With the new football season almost upon us, we continue our series looking behind the scenes at Pride Park. Chris Jones discovers the organisation that goes into selling tickets for the big match.
FOR the past seven years, the cost of a season ticket to watch Derby County has remained the same. Until now.
The price of petrol goes up even as you are putting it into your car but woe betide those who try putting up the price of a season ticket at Pride Park.
What's more, it was not every type of season ticket which went up in cost. It was only the 65-and-over age category. Cue objections from long-term fans. But were their complaints justified?
Brandon Furse tries to explain. As head of ticket sales and services at Derby County, he knows innately the effect that altering prices has on fans, many of whom have supported the club all their lives.
"It is a difficult decision," he says. "Especially when the club has not had outstanding success on the pitch. But we have changed the seating recently and it was considered that this changed the categorisation.
"Essentially, we categorise the seating according to the quality of the view and so on and each section has a different price.
"We have made changes to the seating and some areas have been recategorised, which resulted in the increase to the senior tickets.
"The response was that seniors were not happy and they felt they were being picked on."
Brandon puts it mildly. When the Derby Telegraph published the story, it was inundated with letters from readers complaining about the move.
"I can't believe Derby County have done this to me again!" said one.
"This feels very much like a kick in the teeth for supporters," said another.
"I think now is the time to think seriously about my position as a season ticket-holder," threatened one more.
Given the vehemence of the retorts, the club relented and decided to stagger the price increase over two seasons.
Inevitably, though, the move led to some people choosing not to renew their season tickets.
So far this year, the club has sold about 15,000 season tickets but, naturally, wants to sell more.
Brandon explains that the number was "pretty much on par" with last year but that there was usually a "churn" of ticket-holders which took into account people choosing not to renew and new fans signing up for the year.
He says: "When the Rams were in the Premier League, we sold about 21,000 season tickets, so that is the club's aim on the pitch and ours off it. So each year, we see people choosing not to.
"There used to be an approach in football where the fans' loyalty was taken for granted – 'We're Derby County, the only team they're going to support, here's the ground, this is what time we kick off, off you go' – but with the choices and discounts and consumer empowerment available today, it doesn't work; it's not enough. And like with all other aspects of the way we run the club, we want to talk to fans, to make sure there is open communication about things here."
What this means is that those people who choose not to renew their season tickets can expect some contact from the club. Brandon says: "Essentially, there are three reasons people choose not to renew a season ticket and we want to know which one it was.
"The first group is footballing reasons, which is a discontent with performance on the pitch and the fan might not be happy about or sure where the club is going.
"The second we call 'uncontrollable reasons'. These are when fans move away or perhaps they die or their financial circumstances have changed. These are things out of our hands.
"And the third group of reasons are the controllable ones, things like a price increase we make or seating changes we make.
"And if we know which reasons are occurring most frequently we know whether we need to look at making changes and, if so, which ones to make."
Of the 15,000 sold this year, 12,800 of the season tickets were renewals; the other 2,200 were new buyers. Those who renew get a £50 discount as an incentive.
Brandon says: "Loyalty is a word with a very particular meaning in football. People buy a season ticket with all the investment that they buy a car or a house. Football is run by the heart so we need to respect that in everything we do."
So this explains the e-mails and calls if you have, in the past, bought a ticket for a single game.
"If you've gone to one, we'll send you details for a package of three games. If you go to that, we will send you discount for five games and so on.
"Derby has not been very good at this in the past and engaging with fans in this way is a big part of my job here."
Downstairs, out of Brandon's office and in the ticket office, he shows me the machines which print the tickets there and then and surprises me with some information about how fans tend to buy them.
"Generally, among most clubs in the country, about 30% of all ticket sales are done online," he says. It's not as much as I thought, since I and many people I know tend to buy most things online these days.
"But at Derby we only sell about 10% on the internet, so it's even less. It comes down to the location and the car park.
"We are at Pride Park, which is far from out of the way, we have a good, easy access car park and even at the ground, there is a Greggs, a Starbucks, so people spend time here anyway."
One last place Brandon shows me is the group sales section, which has staff going out into the community, trying to attract larger, bulk buys of tickets.
Lloyd Stanway, group ticket sales executive, says there is a discount for group bookings of 12 or more.
He says: "We go out to local junior football clubs, we go out with Rammie [the club mascot] to local schools and we also approach secondary schools, who can use the trip as part of the curriculum for students, and when we put the package together, we don't just sell tickets.
"We organise a tour for groups around the stadium, arrange for a photo session and we do that ourselves.
"We now have staff from other clubs coming to us for the day to see how we are doing this, because we are quite new in how we are doing this."
HOW TO GET YOUR SEAT FOR SUNDAY'S BIG MATCHWITH months of no-football Saturdays behind us, the only thing left to do now is get a ticket to watch the Rams.
And it could not be easier with options of ordering tickets over the phone, in person at the ticket office, online at the club's website or even by post.
For many the easiest way to buy will be online and you can choose exactly which part of the ground you want to sit in.
Go to www.dcfc.co.uk/tickets and you will find information with separate areas for home, away and season tickets.
For Sunday's game against Blackburn Rovers you can still go online and pick where want to sit and buy – without leaving home.
If you prefer talking to a person call 0871 472 1884, choosing option one to buy tickets. If you want to see someone and are close to Pride Park you can pop into the Digonex Ticket Office. Opening times are Monday to Saturday: 9am to 5pm; Tuesdays: 10am to 5pm; and Sundays: 10am to 4pm, during the season.
You can also send your ticket requests to Derby County Digonex Ticket Office, Pride Park Stadium, Pride Park, Derby, DE24 8XL.
Postal applications should include which match the tickets are being applied for, payment and a stamped self-addressed envelope. Quote all relevant names and customer numbers. Include a contact phone number.
You can also pick tickets up on match day from the ticket office up until kick-off.
