Friendlies

[Mr T]

A season ticket is your investment into the club for the year ahead.

As this gives them an extra funding stream they give you a benifit of cheaper seating. 

The monies raised is what helps in the signing of new tallent that may help the club move forwards...  

After the last few years we will need a lot of season tickets.

Looking your savings alone would pay for the 2 Home friendlies and then some 

 

[That Bar Toilet Attendant]

The most telling fact was the “letter” from Adam day after relegation. Basically, “give us your money”. Maybe he needs to stop handing out wads of freebies to random folk in pubs and members of the Business Club (4 tickets per game for £500, a bargain)??? And as @crieffsaintandy said we as ST holders are getting made fools of.

[RandomGuy]

Season ticket this season is worth around £17 a game isnt it?

No idea why thats "making a fool" of anyone? Are folk going to say its a waste of money if we win the title and youre paying £17 a game to watch us all season?

These are the listed benefits...

...

And then theres 18 businesses in Perth who give you discounts too, including an estate agents giving you 10% of agent fees and a free home valuation. 

https://www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk//season-ticket-partner-discounts

 

What are people actually wanting with their season ticket? The club have lost an absolute fortune through incompetence over the last few years. Folk acting as if the Browns wouldnt be finding a way to try and decreases losses are at it. Webb has decided to try and increase income, while Brown wouldnt decreased outgoings. 

Would you rather spend a few pound more every fortnight and see a better squad try and go up quickly, or spend a few pound less every fortnight and spend 7 years in the 2nd tier finishing 8th on the way?

[blueheaven]

9 hours ago, crieffsaintandy said:

No one’s arguing that, maybe start telling us what is included in the season ticket instead of all the half stories

There's a page on the website that goes into a lot of detail about what's included on the season ticket, and another page that lists all the discounts you can get from local businesses. What information do you think has been withheld from us?

 

2 hours ago, That Bar Toilet Attendant said:

The most telling fact was the “letter” from Adam day after relegation. Basically, “give us your money”. Maybe he needs to stop handing out wads of freebies to random folk in pubs and members of the Business Club (4 tickets per game for £500, a bargain)??? And as @crieffsaintandy said we as ST holders are getting made fools of.

They're trying to grow the support by giving out those free tickets - you get that, right?

People on forums like this one have been calling out for the club to do stuff like that for years in order to fill the stadium and try to get new fans in, and now that it's happening all people do is moan about it. 

[Widge]

Thing is, whilst all these folk can moan about not getting into a friendly free on the season ticket, have they even considered the fact that the League Cup Group wasn't even a thing when we last played a home friendly basically, so you're already getting 2 "free" games out with the league matches. This constant need from saints fans to once again pounce and bemoan the club at every possible turn is really getting tedious, in this instance they have literally done nothing wrong. As others have said, if you don't want to go, don't go, but lets not pretend that the season ticket isn't good value, as demonstrated above it quite clearly is and has been for years.

Then again maybe that doesn't fit the agenda. 

[sixties saintee]

31 minutes ago, blueheaven said:

There's a page on the website that goes into a lot of detail about what's included on the season ticket, and another page that lists all the discounts you can get from local businesses. What information do you think has been withheld from us?

 

They're trying to grow the support by giving out those free tickets - you get that, right?

People on forums like this one have been calling out for the club to do stuff like that for years in order to fill the stadium and try to get new fans in, and now that it's happening all people do is moan about it. 

Damned if you do damned if you don't.

[Graeme S]

Whilst reading this forum over the last couple of weeks, then watching the "Golden Age" video, several thoughts wandered into my worn out brain, so please indulge me and forgive me and generalisations : 

So, I've been on the forum since the very early 2000's, and I'm still here, which makes me of a certain age. I don't do Facebook or Twitter Saints groups or even P&B. It's comfortable here, because most on here are of a similar vintage and share similar values. I feel that Facebook and Twitter groups (from what I've heard) are angrier, more reactive places. 

It then got me thinking that, as such, most on here will remember the "bad times" before the Golden Age. That's a double edged sword - we know how bad things can get, and there's a fear we regress to that, but, on the other hand, we've been great recently, we can be great again.

We've seen the mismanagement of the last 5 years, a new owner came in and gave us hope, but, because it's not immediately fantastic, there's a nervousness that it's going to work. 

We're seeing changes, some have worked, some have not, or may need more time to work, but that also contributes to the nervousness. Change is sometimes difficult to accept (I'm hard wired to reject all change, no matter good or bad) but it may also be difficult to implement - especially when you have a CEO/Owner/staff who are learning this as well on this scale. They'll make mistakes, so do players, so do referees and so do I - it's human. The issue comes when we don't learn from the mistakes. 

I'm not a happy clapper and am as cynical as everyone else, maybe that I didn't expect immediate miracles and am prepared to give things time to work. As we've already found out flinging 20 odd individuals together and expecting them to get it right immediately on a rectangle of grass hardly ever works. 

Maybe we're bored because nothing is happening just now (or not happening the way we want it). Season ticket value for money and the dissection of that, the similar dissection of players the minute they had signed, before they'd even kicked a ball for us and we don't know what the plan for them is, just seems to be overly reactive. 

Maybe there's the fear I stated above - fear of "what if", the guys on here that only remember The Golden Age may have a fear of the unknown. We're all on the same side, we have a right to express our concerns and fears - OR  are we simply a bunch of moaning, middle to old aged,  old gits with too much time on our hands looking for something to moan about? 😂

 

[Gekko]

35 minutes ago, Graeme S said:

Whilst reading this forum over the last couple of weeks, then watching the "Golden Age" video, several thoughts wandered into my worn out brain, so please indulge me and forgive me and generalisations : 

So, I've been on the forum since the very early 2000's, and I'm still here, which makes me of a certain age. I don't do Facebook or Twitter Saints groups or even P&B. It's comfortable here, because most on here are of a similar vintage and share similar values. I feel that Facebook and Twitter groups (from what I've heard) are angrier, more reactive places. 

It then got me thinking that, as such, most on here will remember the "bad times" before the Golden Age. That's a double edged sword - we know how bad things can get, and there's a fear we regress to that, but, on the other hand, we've been great recently, we can be great again.

We've seen the mismanagement of the last 5 years, a new owner came in and gave us hope, but, because it's not immediately fantastic, there's a nervousness that it's going to work. 

We're seeing changes, some have worked, some have not, or may need more time to work, but that also contributes to the nervousness. Change is sometimes difficult to accept (I'm hard wired to reject all change, no matter good or bad) but it may also be difficult to implement - especially when you have a CEO/Owner/staff who are learning this as well on this scale. They'll make mistakes, so do players, so do referees and so do I - it's human. The issue comes when we don't learn from the mistakes. 

I'm not a happy clapper and am as cynical as everyone else, maybe that I didn't expect immediate miracles and am prepared to give things time to work. As we've already found out flinging 20 odd individuals together and expecting them to get it right immediately on a rectangle of grass hardly ever works. 

Maybe we're bored because nothing is happening just now (or not happening the way we want it). Season ticket value for money and the dissection of that, the similar dissection of players the minute they had signed, before they'd even kicked a ball for us and we don't know what the plan for them is, just seems to be overly reactive. 

Maybe there's the fear I stated above - fear of "what if", the guys on here that only remember The Golden Age may have a fear of the unknown. We're all on the same side, we have a right to express our concerns and fears - OR  are we simply a bunch of moaning, middle to old aged,  old gits with too much time on our hands looking for something to moan about? 😂

 

 

Yes, I think it's going to need long term thinking and a similar attitude.

We've been going downhill for years, it won't be an overnight fix.

The owner has put his faith in the manager, and the manager has made some big changes both on and off the pitch.

Even Sir Alex took four years at Man Utd to get any success. Even then he was one game away from the sack when the Robins goal saved him.

We are rebuilding. We need to give it time to work.

For the first time in ages we have an experienced manager who's committed to the club and the community, give him a chance to build something new. Give the new players a chance to prove their worth.

We need to support the team instead of shouting them down.

If you're at work and your boss calls you a useless whatever, and publicly shames you, does that motivate you to do better? Of course it doesn't. But if he or she says, "Don't worry about it. Just keep doing your best, you'll get there." Isn't that much better?

We're supporters not criticisers.

I'm not being preachy here, it's just a big annoyance of mine when people think that shouting "you're useless" to a player is going to help, especially before they've kicked a ball.

None of this means that I don't believe the players, coaches and management don't deserve to be held to account, but if they're doing their best, they deserve our support.

Edited June 12, 2025 by Gekko

[blueheaven]

2 hours ago, blueheaven said:

They're trying to grow the support by giving out those free tickets - you get that, right?

People on forums like this one have been calling out for the club to do stuff like that for years in order to fill the stadium and try to get new fans in, and now that it's happening all people do is moan about it. 

Incidentally, just on the subject of free tickets, if it was up to me the club would be giving out free Ormond Stand tickets for every home game. Make it the community stand and give out tickets to schools one week, charities another week, NHS workers, community groups, etc etc. Give it a different theme each time and pick out people from that stand to come down and do the crossbar challenge. You could even try out letting those people bring others with them for a tenner. Miles better than having the stand sitting empty and some of those people who get the free tickets might start paying to come to games in the future if they enjoy it.

[john.w]

1 hour ago, Graeme S said:

Whilst reading this forum over the last couple of weeks, then watching the "Golden Age" video, several thoughts wandered into my worn out brain, so please indulge me and forgive me and generalisations : 

So, I've been on the forum since the very early 2000's, and I'm still here, which makes me of a certain age. I don't do Facebook or Twitter Saints groups or even P&B. It's comfortable here, because most on here are of a similar vintage and share similar values. I feel that Facebook and Twitter groups (from what I've heard) are angrier, more reactive places. 

It then got me thinking that, as such, most on here will remember the "bad times" before the Golden Age. That's a double edged sword - we know how bad things can get, and there's a fear we regress to that, but, on the other hand, we've been great recently, we can be great again.

We've seen the mismanagement of the last 5 years, a new owner came in and gave us hope, but, because it's not immediately fantastic, there's a nervousness that it's going to work. 

We're seeing changes, some have worked, some have not, or may need more time to work, but that also contributes to the nervousness. Change is sometimes difficult to accept (I'm hard wired to reject all change, no matter good or bad) but it may also be difficult to implement - especially when you have a CEO/Owner/staff who are learning this as well on this scale. They'll make mistakes, so do players, so do referees and so do I - it's human. The issue comes when we don't learn from the mistakes. 

I'm not a happy clapper and am as cynical as everyone else, maybe that I didn't expect immediate miracles and am prepared to give things time to work. As we've already found out flinging 20 odd individuals together and expecting them to get it right immediately on a rectangle of grass hardly ever works. 

Maybe we're bored because nothing is happening just now (or not happening the way we want it). Season ticket value for money and the dissection of that, the similar dissection of players the minute they had signed, before they'd even kicked a ball for us and we don't know what the plan for them is, just seems to be overly reactive. 

Maybe there's the fear I stated above - fear of "what if", the guys on here that only remember The Golden Age may have a fear of the unknown. We're all on the same side, we have a right to express our concerns and fears - OR  are we simply a bunch of moaning, middle to old aged,  old gits with too much time on our hands looking for something to moan about? 😂

 

 

Your last sentence seems to be the Perth way, I know I may look at Perth through tinted specs but according to sites on Facebook Perth is a shithole. Or is it just full of moaning barstewards, be 60 years next year when I left still a Saintee

[Mizfit]

3 minutes ago, john.w said:

Your last sentence seems to be the Perth way, I know I may look at Perth through tinted specs but according to sites on Facebook Perth is a shithole. Or is it just full of moaning barstewards, be 60 years next year when I left still a Saintee

The same people bemoaning Perth as a shithole are the same ones who protest any development, spend their money in Dundee, Edinburgh or Glasgow at every opportunity then complain at any form of investment or attempt at. 
 

No wonder the place is struggling at times. 

[CAH]

2 hours ago, Graeme S said:

Whilst reading this forum over the last couple of weeks, then watching the "Golden Age" video, several thoughts wandered into my worn out brain, so please indulge me and forgive me and generalisations : 

So, I've been on the forum since the very early 2000's, and I'm still here, which makes me of a certain age. I don't do Facebook or Twitter Saints groups or even P&B. It's comfortable here, because most on here are of a similar vintage and share similar values. I feel that Facebook and Twitter groups (from what I've heard) are angrier, more reactive places. 

It then got me thinking that, as such, most on here will remember the "bad times" before the Golden Age. That's a double edged sword - we know how bad things can get, and there's a fear we regress to that, but, on the other hand, we've been great recently, we can be great again.

We've seen the mismanagement of the last 5 years, a new owner came in and gave us hope, but, because it's not immediately fantastic, there's a nervousness that it's going to work. 

We're seeing changes, some have worked, some have not, or may need more time to work, but that also contributes to the nervousness. Change is sometimes difficult to accept (I'm hard wired to reject all change, no matter good or bad) but it may also be difficult to implement - especially when you have a CEO/Owner/staff who are learning this as well on this scale. They'll make mistakes, so do players, so do referees and so do I - it's human. The issue comes when we don't learn from the mistakes. 

I'm not a happy clapper and am as cynical as everyone else, maybe that I didn't expect immediate miracles and am prepared to give things time to work. As we've already found out flinging 20 odd individuals together and expecting them to get it right immediately on a rectangle of grass hardly ever works. 

Maybe we're bored because nothing is happening just now (or not happening the way we want it). Season ticket value for money and the dissection of that, the similar dissection of players the minute they had signed, before they'd even kicked a ball for us and we don't know what the plan for them is, just seems to be overly reactive. 

Maybe there's the fear I stated above - fear of "what if", the guys on here that only remember The Golden Age may have a fear of the unknown. We're all on the same side, we have a right to express our concerns and fears - OR  are we simply a bunch of moaning, middle to old aged,  old gits with too much time on our hands looking for something to moan about? 😂

 

 

An excellent post. However what is the purpose of this site/ thread if not to heap praise when it's earned and dump criticism when it's deserved. Happy Clappers vs Moaning Old Gits is 'guid craic'.

[Strawman]

7 hours ago, blueheaven said:

Incidentally, just on the subject of free tickets, if it was up to me the club would be giving out free Ormond Stand tickets for every home game. Make it the community stand and give out tickets to schools one week, charities another week, NHS workers, community groups, etc etc. Give it a different theme each time and pick out people from that stand to come down and do the crossbar challenge. You could even try out letting those people bring others with them for a tenner. Miles better than having the stand sitting empty and some of those people who get the free tickets might start paying to come to games in the future if they enjoy it.

I agree with you up to a point.

I work with a guy, I gave him my bring a friend for free ticket season before last, last season he also had free tickets through schools or his sons football training four times.

Hes been at five games and at no point have Saints ever asked for details of who he is or asked him to pay for a future game.

Ive no objection to letting fans in Ormond for free but make them register their details, bombard them with offers and make it something like a 3 game free maximum.

Thats my bugbear about the pre season friendlies, we give so much away to guys that contribute nowt, why not give the Season ticket holders a wee freebie with the friendlies.  Remember the vast majority of us happily didn’t take any money back offered after Covid, it felt right thing to do.

If Forfar Ath can afford to let their season tickets in free for our game I struggle to believe we can’t afford it.

Im not saying the Season ticket isn’t value for money, my first one was last season at Muirton Park and I just renew, think missed one season mid nineties. 
 

I know a lot disagree, I’m not thinking  I’m a superior fan or anything but charging Season Tickets for a pre season friendly against just other Scottish opponents just feels wrong.

[blueheaven]

13 hours ago, Strawman said:

I agree with you up to a point.

I work with a guy, I gave him my bring a friend for free ticket season before last, last season he also had free tickets through schools or his sons football training four times.

Hes been at five games and at no point have Saints ever asked for details of who he is or asked him to pay for a future game.

Ive no objection to letting fans in Ormond for free but make them register their details, bombard them with offers and make it something like a 3 game free maximum.

 

I think that would be the ideal but I just wonder how practical it would be to actually do. If you're giving free tickets to schools, for example, you probably just give a pile of them to the school and let the school distribute them. Same with if you're giving them to a charity. Would the school/charity stay on top of collecting the details of everyone who gets a ticket, or would that just put them off taking part? And then there's the whole GDPR issue to stay on top of as well. Everyone receiving a ticket would need to consent to receiving that bombardment of offers etc too. And if it's children then that presumably opens up a whole other range of issues (can a child consent to that? does a child even have an email address anyway?). It just feels like it suddenly becomes a whole big admin job for someone.

I guess the hope with the way it's currently done is that it happens a bit more organically - a kid gets a free ticket, they then have to take their parent along with them, they hopefully enjoy the experience and then they start badgering their parent to take them back, so it becomes two new regulars.

 

[That Bar Toilet Attendant]

22 minutes ago, blueheaven said:

 

I think that would be the ideal but I just wonder how practical it would be to actually do. If you're giving free tickets to schools, for example, you probably just give a pile of them to the school and let the school distribute them. Same with if you're giving them to a charity. Would the school/charity stay on top of collecting the details of everyone who gets a ticket, or would that just put them off taking part? And then there's the whole GDPR issue to stay on top of as well. Everyone receiving a ticket would need to consent to receiving that bombardment of offers etc too. And if it's children then that presumably opens up a whole other range of issues (can a child consent to that? does a child even have an email address anyway?). It just feels like it suddenly becomes a whole big admin job for someone.

I guess the hope with the way it's currently done is that it happens a bit more organically - a kid gets a free ticket, they then have to take their parent along with them, they hopefully enjoy the experience and then they start badgering their parent to take them back, so it becomes two new regulars.

 

I don’t think schools, charities or the Saints Trust is the issue. It’s the dozens being handed out in pubs & members of the Business Club etc A member of Business Club (not a Saints fan) sat next to me & told me he could have as many tickets as he wanted. A bargain for £500 he thought. I thought so too!

[blueheaven]

59 minutes ago, That Bar Toilet Attendant said:

I don’t think schools, charities or the Saints Trust is the issue. It’s the dozens being handed out in pubs & members of the Business Club etc A member of Business Club (not a Saints fan) sat next to me & told me he could have as many tickets as he wanted. A bargain for £500 he thought. I thought so too!

Was this for the Aberdeen game at the start of the season? I was at the fans forum event just before that where they were also telling people to take as many as they like, but only with the proviso that they're given to people who would actually use them. I don't think it's something that's happening for every game though, is it?

I honestly don't see what the problem is. Those seats would have been empty otherwise. We pretty much filled the ground for that game and it was a brilliant atmosphere. We should be doing that more often, if anything.

[pezza70]

On 6/12/2025 at 4:08 PM, That Bar Toilet Attendant said:

The most telling fact was the “letter” from Adam day after relegation. Basically, “give us your money”. Maybe he needs to stop handing out wads of freebies to random folk in pubs and members of the Business Club (4 tickets per game for £500, a bargain)??? And as @crieffsaintandy said we as ST holders are getting made fools of.

So I’m probably confused but if you pay £500 to join the business club you get 4 tickets per home game?

if so what’s stopping 4 fans getting together and throwing in £125 each instead of buying a ST?

[Strawman]

7 hours ago, blueheaven said:

 

I honestly don't see what the problem is. Those seats would have been empty otherwise. We pretty much filled the ground for that game and it was a brilliant atmosphere. We should be doing that more often, if anything.

I don’t have a problem with free tickets at all but I do think there needs to be accountability and a limit on how many free tickets a person can get.

My issue is the fact they don’t give season ticket holders of many years any freebies and I really feel these friendlies were a chance to do so.

We ve all bought season tickets but the first two games to take place in the ground after doing so aren’t included, that feels wrong.

Your argument of these seats would be empty otherwise should also stand true for season tickets and these games.

Its not the money, I can afford to pay a tenner for a friendly and I may well go to Forfar away as well as both these games.

It just feels like the club want more from a small group of people and it doesn’t sit well with me.

 

[That Bar Toilet Attendant]

47 minutes ago, Strawman said:

I don’t have a problem with free tickets at all but I do think there needs to be accountability and a limit on how many free tickets a person can get.

My issue is the fact they don’t give season ticket holders of many years any freebies and I really feel these friendlies were a chance to do so.

We ve all bought season tickets but the first two games to take place in the ground after doing so aren’t included, that feels wrong.

Your argument of these seats would be empty otherwise should also stand true for season tickets and these games.

Its not the money, I can afford to pay a tenner for a friendly and I may well go to Forfar away as well as both these games.

It just feels like the club want more from a small group of people and it doesn’t sit well with me.

 

🎯🎯🎯

[MySpazz]

On 6/13/2025 at 9:46 AM, That Bar Toilet Attendant said:

I don’t think schools, charities or the Saints Trust is the issue. It’s the dozens being handed out in pubs & members of the Business Club etc A member of Business Club (not a Saints fan) sat next to me & told me he could have as many tickets as he wanted. A bargain for £500 he thought. I thought so too!

Those in the business club will typically have other business associates.

It costs 7x the amount to recruit a new customer as it does to keep one.

If just one those free tickets via each business associate leads to a new business customer or patron.....it's a deft move by the club. You know like when your bank says recommend a frend for a credit cards and receive 5000 air miles. Similar thing....ESPECIALLY for the ines who aren't even saints fans.

BTW, if its such a bargain...why don't you join the business club?

 

 

 

[Phil D]

As an aside, glad to hear that the new board are engaging with the Perth business community again. Had heard that the previous board weren't very popular with the old business club. Hopefully this leads to more engagement and money into the saints coffers. 

[blueheaven]

On 6/13/2025 at 6:11 PM, Strawman said:

I don’t have a problem with free tickets at all but I do think there needs to be accountability and a limit on how many free tickets a person can get.

My issue is the fact they don’t give season ticket holders of many years any freebies and I really feel these friendlies were a chance to do so.

We ve all bought season tickets but the first two games to take place in the ground after doing so aren’t included, that feels wrong.

Your argument of these seats would be empty otherwise should also stand true for season tickets and these games.

Its not the money, I can afford to pay a tenner for a friendly and I may well go to Forfar away as well as both these games.

It just feels like the club want more from a small group of people and it doesn’t sit well with me.

 

But as season ticket holders we do get freebies. Our season tickets get us roughly seven or eight home games for free each season, along with all the other benefits that you can take advantage of. That's why we buy season tickets, after all. It's not a selfless act done purely out of support for the club. We buy them because we know it's financially beneficial to ourselves.

I suspect that the club would probably just rather not have friendly matches at McDiarmid than allow season ticket holders into them for free, as it would cost them too much. They could just play all their friendlies away from home instead, which seemed to be the direction things were moving in over the last few years, until now. If it's a choice between paying a tenner to get into a home friendly and not having any home friendlies, I'd personally choose the former.

 

[slf]

18 minutes ago, blueheaven said:

But as season ticket holders we do get freebies. Our season tickets get us roughly seven or eight home games for free each season, along with all the other benefits that you can take advantage of. That's why we buy season tickets, after all. It's not a selfless act done purely out of support for the club. We buy them because we know it's financially beneficial to ourselves.

 

 

I buy my season ticket so I don’t have to find the money on the day.

 

[HOODLUM65]

21 minutes ago, slf said:

I buy my season ticket so I don’t have to find the money on the day.

 

"Money on the day" is needed for Voddy chief.

[Cagey]

1 hour ago, blueheaven said:

But as season ticket holders we do get freebies. Our season tickets get us roughly seven or eight home games for free each season, along with all the other benefits that you can take advantage of. That's why we buy season tickets, after all. It's not a selfless act done purely out of support for the club. We buy them because we know it's financially beneficial to ourselves.

I suspect that the club would probably just rather not have friendly matches at McDiarmid than allow season ticket holders into them for free, as it would cost them too much. They could just play all their friendlies away from home instead, which seemed to be the direction things were moving in over the last few years, until now. If it's a choice between paying a tenner to get into a home friendly and not having any home friendlies, I'd personally choose the former.

 

I think the reason we have not had home friendlies the last few seasons was that Saints kept digging up the pitch.

Now we have seeder , or ur groundsman? can drive around all day on his wee tractor sowing his seeds.