The Price Is Right

There aren't many occasions when a decision by the club has you pinching yourself in disbelief at how good it is, but today's announcement that ticket prices will be slashed next season is a bold, imaginative step that deserves to succeed.

It's generally accepted that last season's pricing policy was a disaster, with dismal home attendance following dismal home attendance regardless of who the opposition were. To ask punters to pay £16 just to stand, to watch fifth tier football amid decrepit facilities, was commercial suicide even before the team went on a scoreless, losing streak. No wonder RR had all the emotion and noise of a silent protest by the National Confederation of Undertakers.

Such an obvious mistake was clearly not going to be repeated, but no one expected such a radical swing in the other direction. Ten quid to stand or sit, kids allowed in for a quid? At a stroke Imraan has removed the go-to line for every self respecting local pub bore: "I'm not going to pay [insert figure here] to watch that crap". Unless we really are crap!

It will be very interesting to see the effect on attendances. Other clubs have tried something similar and reaped the benefits. Bradford City, for example, regularly pulled in over 11,000 last season despite never threatening to rise above mid table in League Two - the reason: well partly have you ever been to Bradford, but mainly a big cut in admission prices. In a different sport, Glamorgan once cut the cost of membership to a tenner and saw thousands sign up, creating atmosphere where previously there was none and reaping spin-off income from catering etc.

On the other hand, will the price alone lure back the absent hundreds who last season broke the habit of going regularly or semi regularly? Have they simply found something else to do? It may not make much difference to midweek games which clash with armchair attractions, or if the team again struggle to score.

But with just a modicum of entertainment, and more importantly some progress on the stadium issue, next season could be genuinely exciting. For too long now Rockingham Road has lacked its old roar and there's nothing better than when a couple of thousand really get behind the boys when it's getting dark and the floodlights are on. Well done KTFC for having the leap of faith to make that more than a pipe dream.