The city of Stoke-on-Trent has changed dramatically following the Aston Villa result on Sunday, there is a new buzz around the city and local people are excited about the change in their teams fortunes over the last few weeks and are anxious about the final seven games.
Early bird season tickets sales have sky rocketed after a record of over a thousand were purchased the first day they went on sale. Stoke have frozen season ticket prices for the seventh consecutive year, meaning that fans can enjoy another season of Premier League football for the same price they were paying in the Championship in 2007.
The club are also now offering a 12-month payment plan so people who can’t afford to pay for a season ticket up front can pay each month and spread the cost, as well as offering all City 7s members a free season ticket when their parents buy theirs.
This is all part of Chief Executive Tony Scholes plan to bring more youngsters to Stoke because he believes they are the future of football and will be season ticket holders in a few years’ time.
After the recent news about Carson Yeung and the way Vincent Tann is controlling Cardiff, it’s reassuring to know that people like Peter Coates still respect the fans and realise that they are as much a part of the club as the players.
I think the fact that the Coates family live local to Stoke and have a business in the area allows them to connect with the public on a level Tann will never understand. They care about the club and support the club, which means they would never make decisions that would hinder it in any way.
Stoke lost 3,000 season ticket holders at the end of Tony Pulis’ reign last year and many believed this was due to the fact that he played “boring” football and the fans were fed up with his tactics. Since then Mark Hughes has come in and slowly won the fans over with his better style of play as The Potters now look for their highest ever Premier League finish.
A win on Saturday against Hull will give Stoke 40 points, traditionally the required amount needed to retain Premier League status. This will allow fans to make the decision to buy Stoke season tickets knowing they are pretty much guaranteed the big four at The Britannia Stadium for the seventh season.
Whilst all this is great news for the club as they look like they are reigning in a new era of football, he club are still yet to announce if they will be offering the free away coach travel to fans for the second year running after a fantastic debut season has seen away attendances rise dramatically.
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