Chris says FEASounds like you should simply join a supporters club if you want to jump the queue, judging by some Twitter posts today...
Devils advocate:
If those tickets came from commercial / player allocations originally they'd never have made general circulation anyway.
so wouldn't it be fair to make them available to names at the top of the ticket office return/request list to gold and silver members who missed out?
all smoke and mirrors...I dont like it and as have said many times if the club are doing it under the table they know its wrong/unfair
No clarity from the club, the OSC asking people to keep it quiet; it all stinks.
Chris says FEASo what? Any OSC member who got a ticket ahead of a gold member is one too many, regardless of which allocation they came from.
Okay, devil's advocate again - and I appreciate this will not be popular.
I've seen some fans with the feeling that there is gatekeeping by platinum / gold fans - that it's like an exclusive little clique and it's impossible to break into. This isn't helped when it appears there are tickets being sold on continually from those allocations by people who can't attend and might be perceived to have bought them just to maintain their position as Gold / Platinum members.
I'm not sure that's true; I think bar local games and end of the season ones like this it's not hard to get tickets and that if someone made the effort to go to the shit midweek away games then it's possible to get to Gold. Likewise, I genuinely don't think there are people who are buying tickets and selling them on just to maintain status.
But still, I think the impression is there - and it's impressions which people go on rather than the truth.
FWIW I think the current system (without them being given to OSCs) is about the fairest, but whatever system they will use someone will complain.
NouCampChris says FEASounds like you should simply join a supporters club if you want to jump the queue, judging by some Twitter posts today...
Devils advocate:
If those tickets came from commercial / player allocations originally they'd never have made general circulation anyway.
so wouldn't it be fair to make them available to names at the top of the ticket office return/request list to gold and silver members who missed out?
all smoke and mirrors...I dont like it and as have said many times if the club are doing it under the table they know its wrong/unfair
You mean like how the club called those people who missed out to offer them tickets? I know at least two gold status members who were called.
NouCampChris says FEASounds like you should simply join a supporters club if you want to jump the queue, judging by some Twitter posts today...
Devils advocate:
If those tickets came from commercial / player allocations originally they'd never have made general circulation anyway.
so wouldn't it be fair to make them available to names at the top of the ticket office return/request list to gold and silver members who missed out?
all smoke and mirrors...I dont like it and as have said many times if the club are doing it under the table they know its wrong/unfair
You mean like how the club called those people who missed out to offer them tickets? I know at least two gold status members who were called.
exactly, so do I
so keep going down that list with ALL returns, then go down the list to find silver members
if OSC are getting tickets ahead of anyone with priority status right down to st holders its unfair
the club havent notified us that the priority system based on 23/24 away attendance has now changed since OSsC came online
stinks
Chris says FEAHi Jeremy, feel free to dispel them publicly if they're wrong!
Come on Bluuuuuues
Ultimately it's up to the club to decide how they want to do this ....
.... HOWEVER, this doesn't look good and i think there's an urgent need for transparency on the matter... the sidewipe about other fans who aren't OSC members being incapable of simple arithmetic is unneeded and smacks of a sense of superiority - it isn't the maths that people are moaning about - it's the principle.... and someone missing out who has priority status is only bothered about ONE ticket anyway
i'm not sure why they even needed to offer them out, it wasn't an advertised benefit of signing up yet many people have anyway
If this thread is anything to go by, people are going to go mental when the club eventually try and "maximise revenues" on away ticket sales.
I'd be very surprised if we don't see an 'away season ticket' or an 'away membership' in the next couple of years.
Oh yeah, the optics on that are shocking.
It's not surprising though is it .... we saw straight away (including on here - you know who you are) the sense of assumed superiority from those running OSCs as well as their feeling of self-importance.
i'm not sure why they even needed to offer them out, it wasn't an advertised benefit of signing up yet many people have anyway
club seem keen to provide some benefit/incentive to being a member of an OSC to help them grow
thats fine, things like the play at st.andrews and open house invites is all good
but that message above is tone deaf, 1 ticket going to an OSC that sees anyone with priority membership miss out maybe negligible but it matters to the person who's been to 10+ away games the previous season and misses out
Regardless of a few people hoarding, that still doesn't excuse the biggest game of the season going down to a postcode lottery for the final few. Every single fan with an away priority should have the option to buy spares ahead of a newly-formed club. If those in the club meet those requirements, they can get them like everybody else would, no bother.
And that sneaky fanny sneering down on other fans in the WhatsApp group can go boil his head as well.
i'm not sure why they even needed to offer them out, it wasn't an advertised benefit of signing up yet many people have anyway
club seem keen to provide some benefit/incentive to being a member of an OSC to help them grow
thats fine, things like the play at st.andrews and open house invites is all good
but that message above is tone deaf, 1 ticket going to an OSC that sees anyone with priority membership miss out maybe negligible but it matters to the person who's been to 10+ away games the previous season and misses out
It also comes across that the tickets for OSC members are to "reward their fundraising efforts" ... when i give money to charity, or do something to raise money for charity, i don't do it for the potential reward.
I doubt any club shares full details of exactly how the tickets it receives for away games are allocated. Or for home games.
So far as I am aware there is a thriving secondary market at almost every club where demand exceeds supply for games.
I suspect that this has always been the case. It's just that now twitter and facebook posts make it more visible rather than tickets being bought and sold in local pubs. At least, unlike London clubs, Blues don't seem to be infested by professional ticket touts.
As you, and others, have pointed out if you buy a season ticket you can get a gold membership in the first season, by going to away games. You will then pretty much get tickets for any game. If you miss out on a game or two that will be it and you'll be in the platinum club the season after.
I don't think the system is perfect, but no other system would be better and the club aren't going to end the practice of handing out a few tickets. There will always be some tickets given away or sold to people who don't qualify. And a few tickets sold on by members. So long as it is only a small % I don't think it is something that can be or necessarily should be stopped. It's far better than the away cards we had in the first years in the PL where large numbers got extra stamps without going to games. I wrote to the club about not getting WBA or Man Utd tickets despite having been to enough games.
