Board speaks about Season Ticket Hike....

No Queue's - next season??

Speaking to this afternoons Rotherham Star, Dino Maccio said: "People don't like prices going up and we didn't want to do it, but we had to do it. We took over a club losing £140,000 a month and which was 24 hours from closing down. We took on a lot of fixed overheads and still have them."

"The priority was to stay in League One and release the burden of debt. We had magnificent support from our fans, and other people in the town, and we will always be grateful. But I'm sure the fans realise the debts are still there, the problems simply haven't all gone away. But the reality when we came to looking at next season was that we had no choice but to do what we have done. We have worked tirelessly at cutting costs and getting extra revenue in and we will continue to do that - we have already got extra sponsorships."

"I think people realise that we are in the process of building this club back up. It will take time and we need the fans' support. As a board, we ask people to stick with us, trust us," Maccio asked the fans.

"There is a lot of work to do and I hope the fans will stick by us. The last game was great. We'd all love a full house every week - if we did that, I think we'd been in a position to look at dropping the prices the following year." Maccio added.

On tonights Football Heaven show on Radio Sheffild, the Millers Chief Operating Officer, Paul Douglas also gave reasons as to why the club needs to charge so much for adult tickets.

"Basically its just to ensure we can go forward into season 06/07 as a club that is not relying on handouts from the football league, or its fans doing extraordinary things to raise money, and we really do appreiciate the fans."

"Without the fans support and the things they did towards the end of last season we wouldnt be in the position we're in now. Ultimately, that has to be regarded as extraordianary and can't be expected to go on. The reality is that Rotherham United FC has been and continues to run at a huge loss and until we're able (and these things can't be done overnight) to cut the overheads and costs, we have to budget and bring in revenue to match those costs."

Asked if he saw the increase as a significant rise, "We do see it as a rise, significant would depend on the individual I suppose, but at the end of the day we wanted to put the club in a postition where the revenue coming through the gates and other streams matches the expendature that the clubs got and we're doing all we can to bring that expendature down."

"But we cannot afford to do is find ourselves in a position in six months or so where once again we're sitting ashen faced in front of the press saying the clubs about to go under." Douglas responded.

Asked if the prices were the lowest they could go, Douglas confirmed: "Yes in a nut shell the priority for us was to try and ensure we offered a competative deal and I think we've done that accross the league as it is."

"If you look at the figures and break them down, the most expensive seat at £396 averages at £17.20 a match, which is not to be scoffed at but on the other hand in the modern era for a couple of hours entertainment is not beyond reasonableness. We feel that we've had to strike a balance between what we think is reasonable and what people can afford, and also in doing that, prioritise as much as we can familys and young people to enable them to come and build a future for the club."

Asked wether the price was value for money with being sat in a half built stand. Paul went on to say; "I'm glad you raisded that point, that stand itself isnt going to get finished without a lot of expenature, not to mention the fact there we're in the postition now where there are works required on the rest of the grouund over the summer which need to be done before we can go into next season. All these things cost a lot of money."

Subsidised prices????

Paul added, "The reality is that clubs the size of Rotherham United operate in 2 ways. Either there is one or more benefactors who are prepared to indulge themselves and the town by subsidising prices. Perhaps to some extent thats whats been happening in Rotherham over the last 20 years. Or the fans themselves have to pay the price thats needed to run a professional football club. And the reality is thats now the case in Rotherham."

"Unless people can pay this price, then realistically there really isnt a future for professional football in the town, because we as fans ourselves are fully aware of how important it is to hit the right buttons on prices, but ultimately we've got to make income and revenue match or there isnt a future for the club." Douglas warned.

Speaking about the uproar withen fans, Douglas said; "I think there's been an initial reaction and people have been upset about that. People feeling that they have put thier money in their pockets for the bucket collections and other fundraising has given them the sense that the club is being gready, but that really isnt the case. The monies that we're asking for is simply to allow us to run a club effectively next season, and we're hopeful that the responce that we had at the end of last year and the crowds that we saw, particulary at the last game will be an indication that we will have good season ticket sales."

"At the end of the day we're just asking for as much money to run a club."

Ring DeeDar on Thursday

"The biggest incentive is that theres a 20% on matchday prices which is as big as incentive as we can give really, the second incentive is that its keeping Rotherham United alive and that is what everybody wants to see."

Dennis Coleman and Dino Maccio will once again be in the Radio Sheffield studio this Thursday night taking fans phone calls. 6 til 7pm call 0114-279-6699 with your questions.