Away game tickets - the fairest way?

[Barclay hero 0]

Looking at the posts on other threads, this is obviously a big area of contention

At the moment we seem to have either a ballot scheme or a complete free-for-all, where apparently big allocations become all to obviously over subscribed (eg Orient). Ticketing is something our club have always had issues with - remember Inter Milan and season ticket holders being able to buy 4? - and Im guessing any other club with a reasonable following home & away has the same issues

The argument is made that those travelling to every away game should have the first pick of any ''high priority'' games. Thats fair enough but the comment is usually followed up by the idea that regular away travellers are ''better fans''. But what about those who cant afford to go to every game? I''ve got kids and we''re on a tight budget although Orient will be my 4th away trip of the season. But I''ve been going to games for 33 years - does that make me less of a fan? Or Jem - one away trip this season which happens to be Colchester - and gets criticised by a more regular away traveller who didnt get a ticket. But Jem has supported the club for years, sold programmes, etc and cant travel because of family commitments. Personally I dont think people like Jem should be pushed down a ballot either, just because they can''t afford to go to more than 1 away game.

Likewise a free for all isnt fair - because not everyone can get into the city quickly, and not everyone can call in during ticket office hours

Im sure people will have their own ideas, probably based on a method that will suit them. However for what its worth here is my idea - lets take an allocation of 2000 which is expected to be over subscribed

Top priority goes to the Away Season tickets. Ive seen elsewhere that we have 400 of those. So that leaves 1600 for others.

We still use the priority groups - but each get a number of tickets, decreasing as you go down the list. Using the current 5 groups you may have

Group 2 - 800 tickets.

Group 3 - 500 tickets

Group 4 - 200 tickets

Group 5 - 100 tickets

On top of this, for up to 3 games you can pay a small non-returnable fee - say £5 or £10 to go ''up'' one level

Each level - if over subscribed - has a ballot of its own. If any level is undersubscribed then the remaining tickets filter down to the next level

Net result - everyone gets a chance. Some of the regular travellers MAY have to stay home for the likes of a game at Ipswich, and some non-regular travellers may go instead. But the non-regulars may then become regular themselves

So what do others think the fairest way might be? One of the current methods? Or something else entirely?

Over to you...

[Klobo7 0]

I think which ever way you arrange it, there will always be some fans who are ''missing out''.

I would love to go to Charlton but I know there is little point in applying being in the bottom group. I cant have a season ticket because I live in Scarborough and i would only be able to get home for a few games a season so it is not worth while.

At the same time I have been to 5 away games around the Northern grounds this season, but find it difficult to get to away games down south.

Therefore I will nearly always miss out in a ballot.

[Blofield Canary 12]

I honestly don''t see much wrong with the system in place.

Away season ticket holders obviosly get tickets. Season ticket holders who have ben to 10 or more games in the last year in my opinion should get preference over others. Where there could be a change is to have an extra category for season ticket holders with 5 away games. This would give them the advantage over those who just want to pick the big or local games.

[Matt Juler 208]

Our ticket office is running on a shoe string as it is, adding in all those levels and options just wouldn''t work with the current staffing levels.  As others have said there is no fair method, but the way NCFC do it in my view is about as good as you''ll get.

[adycanary 0]

[quote user="jbghost"]I honestly don''t see much wrong with the system in place. Away season ticket holders obviosly get tickets. Season ticket holders who have ben to 10 or more games in the last year in my opinion should get preference over others. Where there could be a change is to have an extra category for season ticket holders with 5 away games. This would give them the advantage over those who just want to pick the big or local games.[/quote]

Would agree with that and maybe them 5 tickets need to be in last 6 months.

[Suffolk exile 0]

To give the club credit the current scheme is alot fairer than it used to be and fairer than most other clubs. It will probably cost the club a fair amount in administration to administer the scheme as it is, cost benefit of adding extra tiers or queue jumping options doesn''t seem practical to me. I''m in a similar boat to you, I can only make 3-4 away games a year due to family commitments, though have been supporting for 20 years. I think it would be unfair for me to jump ahead of a more regular recent traveller.

Having said that the number of season tickets holders we have now makes this a large catagory. I would like to see some prioritisation for longer term season ticket holders which would surely encourage renewals as a side benefit. Not sure if away allocation is the best area for this but is a possibility. Otherwise perhaps an added benefit in the shop or free ticket for a freind once a season for a low cat game or some other idea.

[Graham Humphrey 13]

If nothing else I''m not impressed with how somebody can go and buy 13 tickets in one go for such an in-demand match like Orient...!Something needs to be done about that in my opinion.

[Tim Allman 1]

[quote user="adycanary"]

[quote user="jbghost"]I honestly don''t see much wrong with the system in place. Away season ticket holders obviosly get tickets. Season ticket holders who have ben to 10 or more games in the last year in my opinion should get preference over others. Where there could be a change is to have an extra category for season ticket holders with 5 away games. This would give them the advantage over those who just want to pick the big or local games.[/quote]

Would agree with that and maybe them 5 tickets need to be in last 6 months.

[/quote]

I''m not quite sure how Ady''s system would work, sounds like even more admin for our overstretched ticket office, and it would mean that some of the previous season''s stubs are invalid half way through the next season. I register my stubs at the start of the season for the away games that my daughter and I have been to the previous season which is the way I thought it worked. I think it is the way that it should work.

These threads always seem to come up when when we have a big game, when there is a limited allocation or when we are doing well. Last season my daughter and I went to half the away games in a dreadful season, and this season we''ve been to nearly ten again already and with four to go, we''ll qualify as P2''s for next season.

If we were selling out our away allocation week after week I would have more symplathy for those that could never get an away ticket, but of the away games this season only Colchester (from memory) had a ballot where some supporters missed out. For Paulton and Brighton, the two smallest allocations, I think that all applications were successful. So there''s plenty of oppurtunity to collect the ten away stubs.

And I know that finance is an issue for all of us, it is for me as well. There''s some games I wanted to go to, Huddersfield being the prime example, where the family budget wouldn''t take another £75 hit after tickets, trains and beer had been paid for, so we didn''t go.

It''s simple and fair. The supporters who have been to the most games get first dibs when it counts.

 

[Klobo7 0]

And thats why however you do it, someone will always be unhappy. Those that can''t get tickets will always want the system changed, and those that are in high priorities will always feel it is fine as it is. Probably best left as it is

[TIL 1010 5,220]

[quote user="Barclay hero"]Looking at the posts on other threads, this is obviously a big area of contention At the moment we seem to have either a ballot scheme or a complete free-for-all, where apparently big allocations become all to obviously over subscribed (eg Orient). Ticketing is something our club have always had issues with - remember Inter Milan and season ticket holders being able to buy 4? - and Im guessing any other club with a reasonable following home & away has the same issues The argument is made that those travelling to every away game should have the first pick of any ''high priority'' games. Thats fair enough but the comment is usually followed up by the idea that regular away travellers are ''better fans''. But what about those who cant afford to go to every game? I''ve got kids and we''re on a tight budget although Orient will be my 4th away trip of the season. But I''ve been going to games for 33 years - does that make me less of a fan? Or Jem - one away trip this season which happens to be Colchester - and gets criticised by a more regular away traveller who didnt get a ticket. But Jem has supported the club for years, sold programmes, etc and cant travel because of family commitments. Personally I dont think people like Jem should be pushed down a ballot either, just because they can''t afford to go to more than 1 away game. Likewise a free for all isnt fair - because not everyone can get into the city quickly, and not everyone can call in during ticket office hours Im sure people will have their own ideas, probably based on a method that will suit them. However for what its worth here is my idea - lets take an allocation of 2000 which is expected to be over subscribed Top priority goes to the Away Season tickets. Ive seen elsewhere that we have 400 of those. So that leaves 1600 for others. We still use the priority groups - but each get a number of tickets, decreasing as you go down the list. Using the current 5 groups you may have Group 2 - 800 tickets. Group 3 - 500 tickets Group 4 - 200 tickets Group 5 - 100 tickets On top of this, for up to 3 games you can pay a small non-returnable fee - say £5 or £10 to go ''up'' one level Each level - if over subscribed - has a ballot of its own. If any level is undersubscribed then the remaining tickets filter down to the next level Net result - everyone gets a chance. Some of the regular travellers MAY have to stay home for the likes of a game at Ipswich, and some non-regular travellers may go instead. But the non-regulars may then become regular themselves So what do others think the fairest way might be? One of the current methods? Or something else entirely? Over to you...[/quote]

Just a couple of points Barclay hero,you say that the Orient game is " obviously over subscribed " but after being on sale for two days to all comers who could buy as many as they liked ( by the way i think that is wrong) there are tickets still available despite the scare mongering that has been printed by some posters on this board.Secondly there are 180 away season ticket holders not 400.

[McCanary 0]

The fairest way is very simple...BUY AN AWAY SEASON TICKET..........it won`t cost you a mortgage and for "in demand games" that you cant make, you will always find a taker!!

 

FFS it`s not rocket science.

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

I wouldn''t call the current system a "complete free for all" by any stretch. It''s a first come first served basis. If you want an away ticket keep an eye out on when they come on sale and get one. Simple as that. Orient tickets are still on general sale.

I would say very very rarely do tickets not go on general sale. I think Charlton will be the first time this year there has been ballot. At the end of the day we are a very well supported club and you have to be proactive if you want a seat home or away

[Posh Yella 0]

I think that the current method of written applications seems outdated and very time consuming for the ticket office to process. Perhaps it is the best method they can manage with current systems but I think a review of this procedure could save the ticket office time and money and make life easier for customers as well.

I think the ideal would be if the ticket office recorded on your customer record which away games you''ve attended (ie no need for stubs) and allocated based on highest number of away games first. So 10 games would have priority over 9 games and so on. After applications were in the club would announce how many games you''ve had to attend to get a ticket.

If bank details are kept on file (after all the majority of season ticket holders pay by DD now anyway) then they could do away with written applications entirely. You would simply login online and enter the customer numbers you are applying for or phone up and do the same. Much easier than wading through 1000s of bits of paper and certainly much more secure when it comes to controlling access to bank details. With everything held on the computer systems and it would be straightforward to determine who to send the tickets out to.

In my opinion this would be the fairest way and I don''t think it would require much of a system change for the ticket office to acheive it. However, even if it''s a relatively minor cost, with the state of our finances it probably won''t be happening anytime soon.

[McCanary 0]

^^Exactly.!^^

[Klobo7 0]

How would you work when people buy tickets on behalf of other people. E.g If a father buys a ticket for himself and one for his kid its going to show up as he atte

[Klobo7 0]

Oops...Its going to show up that he brought a ticket for the game, but not his kid. So his kid could possibly miss out in future. Would each ticket purchased have to be registered to a customer

[Posh Yella 0]

Yes each ticket would be registered to a customer.

If you apply at the moment by form you have to put all the customer numbers down if you are in a group. The same principle would apply. One away ticket per customer number in much the same way as (for the high demand games at least) as you can only buy one home ticket per super membership.

[grantroederdisaster 0]

Like another poster mentions, whatever systems in place someone will miss out but I think that the present system is a good one!

The more games you''ve been to in the previous season/or if you have an away season ticket the higher up the priority chart you''ll be which is fair enough!

The only ones that miss out are people who''ve been to lots of away games this seaosn but aren''t either an away season ticket holder or have registered 10 away game stubs from last season!

[Harry 0]

[quote user="DumbleDelia is Magic"]I wouldn''t call the current system a "complete free for all" by any stretch. It''s a first come first served basis. If you want an away ticket keep an eye out on when they come on sale and get one. Simple as that. Orient tickets are still on general sale.

I would say very very rarely do tickets not go on general sale. I think Charlton will be the first time this year there has been ballot. At the end of the day we are a very well supported club and you have to be proactive if you want a seat home or away[/quote]Has Colchester slipped your mind?

[Klobo7 0]

Well know who to blame for Colchester.....Mr Robbie ''I dont want to give ticket to those fans of the club that stole our manager booohooo so I''m going to give them to my clubs fans even though I know at our next home game the attendance will be 7,000 down'' Cowling

[Graham Humphrey 13]

[quote user="Posh Yella"]I think the ideal would be if the ticket office recorded on your customer record which away games you''ve attended (ie no need for stubs) and allocated based on highest number of away games first. So 10 games would have priority over 9 games and so on. After applications were in the club would announce how many games you''ve had to attend to get a ticket.[/quote]The only problem I can see with this is that there are plenty of fans who buy tickets on the day of a match so our ticket office would not have any record of them buying a ticket.

[norfolkchance1 0]

I think Sheffield United have a point scoring system for away games, with the higher points value being given the further the game away from Bramall Lane or the category.

I''ve found something about it here:

http://www.sufc.co.uk/page/AwayMatches/0,,10418~1075823,00.html

Not sure whether its a fairer way but might be worth considering.

[Jem 0]

[quote user="McCanary"]

The fairest way is very simple...BUY AN AWAY SEASON TICKET..........it won`t cost you a mortgage and for "in demand games" that you cant make, you will always find a taker!!

 

FFS it`s not rocket science.

[/quote]

Here here - by far the best option. Also, as I have said to some people in the past, where there is a will there is a way. I have managed to get tickets for Euro 96 semi final (day before and in with the Germans), Euro 2004 v Portugal on the day, England v Germany in Munich (5 - 1 remember that one [;)]) - takes a lot of effort but it can be done

[e10_yellow 0]

I''d say that a loyalty points system like Sheffield United''s might be the way to go. Many clubs do it so it wouldn''t be too hard to set up the software, would just mean that fans buying multiple tickets would have to have the details of those they''re going with so everyone can have points recognised on the system. The problem of paying on the gate not being recognised with a system like that is annoying, but we have that problem now anyway - I''ve paid on the gate before at places like Barnsley and Bury where you don''t get an actual ticket so have missed out on getting stubs for those, not a lot you can do about it.

[ncfc4life 0]

I have mentioned this on here already but I feel maybe what they could do is add another priority group for people with 5 stubs so it would be like this:Priority group 1: Away season ticket holdersPriority group 2: STH with 10 stubsPriority group 3: STH with 5 stubsPriority group 4: STHand so on....Then people who have at least been to a few away games have a better chance of going whereas now if you dont have 10 stubs you could have been to say 8 away games and yet you still stand the same chance of getting one as someone who may have not ever been to an.away game

[Paul 0]

[quote user="Tim Allman"]

It''s simple and fair. The supporters who have been to the most games get first dibs when it counts.

[/quote]

 

My thoughts exactly, Tim. Makes me laugh when all these part timers start complaining about not getting tickets. The people who go to the games, get priority, simple.

[Jem 0]

[quote user="Surrey yellow"][quote user="Tim Allman"]

It''s simple and fair. The supporters who have been to the most games get first dibs when it counts.

[/quote]

 

My thoughts exactly, Tim. Makes me laugh when all these part timers start complaining about not getting tickets. The people who go to the games, get priority, simple.

[/quote]

don''t think you will find anybody that disagrees with that sentiment

[ronseal 0]

It''s not often that this has been an issue though. Im sure many of us remember just turning up at grounds and buying tickets for the game on the gate.. a few of us in london have done this for years.

[E Block Loyal 0]

[quote user="Surrey yellow"][quote user="Tim Allman"]

It''s simple and fair. The supporters who have been to the most games get first dibs when it counts.

[/quote]

 

My thoughts exactly, Tim. Makes me laugh when all these part timers start complaining about not getting tickets. The people who go to the games, get priority, simple.

[/quote]

It''s not quite that simple though is it? Take Colchester, somebody who has been a season ticket holder for ten years and had done eight away trips in the last 12 months had just as much chance of getting a ticket as somebody who had just purchased a half season ticket.

How on earth can that be considered fair?

[FilletTheFishWife . 0]

[quote user="Barclay hero"]Looking at the posts on other threads, this is obviously a big area of contention At the moment we seem to have either a ballot scheme or a complete free-for-all, where apparently big allocations become all to obviously over subscribed (eg Orient). Ticketing is something our club have always had issues with - remember Inter Milan and season ticket holders being able to buy 4? - and Im guessing any other club with a reasonable following home & away has the same issues The argument is made that those travelling to every away game should have the first pick of any ''high priority'' games. Thats fair enough but the comment is usually followed up by the idea that regular away travellers are ''better fans''. But what about those who cant afford to go to every game? I''ve got kids and we''re on a tight budget although Orient will be my 4th away trip of the season. But I''ve been going to games for 33 years - does that make me less of a fan? Or Jem - one away trip this season which happens to be Colchester - and gets criticised by a more regular away traveller who didnt get a ticket. But Jem has supported the club for years, sold programmes, etc and cant travel because of family commitments. Personally I dont think people like Jem should be pushed down a ballot either, just because they can''t afford to go to more than 1 away game. Likewise a free for all isnt fair - because not everyone can get into the city quickly, and not everyone can call in during ticket office hours Im sure people will have their own ideas, probably based on a method that will suit them. However for what its worth here is my idea - lets take an allocation of 2000 which is expected to be over subscribed Top priority goes to the Away Season tickets. Ive seen elsewhere that we have 400 of those. So that leaves 1600 for others. We still use the priority groups - but each get a number of tickets, decreasing as you go down the list. Using the current 5 groups you may have Group 2 - 800 tickets. Group 3 - 500 tickets Group 4 - 200 tickets Group 5 - 100 tickets On top of this, for up to 3 games you can pay a small non-returnable fee - say £5 or £10 to go ''up'' one level Each level - if over subscribed - has a ballot of its own. If any level is undersubscribed then the remaining tickets filter down to the next level Net result - everyone gets a chance. Some of the regular travellers MAY have to stay home for the likes of a game at Ipswich, and some non-regular travellers may go instead. But the non-regulars may then become regular themselves So what do others think the fairest way might be? One of the current methods? Or something else entirely? Over to you...[/quote]

 

Anyone devising a new priority scheme will inevitably choose a scheme that gives them a better chance of getting tickets.

I travel to Norwich from Braintree for every home game and at least 10 away games a season. This has included Carlisle and plymouth and many no-shows on behalf of Grant and Roeder teams...

 

I''d be pretty p!ssed of if an alternative scheme is adopted that means someone who has a season ticket but rarely goes away getting tickets for games they have cherry-picked.

So i can carry on being one of the few hundred who go to 10+ away games per season at considerable expense and then risk missing out on Ipswich, Colchester etc ??

 

The current scheme was devised in consultaion with supporters and seems pretty fair without being overly-complex and expensive to administer.

I don''t i''ll see many people whinging about not getting tickets for Charlton when we travel to Middlesboro, Burnley etc next season!