On seeing this story on the official Hearts website, I immediately assumed it was a misprint – either that or Specs Haver should have gone to Specsavers !!
The story relates to the Celtic game at Tynecastle on 2nd November, and Hearts are offering 150 places at £99 (+ VAT) to Celtic fans, inclusive of a match ticket and magazine. It`s not clear where this event is taking place – surely not in the Gorgie Suite ?
Apparently, some ex-Celtic players will be in attendance, and visiting fans taking up this offer will enjoy soup & sandwiches and a free bar before being escorted to their seats in the Roseburn Stand.
Hospitality packages are always on offer to home fans at Tynecastle – but this was the first I`d heard about something for away fans.
However after thinking about this for a few minutes, it struck me as a very clever piece of marketing by Hearts to combat Celtic`s move to win 5% commission from Hearts for them selling Tynecastle tickets to their fans.
Instead of having to FORFEIT some income from Celtic`s fans, Hearts have turned the Old Firm approach on its head, and will hopefully MAKE some extra money out of the visit of Celtic. Of course, it remains to be seen how many Celtic fans take up this package – but once again, I applaud this clever venture which sends out the message to the Old Firm that Hearts will not be dictated to, when it comes to selling seats at Tynecastle.
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really??….smacks of desperation with a hint of petulance to me
maybe the management are looking for a few extra pennies to play their players? 🙂
that should of course said “pay” rather than “play” 🙁
I would think that was probably the case for most, if not all clubs cathal. Hearts aren’t really any different in that regard, are they?
Incidently, I wonder if one of these “ex-Celtic players” supposedly in attendance will be Steven Pressley? The comedy value alone would be worth it. Ah… I crack myself up sometimes…
Good thinking there, SJ !! Hardly desperation, LeedsCelt ….. more like the product of a brainstorming session in the Commercial dept to come up with ideas on how to sell tickets direct to Celtic, so avoiding the 5% levy. I’d say these guys have earned their salary – which, incidentally, got paid today !!
hearts are the next gretna i’m afraid. when not if.
Larssonthingy, when you get a clue of what you’re talking about, please come back. Thanks.
SJ, dont be naive. salaries dont get paid when and only when there are financial problems, not due to administrative errors. there may be touble ahead and its a shame cos, like most celtic fans, i have a soft spot for hearts.
Money is money I suppose. Business-wise it makes sense.
Larsson, fair enough – you might be right about Hearts’ finances… but let’s get one thing clear. We are NOT Gretna. Gretna were funded by one man, who wrote all the cheques himself and eventually either became too ill to write them or ran out of money, or both. They had no other form of income save the half dozen fans that followed them to Fir Park every other week. Contrast that to Hearts, who are owned by a multi-billion $ international conglomerate of businesses. We have an annual turnover of over £10M (and growing), with merchandising outlets, hospitality facilities, and near sellout stadiums for four years running. If Vlad got run over by a bus tomorrow, we would be in trouble, but only because UBIG would be in trouble without their main stakeholder. They are, however, a large enough organisation to survive… and by association so are Hearts. You, sir, are naive if you believe otherwise. No-one can predict how the financial markets are going to go – and Hearts may feel the pinch of that in the future, but let me tell you Celtic, Rangers, and just about every other club in the world (bar Real Madrid & Man City perhaps) are far from immune either. Worry about your own club, because your biscuit tin is in just as much danger of running dry as ours.
fair points SJ, prob just an admin error!
hearts need too have the balls celtic did and boycott games and mibi hopefully drive romanov out
I think this is fair enough – in general I feel that Hearts (and possibly most clubs) don’t really do enough “thinking out the box” when it comes to marketing. The wages thing is a bit odd, I’ve not been paid on at least 2 occasions in my 20+ year working lifetime and both times it was rectified the next day, i.e. all stops were pulled. A “technical hitch” lasting over a week seems a bit dubious – this is the very type of thing that should be No1 on an employers contingency planning.
Thanks SJ for great input (as usual 🙂 ). I’m unsure about the soft spot you have for us ‘larsongod’, as unsure as I am about Romanov’s running of hearts actually… To be honest I don’t think this has anything to do with the old Vlad dictator, as I said before it takes 5 working days to clear a check never mind over £100.000 when the banks has cash draught (HBOS). Ach well another week at Hearts focusing on other things than foosball….
You sum it up very well in your last sentence ScandinavianJambo. Whether this whole wages debacle is a portent of worrying times to come or simply the glitch that the club would have us believe, it is indeed another week where we have been forced to focus on off – field issues rather than the team, its progress under Csaba, how we might fair at the weekend against Utd etc. These distractions have been a constant feature of the Romanov era (albeit stirred up to fever pitch by the media) ? and if they are disturbing for us the fans then I cannot believe that they do not impact on the players and their performance on the pitch. Can we please stop ******** about and just play some fitba!
larssongod, I dont know how many celtic fans you know, but i dont know any with a soft spot for Hearts. Quite the opposite if anything. Sorry to all the Jambos but i reckon you will know what im talking about.
No need to apologise lallyghirl, the feeling is entirely mutual I’m sure 😉
My only disappointment here is the lack of the word “use” in this discussion……