May I take this belated opportunity to wish all our supporters a very happy New Year and prosperous 2016.
I am sure you are as pleased as I am that the team has started the New Year with three wins in the Championship and progress in the FA Cup.
As Carlos says, the league is very much our priority but – as we saw in the Capital One Cup earlier in the season – cup runs are exciting for everyone and certainly do no harm for confidence and the feel good factor in the squad.
But essentially, our target is promotion to the Premier League. All our objectives are geared towards achieving that ambition, be that in the short or long term.
Since taking over the club, I have adapted a root and branch review policy, central to which at this moment is the innovation of the Advance Saver Season Ticket.
A huge amount of research, time and diligence has been devoted to this project, of which I am particularly pleased.
Having seen the team at home and away from Hillsborough now on many occasions, something that always strikes a chord for me is the incredible passion that Sheffield Wednesday supporters have for our club.
This is something that continues to amaze me and directors and officials of other clubs. So I wanted to devise a project that would serve as a simple way of saying ‘thank you’.
The Advance Saver Season Ticket was born and launched at the beginning of January and I am delighted to say the indications are that this will prove extremely popular with our loyal supporters.
In simple terms, these prices cannot and will not be beaten, of that there is no doubt. This is my commitment to you with a guaranteed cost of a one, two or three-year Season Ticket – and the longer the commitment, the cheaper that cost will become.
In addition, the price of your Advance Saver Season Ticket is guaranteed to stay the same irrespective of the division we are in.
My vision is clear, for as many supporters as possible having a Season Ticket whilst receiving the best prices and discounts along the way.
We have explored every avenue in terms of facilitating payment for the Advance Saver Season Ticket and we are pleased to offer a finance option or the ability to pay by credit card for the one-year option. Unfortunately, strict financial regulations prevent anything other than the one-year option when purchasing by credit card.
For the two or three-year option, however, we are pleased to say that finance is available to spread the cost of your Season Ticket over a ten-month period.
Of course, we examined every possibility of a longer term but this would have incurred a much higher cost and negated the benefits of finance. I realise the subsequent restrictions but I feel strongly that our club cannot subscribe to any form of payment method we deem not in the best interests of our supporters.
You will always come first in my thinking as we will continue to grow our club together until we reach that goal of the Premier League.