GARY ROSE: What are your views on some of the issues fans had in the initial hours of purchasing tickets?

NICK WATKINS: Having spoken to Ticket Zone it appears they had an issue switching from the see through database with the season ticket holders to going on general sale.

There was either an issue with the software that is local to them, or the traffic that hit the server, created something of a hiatus for the first few hours of tickets going on general sale for those trying to buy on the internet.

There was an extraordinary demand for tickets in the first hour of sales and I believe there were something like 19,000 calls or attempted calls made.

Ticket Zone sorted the problem, they recognised the issue early on and everything was back in full working on later in the day.

We will now look to get the sales project finished and will then take it up with Ticket Zone as to exactly what happened and how it could be prevented in the future.

GR: Does it make you reassess plans to outsource for future events?

NW: We don’t have the capacity in-house to do that, from an online capability or a telephone incoming line capability. We would need something like 15-20 operators dealing with the phones and the equivalent online.

So to have over 40 people, plus all the fulfilment, it would just be an impossible task and certainly at a time when season tickets have gone on sale and we have five home league fixtures to sort out.

It would not be logistically possible. I wouldn’t do it in-house.

GR: What are your thoughts on the booking fee that was charged?

NW: The booking fee was lower than if you were buying a ticket for a constant. They have 30-40 personnel that they have to pay for.

We would have had to charge a booking fee had we done it at Swindon Town. There is a postage fee and the tickets have to be sent out to the purchaser.

I know there have been some negative comments regarding the booking fee but it is there because there is a cost incurred by outsourcing it.

If there was not that cost to outsourcing it then fans would have to go down to the County Ground or spend hours on the phone line and incur costs from waiting on the phone.

Whatever is done there would be a cost.

GR: Moving on to season tickets, which went on sale this week. The main concern from fans has been the fact the early bird deadline is the end of March. With Wembley and a lot of home games it is a tough month financially, is there a chance to extend the deadline?

NW: I have taken on board all of the comments I have received.

The majority I have had have been very constructive and the recurring theme seems to be this narrow window at a time when they are having to pay for Wembley tickets, we have five home games and fans want to see the team doing well.

I would be very sensitive to that, as indeed has the club, we will review the deadline and come out with some statement as to whether we can or cannot create some flexibility regarding the window.

The important thing to remember is that one of the reasons for the one-month window is to allow fans to take advantage of the 12-month instalment plan, which is new this season.

If people want to take up this option, then they cannot go beyond the one-month window of March.

GR: How come there is no armed forces discounts?

NW: I understand the complexity of the armed services and getting called away on duty. If we can help them in anyway, or their families, which we have done in the past, we will certainly look at that and it is a point well made.

GR: Is it possible to provide offers for shift workers? For example 10 or 15 game season tickets?

NW: If we go down the road of making provisions for shift workers then we will have all sorts people coming in and saying, ‘I can only get to games every other Saturday,’ or ‘I can only make Tuesday night games’.

Whatever it may be we would find ourselves with all sorts of permutations and there comes a time when you have to say, ‘this is the season ticket prices’.

The tickets are transferrable, they can be used by a friend so there is flexibility there. I understand the concerns of shift workers but I cannot start creating more permutations.

GR: Is there a chance of offering season tickets for two or three years, like the club has done before?

NW: We don’t want to do that again. We did it in response to a fans’ forum on season tickets. Jeremy Wray and I were present and one of the issues to come out was a three-year season ticket.

I think around 100 people took up the option and because we will be looking to redevelop the stadium, moving people around then, I don’t believe it is feasible.

GR: The season ticket prices have gone up, what will the extra revenue be used on?

NW: The importance of season tickets is that for most clubs, in fact every club I imagine, it is an important inflow of cash when we have no activity.

The season ticket revenues in April and May help limit the amount of cash that has to come in from other sources.

When there are no other sources the inflow of cash comes from investors and they cannot continue to just keep putting their hands in their pockets, we need to get this club to some level of financial sustainability.

We have carried an extra financial burden this year with the team, we resisted the Charlie Austin-type scenario in January, although we did have offers for players.

We want to keep these players here for League One because Paolo believes he has the makings of a side who can take him through that division as well.

GR: Why is there only a £30 difference between ticket prices in the Town End and in the side stands?

NW: Two years ago we offered Town End tickets at £199 and there was very little take up.

We made 1,000 tickets available and I think we sold a couple of hundred. So we felt there is not really that demand for much of the ticket differential.

We feel that people want to be in the Town End because of what it represents, not because it is price sensitive.

GR: What about offering half-season tickets?

NW: I am aware people say they would love a half-season ticket, but the problem with them is that to keep them competitive when they are offered in January, they have to cost more than the half-price of a season ticket to give fairness to season ticket holders who bought one at the outset.

In previous years we have had very little take-up with half season ticket offers and it is only this season when Swindon are in with a chance of promotion that fans who could not afford to invest in the summer want to buy one now.

We got criticised last time about not being clear that there would not be a half-season ticket, so this time we were clear from the outset and said there would not be one.

GR: Concession increase is higher than adult season ticket price increase.

Won’t it already be more difficult for that group to afford a ticket, so why hit them in the pocket more?

NW: I am hugely sensitive to every category of fan. The concession price does include, not just senior citizens, but also students and various other categories.

It is relative to the price of the original ticket, so a 24 per cent increase of a higher price is the same as 48 per cent of a lower price ticket.