The fans liasison committee sent the following press release to the Chronicle yesterday regarding tickets for the Charlton game. I'm putting this on here just in case it is twisted by a young lady I spoke to at the paper into somethign it wasn't !!!!

Press Release, Newcastle United Fans Liaison Committee Wednesday 28th November 2001 One of the greatest desires of Newcastle supporters is that of being able to be there and support the side when it plays. Through the 1990s there were a limited number of seats available at St James Park and many supporters missed out. The club invested hugely in the ground and the increased capacity relieved a lot of the pent-up pressure.

For many though supporting the team when they travel away is equally as important. For some, for example the many fans exiled in London, it is still the main opportunity to see their team play. One fan wrote to us to say "It is now next to impossible for Newcastle fans who are resident in London and who usually don't have season tickets to get tickets for the London matches. A few years ago my husband, son and I used to manage all the London games but now they rarely go on general sale".

There are Premiership rules regarding the minimum allocation of tickets to visiting clubs supporters. The number of tickets available above the minimum varies from ground to ground.

The Newcastle United Fans Liaison Committee (FLC) believes that at all times Newcastle United should push other clubs to supply the maximum number of tickets, at the earliest opportunity, to ensure that as many of our fans as possible can follow the team.

In the light of recent concerns around ticket allocation the club has agreed to bring forward a planned meeting with representatives of the FLC regarding ticketing. In particular we wish to improve the current process that leaves many fans believing they have missed out unfairly, or that more tickets could have been made available.

Following their meeting the FLC and the club will issue a joint statement clarifying how future tickets will be requested and allocated. This is planned to be in early 2002.

The fans are those that use the current system the most and the FLC is keen to hear any suggestions from them on how to improve things. We can be contacted by e-mail on fans@nufc-flc.com , through our web site at www.nufc-flc.com, or to our postbox at the club ... Fans Liaison Committee, c/o Newcastle United, St James Park, Newcastle.

NUFC Fans Liaison Committee Contact: Ian Ferguson - 079549855555

Note : The Newcastle United Fans Liaison Committee is a group of 13 fans elected earlier this by season ticket holders to represent their interests to the club.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2001

Answers

Later inthe day I then sent this email to the 70+ people who'd contacted us to complain ....

We've dug a bit deeper into the background to the ticketing problems, I thought you'd like to hear what we've found.

Every Premiership club has to guarantee 3000 tickets per game for visiting fans. This is for all grounds with a capacity of 30,000 or more. For grounds with a lower capacity than this the figure is 10% of the whole ground. This is why Fulham for example only had to give 1500 tickets as their capacity is 15000. These are Premiership rules. Above this minimum clubs can allocate more seats as they see fair, so for example Liverpool and Man U getting 5000 when they visit Newcastle.

In the case of Charlton when they were working out how many to allocate their stated ground capacity was 20,043, so they gave Newcastle 2000 seats. Charlton have recently completed an extension to their ground and the capacity is now up to around 23000, this increase happened sometime towards the end of October. The club say that all season ticket holder requirements for tickets were met from within that 2000. This does not though tally with anecdotal evidence we've received from fans. The club contacted Charlton on 31st October to enquire about the possible availability of further tickets and were told this was unlikely.

Last weekend Charlton contacted Newcastle and offered 900 tickets for visiting supporters. The club would have had to pay for all 900 tickets, roughly £22,500 with no comeback if they were not all sold. The club took the view that there was a risk that they may not sell all 900 in the period up to Saturday so offered instead to take 200 more. Charlton turned down this offer. On Monday the Charlton web site then stated Newcastle had turned down the option of more tickets and that they were now for sale to home supporters. This was what sparked the outrage amongst fans.

So it looks like Charlton unexpectedly couldn't sell all their home tickets and made a late offer to try and off-load them. Newcastle then took a purely financial decision to not take these 900 tickets.

Newcastle are reluctant to highlight what has gone on, maybe to avoid a slanging match with Charlton, maybe because they just don't realise how annoyed the fans are, who knows ? The club have agreed to meet with representatives of the Fans Liaison Committee to see how ticket allocation can be improved. You were one a large number of people who mailed us to complain about the current set up, we'd be really pleased if you had some suggestions on how to improve things. We have already received some suggestions but the more the merrier !

I think the club have not maliciously ignored the fans in this case, they have been a victim of circumstances. This does not mean they are right in the way they handle ticketing and now the Charlton issue has come along and spurred them into action we need to continue to push them to improve. We'll let you know how we get on !

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2001

Great stuff Macbeth - good luck in your efforts.

A question. Why did the FLC feel the need to issue a Press Release prior to the planned meeting with the Club? If it was intended to pressurise the Club, and unless they were in agreement with this action, it could cast a negative atmosphere over the meeting.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2001

Very very interesting....bloody cockneys....all together now...

WE HATE LONDON AND WE HATE LONDON....

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2001

Great work, Macbeth. Hope the club sees this meeting as a chance to do something constructive and doesn't just try to placate the FLC. For one thing, perhaps the club can publicize how many tickets have been allocated initially, and then offer a waiting list in case more become available closer to match day. That combined with SellElena's suggestion to start taking applications earlier so they have time to get an idea of supporter interest in a given fixture should minimize the confusion of the current 'system'.

A letter of protest to Charlton wouldn't go amiss either, I think. They now risk 200+ seats going unsold, or having alot of away supporters mixing in with the home supporters. Idiots.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2001

Clarky

nufc.com has a bit saying everyone should email the FLC with their views on the Charlton tickets, everyone did !! We had stacks of them and everyone was very angr, all angry at the club and some angry at us for not being angry at the club.

We had to be seen to be doing something and that prompted the press release. We spoke to the club first and they were happy for us to do it, so there wasn't an embarrassment issue, well not until a nice ambitious girl at the Chronicle began playing with words !

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2001