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I am aware that from time to time the way that I direct this club does not meet with the expectations of a minority of the fan base. As most of you know, it has been necessary to put a small increase on tickets purchased Day of Game over the last few days.

This however in no way effects the myriad of pre-game ticketing initiatives that are already on offer from the club, and in actual fact is 50% less than last season’s walk up charge.

I am being asked "Why can't you reduce the ticket price?" and "Why can't you compete with other English Premiership teams' competitive pricing structures?"

Well I know why our Match day tickets are more expensive, and there are many components - some of which I'll share with you.

As many of you know, The Manchester Phoenix Ice Hockey club is playing out of a semi-permanent building with a life expectancy of around five years. This makes it an extremely expensive building for the operator to run and hire. Some of our competitors have a proportion and/or all of the rent paid for them by their borough...unfortunately we don’t.

So other than that, how can we reduce the ticket price?

Well we could sacrifice having the best match night experience in British Ice Hockey.

We could get rid of the fifty trained marshals and back room staff that keep everybody safe and make our club so special. These people already give up lots of their own valuable time helping me run our events to a very high standard.

We could cancel the lease on the thirty 50" plasma screens, moving lighting and special effects; sell all the broadcast camera equipment and the racks of graphics equipment including digital vision mixing and recording; and get rid of Richard and the engineering crew.

But at least then we'd have cheaper tickets.

I am sorry if I sound facetious but unfortunately this club still needs large amounts of my personal investment week by week, so I am going to still be very passionate about the product and the event we produce.

I will be honest, and say that maybe at some point in the future it will be time for me to step down and see if there is a better man or woman for this job - especially if I lose the confidence and support of the great fans of Ice hockey here in Manchester, which is the only reason I am still here.

Until that point, I personally don’t want to be part of a cheap, poorly presented Ice Hockey Club. I want to go to a game and, win or lose, be proud of the club I follow and the people I stand with. I am sorry but I just don’t have the motivation to get out of bed otherwise.

As long as I lead this club I will always Keep The Faith…

Neil