Jump to content

Allocations

Griffo

By Griffo,
in The Saints

 Share

Recommended Posts

Fookwit

Fookwit

Posted
Posted
In the latest sh*t vlog the club have produced.. Kenzie is interviewing Liverpool fans in our away end. The club are taking the **** out of us.

This happens all the time at Anfield, Old Trafford etc with season ticket holders selling their away tickets. Not sure what can be done as it mean Saints lose a generation of away fans who used to go away and are not the flask and slippers brigade you see in in these type of clips from the club. Saints away support improved when we went down the divisions

Link to comment
Share on other sites
alehouseboys

alehouseboys

Posted
Posted
This happens all the time at Anfield, Old Trafford etc with season ticket holders selling their away tickets. Not sure what can be done as it mean Saints lose a generation of away fans who used to go away and are not the flask and slippers brigade you see in in these type of clips from the club. Saints away support improved when we went down the divisions

 

Well he club happily filmed these couple of ****s, they should have followed them back and taken their seat numbers. They could have then traced it back to the buyers and then banned them from purchasing future tickets. Rules are rules...when it suits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lord Duckhunter

Lord Duckhunter

Posted
Posted
This happens all the time at Anfield, Old Trafford etc with season ticket holders selling their away tickets. Not sure what can be done as it mean Saints lose a generation of away fans who used to go away and are not the flask and slippers brigade you see in in these type of clips from the club. Saints away support improved when we went down the divisions

 

I’ve posted on here time & time again about people attending away games on others tickets, and all i ever got is abuse.

 

This is the other side of the same ****ing coin and it’s pretty easy to stop. All you do is book a room or rooms in a pub/hotel/community hall & dish the tickets out on the day (after showing id).

 

People don’t want that because a large number get tickets they’re not entitled to, and a large number of ST holders get credit for games they didn’t go to. Allowing that to continue is the loophole that gets opposition fans into our end. Unless they’re complete bell ends, they’ll never get caught.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Saint WGC

Saint WGC

Posted
Posted

I've seen this happen for years at Man United and Liverpool and the club are partly to blame but you know who the real culprits are? The bell end Saints fans who buy tickets most of the time with no intention of going to the games and instead get them for their friends who support these clubs. Sorry if I offend anyone but to be honest I don't really care when I say the idiot Saints fans who also buy tickets for their glory hunting kids to wear their Liverpool or Man U scarves in the away end really winds me up too.

 

Years ago at Old Trafford, there were some Saints fans who had got their Man U supporting friends tickets in our end and they decided it was funny and great to jump up and celebrate when United scored. I had a right go at them all as I was in the row behind and even noted down their row and seat numbers. When I got home, I wrote to the club saying how wrong it was and that surely they know who has purchased these seats and can at the very least send out a warning to them that if this happens again, they will be banned from purchasing tickets. Of course, I just got the standard reply from our ticket office saying there was not much they could do.

 

In this day and age, surely there is an easy way of identifying these people and sorting out the problem. Only a few weeks ago, when Rudiger made allegations of racism against Spurs fans, Tottenham said they could watch every single seat in their stadium and identify anyone misbehaving so with modern day technology, I cannot understand how the ticketing thing keeps happening or is allowed to happen. The ticket office must know who is buying these tickets but choose just to turn a blind eye. For years, Saints have "cosied up" to opposition fans and seem more interested in them having a great day out than their own fans and they are clearly still doing it.

 

To be honest, I have said it for years, with the exception of the fans, we are a small time club with a small time mentality, the whole way the club is run from the very top to the ticket office and the way that is run. However, the ultimate responsibility lies with the fans to purchase tickets for Saints fans and consider how much it annoys the rest of us with the small allocation recently being a prime example.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Noodles34

Noodles34

Posted
Posted
I’ve posted on here time & time again about people attending away games on others tickets, and all i ever got is abuse.

 

This is the other side of the same ****ing coin and it’s pretty easy to stop. All you do is book a room or rooms in a pub/hotel/community hall & dish the tickets out on the day (after showing id).

 

People don’t want that because a large number get tickets they’re not entitled to, and a large number of ST holders get credit for games they didn’t go to. Allowing that to continue is the loophole that gets opposition fans into our end. Unless they’re complete bell ends, they’ll never get caught.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

So you think that you have to make your own way to a separate venue before an away match to collect your ticket?

Seriously?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lord Duckhunter

Lord Duckhunter

Posted
Posted
So you think that you have to make your own way to a separate venue before an away match to collect your ticket?

Seriously?

 

That’s what Manchester United started doing at one time,and what other clubs do for European games.

 

Another example of people moaning about who gets tickets without addressing the fundamental issue. If people can give or sell their tickets willy nilly, you’ll end up with opposition fans in our end.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lord Duckhunter

Lord Duckhunter

Posted
Posted

Manchester United report from a couple of years ago.

 

 

 

 

“Manchester United are hoping to decrease reselling and improve behaviour after telling supporters travelling to Leicester next month that they can only pick up their tickets in the city on the day of the game.

 

United fans must also show ID in order to pick up the tickets for the Premier League game at the King Power stadium on February 5.

 

The club are to run a ballot for their allocation of 3,271 tickets for the match.

 

Those who have been successful will have to produce a driving licence or passport which matches the name on the ticket at the nearby Leicester Tigers rugby club on the day of the game.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Cat

The Cat

Posted
Posted
That’s what Manchester United started doing at one time,and what other clubs do for European games.

 

Another example of people moaning about who gets tickets without addressing the fundamental issue. If people can give or sell their tickets willy nilly, you’ll end up with opposition fans in our end.

 

We did it for Midtjylland and Prague. Everyone had to go to a hotel and pick up their tickets in the afternoon before the game.

 

I'd ban anyone selling away tickets to home fans, no excuses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Noodles34

Noodles34

Posted
Posted
We did it for Midtjylland and Prague. Everyone had to go to a hotel and pick up their tickets in the afternoon before the game.

 

I'd ban anyone selling away tickets to home fans, no excuses.

 

it’s one thing doing in Europe to stop people racking up the loyalty points for the next round as such, but Burnley away, really?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Noodles34

Noodles34

Posted
Posted
Manchester United report from a couple of years ago.

 

 

 

 

“Manchester United are hoping to decrease reselling and improve behaviour after telling supporters travelling to Leicester next month that they can only pick up their tickets in the city on the day of the game.

 

United fans must also show ID in order to pick up the tickets for the Premier League game at the King Power stadium on February 5.

 

The club are to run a ballot for their allocation of 3,271 tickets for the match.

 

Those who have been successful will have to produce a driving licence or passport which matches the name on the ticket at the nearby Leicester Tigers rugby club on the day of the game.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

but they don’t do it now, so what does that tell you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Saint_clark

Saint_clark

Posted
Posted
we don't even make it on time with the tickets!

So, for example, for tomorrow's game, we have to find some Irish pro IRA bar in Barnet, queue up with 5500 other Noddies, nonces and nobheads to get the ticket.

That'll work.

I'm enjoying the alliteration there, noodles.

 

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Cat

The Cat

Posted
Posted
it’s one thing doing in Europe to stop people racking up the loyalty points for the next round as such, but Burnley away, really?

 

They did it in Europe to make sure the people with the most away games were the ones picking up the tickets because they were in short supply.

 

Obviously it won't happen at Burnley away because we never sell out there, but it's plausible for small allocation sell outs. We won't do it, partly because our ticket office is a shambles and partly because, as evidenced above by the video, our club couldn't give a toss.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nta786

nta786

Posted
Posted
They did it in Europe to make sure the people with the most away games were the ones picking up the tickets because they were in short supply.

 

Obviously it won't happen at Burnley away because we never sell out there, but it's plausible for small allocation sell outs. We won't do it, partly because our ticket office is a shambles and partly because, as evidenced above by the video, our club couldn't give a toss.

 

 

They won’t give a toss- ultimately for them the club only care about selling the tickets to recoup their money, they won’t care one bit who attends, only that they’ve been paid for.

 

In addition, the other flip side is that the club want all away games to be sold out before it even gets to members, because it means that memberships are valueless and ultimately raises the value of a STH - i.e. to go to Spurs away (league) or any other high demand game you need a ST - hence why club will never do any sort of away membership

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stevegrant

stevegrant

Posted
Posted
They did it in Europe to make sure the people with the most away games were the ones picking up the tickets because they were in short supply.

 

Obviously it won't happen at Burnley away because we never sell out there, but it's plausible for small allocation sell outs. We won't do it, partly because our ticket office is a shambles and partly because, as evidenced above by the video, our club couldn't give a toss.

Yep, pretty much. There's no real incentive for the club to actually do something about this - they don't make any money from away ticket sales, there's no commission passed on unlike in the EFL (where the away club gets 5% of any ticket revenue they generate), so there's no way they're going to pay to hire out a venue for a few hours on a matchday to hand out tickets for league games.

 

It's been going on for years. Take last season, at the end of the season the club arranged an event at Staplewood for all season ticket holders who had been to every game home and away. A nice gesture, and fair play to them for putting that on, as they didn't have to do anything at all. I know a couple of people who were invited and attended, and they said there were loads of people there who they didn't recognise at all. Normally you'd spot regular faces, even if you don't know or talk to them, so for them to not recognise them from any away trip suggests that they've been doling out their season ticket to others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nordic Saint

Nordic Saint

Posted
Posted
Interestingly Norwich's ticket office have backed their fan base and taken the full 9000 allocation for Spurs in the next round, which is also midweek.

 

https://www.canaries.co.uk/News/2020/february/ticket-news-tottenham-hotspur-v-norwich-city/

 

Although they are not super-rich. Delia Smith & her partner are fans of the team they own, which is not something that could be said of Kat & Gao, who merely see it as a business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
macca155

macca155

Posted
Posted
it’s one thing doing in Europe to stop people racking up the loyalty points for the next round as such, but Burnley away, really?

 

Look Burnley away was a nightmare, floods, trains cancelled, torrential rain. We were lucky that any of us got there in one piece. No way could I have managed a pick up point.Worst away trip since Everton when we lost 7 - 1

Link to comment
Share on other sites
macca155

macca155

Posted
Posted

I think there is a big difference to taking a mate to a game who has 'some' allegiances to the other side to selling a ticket. As long as they are neutral and enjoy the game no problem. I've sneaked into the away end at other grounds on a number of occasions when I couldn't get a ticket and as long as you don't behave like an idiot then you'll be ok.

 

I had two tickets for the Liverpool game but unfortunately couldn't go, which was very annoying. I asked the ticket office if they would buy them back and they did. This way they were resold to Saints fans on the waiting list. I wish they would advertise this facility a bit more. I agree with previous posters, those who sell their tickets to the highest bidder should be harshly dealt with. It is a bit different if a ticket is advertised on a forum like this. The individual selling is putting their season ticket/membership at risk so will probably make sure the person buying is 'sound' as far as they can, and isn't going to start doing the helicopter (on live TV) if Vestergaard scores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
oldsarum

oldsarum

Posted
Posted
Interestingly Norwich's ticket office have backed their fan base and taken the full 9000 allocation for Spurs in the next round, which is also midweek.

 

https://www.canaries.co.uk/News/2020/february/ticket-news-tottenham-hotspur-v-norwich-city/

 

 

 

I’m sure we would have taken full 9,000 if we’d been in Norwich position in 5th round and with a month rather than a week to sell the tickets

Link to comment
Share on other sites
IFHP

IFHP

Posted
Posted
Interestingly Norwich's ticket office have backed their fan base and taken the full 9000 allocation for Spurs in the next round, which is also midweek.

 

https://www.canaries.co.uk/News/2020/february/ticket-news-tottenham-hotspur-v-norwich-city/

 

To be fair Norwich have a big away support, esspicially for the size of there fanbase / club.

 

OI think we would be able to take 9000 to tottenham if we had a months notice etc - the big question is though would our ticket office acually give us the opertunity to take 9000 away ? something we will have to wait and find out another year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Matthew Le God

Matthew Le God

Posted
Posted
Although they are not super-rich. Delia Smith & her partner are fans of the team they own, which is not something that could be said of Kat & Gao, who merely see it as a business.

 

Not sure why you don't think Liebherr is a fan. She has flown over for a lot of games over the past 10 years, she wouldn't bother if she wasn't a fan.

 

The actual difference between Norwich taking 9k and Saints 6k is that Norwich have significantly longer to sell those tickets compared to a quickly arranged replay with little gap after the first game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JRM

JRM

Posted
Posted
with a month to game, just over 200 tickets now left for Norwich, so looking at another sell out

 

That’s impressive, thought we might only just sell the 2600, tough journey by car or train but looks like we’ll sell these easily a month before the game. Always seems to be a popular trip Norwich and who knows when we’ll get to go there again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LGTL

LGTL

Posted
Posted

The recent allocations are little to do with what the TO think we will take but all to do with controlling who has access to tickets. It wouldn’t have gone unnoticed that we’ve had an ‘element’ back recently, particularly since the Fratton game. Quite a few have finished long banning orders and are back on the scene. Our little family club don’t want them anywhere near and Saints would rather we sold 1500 to the travel club lot with their flasks and blankets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stevegrant

stevegrant

Posted
Posted
The recent allocations are little to do with what the TO think we will take but all to do with controlling who has access to tickets. It wouldn’t have gone unnoticed that we’ve had an ‘element’ back recently, particularly since the Fratton game. Quite a few have finished long banning orders and are back on the scene. Our little family club don’t want them anywhere near and Saints would rather we sold 1500 to the travel club lot with their flasks and blankets.

If that is their reasoning (and I'm not entirely convinced, tbh), it's a ridiculous justification. Those people will get tickets, the Palace game still went on sale to members, I believe, and when I spoke to him around the time of the Palace arguments, the ticket office manager told me that Leicester and Chelsea both made general sale. I was away when both of those were on sale so I have no evidence to refute that claim. If that is correct, though, the "undesirables" would still have been able to get tickets, regardless of how many previous away games they'd been to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Noodles34

Noodles34

Posted
Posted
If that is their reasoning (and I'm not entirely convinced, tbh), it's a ridiculous justification. Those people will get tickets, the Palace game still went on sale to members, I believe, and when I spoke to him around the time of the Palace arguments, the ticket office manager told me that Leicester and Chelsea both made general sale. I was away when both of those were on sale so I have no evidence to refute that claim. If that is correct, though, the "undesirables" would still have been able to get tickets, regardless of how many previous away games they'd been to.

 

I do not think either went to GS Steve. But I might be wrong

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

Posted
Posted (edited)

Here's the discussion from the latest Saints Voice meeting. It's lengthy but worth the read...

 

Away Allocation

SV – We would like to speak about the away allocation. Why we are taking smaller allocations, and what are your decisions based on?

It looks to us that you are taking smaller allocations for away matches, and it doesn’t feel right. It

looks like you are taking the easy financial option and not the one that is best for fans, it doesn’t make sense. Fans are not given the opportunity to buy tickets. In regard to teams visiting St. Marys, it seems like we are giving larger allocations or giving them lots of late options. Are we able to be more authoritative with other Clubs? Block 43 in the Northam only goes on sale a week or so before a game, and then its empty and you see on MOTD that it looks like we have a terrible fan base.

 

MS – To explain the journey that happens and how it works….We have to make a decision at least 30 days before the fixture, although most teams push for an earlier decision. We will be offered different options by the away team – the first myth I would like to address is that we keep taking the ‘lowest allocation’ – we have not taken the lowest allocation offered so far this season except Chelsea who only offer 2 options.

We look at a number of factors before making a decision. We look at form, this is a major factor – if we are coming off a couple of wins or defeats, this makes a huge difference to the number of our fans purchasing away tickets.

We will look at previous visits to that venue. Of all the matches we have had this season, Crystal Palace is the only fixture that we have taken a lower allocation than last season, every other match has been the same or higher. We look at the demand around other fixtures during that time period, how often we have played there recently, are they recently back in the Premier League and therefore a more popular venue. We will look at previous years fixture, and what has happened around similar times of the year – for example how sales performed for a January midweek fixture the last couple of years. We look at the time of day, whether the kick-off is a 3pm or 7.45pm for example as these really effect sales, as well as whether or not we are on TV. They are some of the factors we look into, and for us it’s not about taking the lowest allocation, it’s

about taking what’s right. We would love to have as many fans there as possible, but the reality is the demand isn’t always there. We keep an eye on Twitter and what supporters post, and a lot of the people posting negatively about sales and allocations attend away matches infrequently.

This season there have been 6 games where we haven’t taken the full allocation, and every one of those up until Liverpool has made it to general sale or previous booking history only. This means that all Season Ticket Holders and Members had the opportunity to buy and most didn’t.

We have tried this season to go on sale before we have to make the decision on allocation size, like we did for Crystal Palace for example. This gives us an opportunity to gauge sales against expectations and previous examples. We have to sell in the order dictated by the away club, and I would encourage people to purchase during their window to give us a better understanding of demand where possible. Staying with Crystal Palace as an example, and as a fixture we received criticism for –we sold only 399 on the first day of sale, in comparison to 1020 on the first day last time we went there. We had just come off the back of some really disappointing results against Newcastle and West Ham and fans simply were not buying at that time. Fast forward a little and our sudden and welcome change in form meant supporters began asking why there was such a small allocation and expressing disappointment at not being able to purchase a ticket. We were able to secure some more tickets further down the line, but even they didn’t sell as quickly as the feedback would have suggested.

I hope that explains how we look at this in a little more detail and shows that a lot of thought goes into each decision.

 

SV – What is the difference with the blocks and how many more could you take – just trying to understand the liability behind it, like how many more tickets can you take at a time?

 

MS – It varies with different Clubs. With Crystal Palace it was another 890 more tickets. Some teams like Chelsea only give two options, so a decision has to be made between 1500 or 3000.

 

ACJ – I hope that helps you see the process we go through. Some other points following recent feedback from some supporters -

Regarding empty seats in the Northam for home matches, Block 43 was returned very late by Watford and Norwich. We wanted to see those seats filled by Saints fans and encourage attendance by more or new people so went out with an offer for those 2 matches. This was successful and we felt better than a number of empty seats in that key area, driving supporter for the team.

Ticket pricing for FA Cup matches is now set by the home team, not an agreement between the two. We wanted to reward our Season Ticket Holders by offering a great price of £10 per ticket. The rules state we have to replicate the pricing for away fans, and therefore had to offer £10 to Spurs Season Ticket Holders. It turns out all their tickets were taken up by Season Ticket Holders, so they all got their seats for a tenner.

A decision was made by us to do the right thing by our supporters and thank them for sticking with us through a difficult period in time and then come and watch a great game of football, didn’t quite land well with some fans who thought we had given a great offer to Spurs fans and not rewarded our own. A real shame. On the flip side, Spurs set a higher price and we didn’t have an input in that. Which is why we subsidised the travel instead, to ensure we gave value to our fans.

 

SV – Do they tell you beforehand?

 

MS – They do, and we did ask them to review, but there was no movement.

 

MS- We do try to negotiate better terms or more suitable allocations with away Clubs and some are more able to accommodate than others depending on their stadiums, their policies. Sheffield United, Aston Villa and Burnley were all willing to allow us to have better flexibility – same with Palace.

 

SV – Could we have an information sheet published explaining all you’ve just said? We know it’s not going to be as exciting as something player related, but it might help fans to understand better.

 

SV – Further question - how much risk are you willing to take? How often do we take a risk, and do we have a threshold? 30k in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t appear to be a huge financial risk for the club?

 

ACJ – There is a perception that 30k here, 20k there, is not a problem. But we have to operate effectively and responsibly. Each time we ‘lose’ money on decisions we make we are less able to achieve elsewhere.

 

SV – Isn’t an extra 500 fans at an away fixture worth the extra risk? Won’t that help us in the end?

 

SV – Correct me if I’m wrong, it’s just to my understanding that the multi-million pounds spent on players and ticketing revenue are almost two separate business’s, that run coherently? Because surely it’s a totally different ball game spending £20 million on Danny Ings, and spending £20k on a new lounge for example?

 

TS – If we were to say we have wasted £600,000 on tickets that weren’t sold, some would say that’s fine and others would be critical of us for running the club in a bad way. Everything we do – such as offering match tickets for £10 each at short notice – will have fans thinking that’s a great way of getting people to matches, and others saying it is unfair. We can’t always get it right, but we have to make the best judgements we can with the information at hand. It’s not in our best interests to have too few fans at matches, or to be wasteful of our resources.

 

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Edited by Ivan Katalinic's 'tache
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JRM

JRM

Posted
Posted

For Palace they are saying poor sales on day 1, but I recall tickets going on sale with no announcement I think I only found out on here that tickets were on sale, club hardly promoted it, they need to acknowledge there's a feeling amongst fans that the club doesn't value away support .

 

I don't think we need to take biggest allocation every time (we don't travel well north of Birmingham) but games like Chelsea and Palace we can easily sell.

 

Coming up we've sold 3000 at West Ham and 2600 at Norwich comfortably well in advance.

Watford we only get 2100 anyway which always sells out quickly,

I'd say take the smaller allocations at Everton and Man United, we never travel well to Goodison so 1800 lower tier will be enough, United only a week later if they take 2400 for that (which I think we took last year) don't let it go to general sale keep it restricted to those with purchase history.

Bournemouth obviously we only get 1300 anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ericb

ericb

Posted
Posted
Shame the question of why we give away fans more than we have to for cup games never came up.

 

Not likely that the Saints Voice will ever bring that up when one of them was "campaigning" on being a champion of away fans visiting St Mary's...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...