I don't know the details, SS. With the finances the way they are I doubt there will be cheaper tickets. I sit in the new 'blue' area with my family so I'm hoping the change won't be much change. Mind you, I still think the eastern stand is the best place to be. Except when it rains!

How can you say you don't care if the club doesn't make a profit? It's not sustainable if the club is in the red.

I share your sentiments regarding winning stuff and going to Asia again, but if we're not making money, what's the point?

I don't really care how much the Melbourne teams enjoy comparing their endowments right now, and to be honest, our squad isn't that bad and actually has a decent chance (as has any other A-League club, actually) of being up there at the end of the season.

And for goodness sake, we have another 4 months before the season kicks off, so there's absolutely no need to get your knickers in a knot. Flores will sign when he signs. If he doesn't then that's his decision, and we'll make do without him. That's football.

So fellow Reds, it's been a long time coming but the 'official' fans committee finally met with Matt Rossi for the first time last night. A range of things were discussed, some of which I can tell you about and some of which I can't - yet.

At this point it's fair to say that (as you've probably figured out!) things are moving pretty slowly at the club and that big news is hard to come by. The over-riding factor in all things is that money is tight this year with the club really working to make sure that it's viable this season - and for many more. The owners and the new regime are, without doubt, absolutely focused on making sure that Adelaide United survives longterm.

So, what little bits of news can I tell you?
1. There will be three levels of seating at Hindmarsh this year. Red will now be the north and south ends and the eastern stand will be 'blue' seating. Still unreserved. And gold for the young and rich!
2. The club is working with the Red Army to ensure that 'active' support is catered for as well as possible.
3. Ticket prices are going to be pretty stable I'm told. The big difference will be that we will now be able to buy a season ticket without membership.
4. Membership will be a separate option and the club plans to allow members voting rights on a 'members board' of some sort. Ideas are not finalised yet but the whole idea is to get members more involved than before in talking about the direction of the club. It's part of really positive push to make sure that more fans are part of what goes on. My feeling is that the new ownership really wants AU to be accessible.
5. The final design for the jersey for this season is still not formalized but a few options are being made up as we speak and we should see the final decision within a month.
6. Our media man is in Mexico, asked by the FFA to go and help cover the U17 World Cup. Nice gig, eh? But that means AU isn't really present in the press at the moment, hence the sometimes unconfirmed reports of trial matches that we're hearing. The full pre-season trial game roster is still a work-in-progress.

That's about it folks. There's more but it'll come out soon. The first meeting was pretty much a 'getting to know you' session with a report on where things are. You can be assured that we asked some fairly pointed question and that Matt did his best to answer. The reality is that a lot of stuff is simply not finalised or decided at this stage. And of course they're not going to tell us everything we want to know. It's a business too.

What is clear is that the Reds are walking the fine line of trying to run a successful club while trying to be financially responsible. It's not about saving money. It's about being sensible and ensuring that we are here in ten years. There may be decisions that some fans will be annoyed about but - in my humble opinion - this is going to be a year to hang tough with the club as it gets the money stuff sorted.

There's a great chance that we're going to be highly competitive on the field but that's going to depend on making sure we don't go broke.

I left the meeting feeling very up about the Reds again.

Feel free to leave comments here that I can take to the next meeting. But keep them short and (relatively) realistic. The club has started to make sure that the fans have a voice - let's use it well.

How can you say you don't care if the club doesn't make a profit? It's not sustainable if the club is in the red.

I share your sentiments regarding winning stuff and going to Asia again, but if we're not making money, what's the point?

I don't really care how much the Melbourne teams enjoy comparing their endowments right now, and to be honest, our squad isn't that bad and actually has a decent chance (as has any other A-League club, actually) of being up there at the end of the season.

And for goodness sake, we have another 4 months before the season kicks off, so there's absolutely no need to get your knickers in a knot. Flores will sign when he signs. If he doesn't then that's his decision, and we'll make do without him. That's football.

The Red membership has gotten cheaper, the Blue membership is the same as last season's Red, and I don't know about the Gold ones.

Hmm, just re read the ticketing info. There will still be general admission available in the Home End - this needs to stop.

Hmm, just re read the ticketing info. There will still be general admission available in the Home End - this needs to stop.

Disagree with you there, if anything the entire North End needs to be General Admission. You will find that the Supporter bay is always only half full because people just buy the general admission tickets. If we want large numbers behind the goals, we need to open it up to everyone. There are enough problems with people buying home support tickets and not partaking in active support so I don't see how that could be an issue.

Sorry I didn't make myself clear, what I mean is I don't want there to be both Home End tickets and General Admission tickets. It should be either one or the other - my preference is for the Home End to be entirely reserved as active support and for the club to market it as active support - in other words if you are in the home End you are expecting to have people standing and all the other bits and pieces that go along with active support.

Might as well find out how many seats are in the North end, give it to the Red army to market, promote and sell off then if we want that whole stand active support.

Hey RU, where'd you get that ticket info?
Im pretty tired but I can't seem to find it on the United website and I havent received any emails from them.