raise significant issues.
Those fans who have held Season Tickets for just one year were the most dissatisfied with pricing – with 65% expressing disapproval of price. A majority of longer-term Season Ticket holders, 58%, were also unhappy. The Club will undoubtedly focus on the fact that, whatever fans think, they have paid for tickets. But when that dissatisfaction level among newer Season Ticket holders is combined with our finding that almost one in five were not certain they would renew beyond next season, the Club would do well to take note.
Price, contrary to the Club’s repeated assertion, was also the major factor influencing the decision to buy a Season Ticket. There’s also significant discontent with seat location among many fans, again raising questions about the pricing policy. Just 7% backed the introduction of the controversial premium-lite 1882 tickets, and just 7% said the stadium’s heavily-hyped facilities were a major influence on their decision to buy a ticket. Fans overwhelmingly come to watch their team.
On a more positive note, satisfaction with the Club's customer service during the sales and migration process ran at around 60%.
We also gathered opinion from Club Members on what they saw as the value of their membership. The vast majority, 92%, said they were members because it gave them access to match-day tickets. Just 36% said it was to secure a position on the Season Ticket waiting list. With only c 8,000 match-day tickets available, there’s an obvious issue. We’ve put this view for years and we’ll be using the latest survey results to back our push to get the Club to further reconsider its membership offer.
Pleasingly, 98% were happy with the team’s performance on the pitch, underlining how much fans value finishing third in a season when we played every match away from home. A majority, 63%, thought the Board’s running of the Club had improved year on year. A great number of respondents took the time to send in comments on how the Club was run, and we have passed the wide variety of views received on to the Club Board.
We also asked for opinions on a range of wider game issues such as safe standing, the introduction of VAR, the mid-season break and changes to the FA Cup competition.
The answers to those questions, along with the full results of the survey, can be found in the illustrated report available at the end of this article. We’ll also be expanding on several of the areas mentioned above over the next few days with a series of short articles on our website. We’ll start off with a deeper look at the findings on ticketing.
THST Board
31 July 2018
Just over half of those responding were happy with the year spent at Wembley. The stadium had been the overwhelming fan preference of the options available when it was revealed Spurs would have to move away from home for a season, but the time away was always going to be a challenge. In that context, a 51% satisfaction rating is very good.
Wembley’s catering operation did not get the same level of approval, however, with dissatisfaction with prices and quality running high.
With all thoughts now turning to the new stadium, we asked a lot of questions about ticketing in what is the largest change in the Spurs home crowd in generations. We always knew tickets would be in demand in our first season back home, but the survey findings raise significant issues.
Those fans who have held Season Tickets for just one year were the most dissatisfied with pricing – with 65% expressing disapproval of price. A majority of longer-term Season Ticket holders, 58%, were also unhappy. The Club will undoubtedly focus on the fact that, whatever fans think, they have paid for tickets. But when that dissatisfaction level among newer Season Ticket holders is combined with our finding that almost one in five were not certain they would renew beyond next season, the Club would do well to take note.
Price, contrary to the Club’s repeated assertion, was also the major factor influencing the decision to buy a Season Ticket. There’s also significant discontent with seat location among many fans, again raising questions about the pricing policy. Just 7% backed the introduction of the controversial premium-lite 1882 tickets, and just 7% said the stadium’s heavily-hyped facilities were a major influence on their decision to buy a ticket. Fans overwhelmingly come to watch their team.
On a more positive note, satisfaction with the Club's customer service during the sales and migration process ran at around 60%.
We also gathered opinion from Club Members on what they saw as the value of their membership. The vast majority, 92%, said they were members because it gave them access to match-day tickets. Just 36% said it was to secure a position on the Season Ticket waiting list. With only c 8,000 match-day tickets available, there’s an obvious issue. We’ve put this view for years and we’ll be using the latest survey results to back our push to get the Club to further reconsider its membership offer.
Pleasingly, 98% were happy with the team’s performance on the pitch, underlining how much fans value finishing third in a season when we played every match away from home. A majority, 63%, thought the Board’s running of the Club had improved year on year. A great number of respondents took the time to send in comments on how the Club was run, and we have passed the wide variety of views received on to the Club Board.
We also asked for opinions on a range of wider game issues such as safe standing, the introduction of VAR, the mid-season break and changes to the FA Cup competition.
The answers to those questions, along with the full results of the survey, can be found in the illustrated report available at the end of this article. We’ll also be expanding on several of the areas mentioned above over the next few days with a series of short articles on our website. We’ll start off with a deeper look at the findings on ticketing.
THST Board
31 July 2018
| thst_annual_fans_survey_2018.pdf |
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