Crawley are the latest club to introduce ‘variable’ admission prices after Kettering and Stevenage’s new price initiatives’ in the last 12 months. Crawley have ‘banded’ their games so that games against teams like Histon and Salisbury will be a lower price than ‘premium’ games against the likes of Cambridge and ourselves. The Red Devils have introduced it as a way of trying to increase the gates at Broadfield Stadium, but I don’t really see how increasing the price by £2 for some games will help boost attendances. It is bound to put people off going to the fixture and the club will also lose any extra income gained from programme sales etc.

With us now being seen as a ‘big’ club with a respectable following then we are being hit by some bigger admission prices to pay. I think it’s a bit unfair that teams like Histon and Altrincham will be playing the same teams as us, but over the whole season will be paying a lot less to see their teams play.

For example going to Crawley will cost a Histon fan £5 less than it will cost a Boro supporter this season. How can the league justify that?

Teams in the Premier League and Football League have ‘banded’ their fixtures into categories for years now and it seems that it is beginning to find it’s way down to the Blue Square Premier. To me it just means the bigger clubs will have to fork more while the smaller teams get a discounted gate. Fans shouldn’t be ‘punished’ just because of the size of the club they support.

Boro chairman Phil Wallace has stated the reason why the club were quiet on transfer deadline day.

“The demise of Setanta has put paid to any thoughts of going over budget, as we have sometimes done in the past. In order to bring a new player in, Graham has to move one out to create room for their wages and that’s not always easy. We decided to go with 21 senior players and one youngster this year, signing up everyone early and there’s simply no room to change that.” Wallace on the finances at Broadhall Way

I’m pretty sure that in the past, Stevenage would have signed a replacement for Lawrie Wilson or brought in another striker, but the finances currently don’t allow that to happen. Be interesting to see what happens in January with regards to new signings.

Lastly the Boro under 18 side beat Hitchin U18′s 4-0 in midweek. A totally newly assembled side, now coached by Watford legend Luther Blissett comfortably beat their nearby opponents. It will be interesting to see just how many youngsters progress from the youth system now it has been revamped with thanks to Protec.