Fancy a ten year price fix on your season ticket?

What's that? Of course you do? Well roll up, roll up and let's talk about it. It's a deal, it's a steal, now let's crunch some numbers.

You've probably guessed from the title, and from my rather fetching sales pitch above, that this article is about the ten year price freeze on season tickets.

Apparently there are no catches, and you can exit the deal after just one season. Not only that, but you can pay monthly with no interest added to the balance. Sounds good doesn't it? Almost too good to be true in fact. The only downside I can find though is that those who own a season ticket will have to pay a £15 'membership fee' each year.

I know not everyone is in a position whereby they can take advantage of the deal, myself included, but is a good deal.

Why though? Why the sudden generosity regarding the price of season tickets? Does it make business sense? Is there a more sinister reason for it? Like a sale perhaps?

The first thing I thought of when I heard about it was that perhaps Ashley wants a guaranteed income to allow a more accurate budget and forecast into the future. This is quickly dispelled by the fact that you can exit the deal after just one year. You can't build a forecast on that I'm afraid.

Then I looked at the business sense of it, what with being a bit of a geek for numbers and figures and such. I can't see how it would make any business sense at all. It doesn't factor in any increase of sorts. I know there is the £15, but realistically that is peanuts and the club could probably raise season ticket prices year on year by that amount simply due to inflation.

What happens when costs start to rise? How will they be paid for? Surely absorbing those costs will just eat straight into our income and leave a smaller pot of cash left over for whatever?

I'm probably missing something here, but it genuinely looks to be a good deal for the fans, with very few strings attached. No doubt there will be a kick in the bollocks somewhere along the line, but on the face of it I can't see where there is one.

Oh wait, yes I can. It would appear that the away allocation is being extended, as is the family area. This will effectively end the singing section, or Leazes Corner level seven, if I've worked things out correctly. The point for this is? Very few fans take the full away allocation as it is, so why increase it and have more empty seats?

Could this be Ashley's way of splitting up the groovy gang who sit in the heavens and devote so much of their time and energy to him? Hmm....

Sign up for it by all means, but I wonder where the atmosphere is going to come from?