I ahve a meeting with Russel Cushing coming up on the day of the Bolton game to discuss ticketing.

This was prompted by the unrest caused around the club rejecting tickets for the Charlton game, but our meeting is to cover all things ticket related. I have lots of emails from people but I really want as much ammunition as possible.

If you have any suggestions to improve any/all parts of everything to do with ticketing then please let me know, either on here or by email.

What are wanting to do is to produce a set of recommendations to give to the club at least a week before the meeting and to then discuss these points at our meeting. Doing it this way should stop an amount of procrastination from them.

So .... anything and everything please.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

Answers

Answers please

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

Something which I'm sure you've heard before is the issue with the pricing of the tickets for the corners of the Milburn stand. I know that the prices used to be around £70 for these seats - this was last season, I'm not sure if things have changed this season.

I'm sure if these tickets were priced the same as the others seats then they would be sold every match.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

E mail ticket ordering would be good as would an e mail or text message alerting ST holders of away application deadlines.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

I was just about to say exactly that dougal: what about being able to apply & pay on-line - for home and away games? at ALL levels. this is the 21st century...

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

Yes...they've got a website - surely online ticketing has to be offered as a future option. Other clubs do it, why not us?

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

I agree about the online purchase of tickets. But with the orificial sh!te being run by the same lot who gave us a Boro webcast, would you really want to apply for tickets for Liverpool vs Toon, only to get tickets to see Derby at Southampton??

Seriously, I think they should have a facility for swapping tickets. Most of us sit in separate sections of the ground. I'm sure some wouldn't mind moving if we could be in with a "better lot". The guy on my left and the family in front could go to the Librrary and the guy on my right and I could go where all the noise is.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

1) teach the Ticket Office staff the meaning of the word "customer".

2) develop a Customer Service Policy and train the staff & supervision on how to implement it.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

Some sort of Menu on the ticket line giving availablilty etc rather than a constant engaged tone as soon as the office opens.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

I'm disappointed that unless you've been to loads of away matches already, you appear to stand very little chance of obtaining tickets for future away matches which are likely to be oversubscribed.

It was explained to me that it's done this way to ensure that 'glory hunters' are deterred from jumping on the band wagon when results start to look up. Those who have already attended away games are in effect entitled to priveleged treatment in applications for tickets for future away games.

I'm not convinced by this. It's my opinion that all away ticket issues should be purely first come, first served. The current system is sort of like not being able to get a job because you have no experience, and not being able to gain the experience because you can't get a job.

I've still managed to attend some away games, but only because 'tickets became available'. This is okay as far as it goes, but there is no record at the club that I've attended those games, so when we get to the cup final, I'll have very little chance of obtaining a ticket.

I mean, how long am I likely to have to apply for tickets to away matches only to have the application rejected, before I make some sort of breakthrough ?

I'd be interested to hear the club's views on this.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

Excellent idea about ticket swapping, Screach. To go a bit further, how bout bringing up the idea of a kind of ticket amnesty to get people's own names on their STs without losing whatever 'seniority' points, if any, they've gathered through holding the ticket for x seasons.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

Not sure I agree about first come first served for away tickets as there genuinely some people who haven't missed an away game for years. I do think that points should be accrued on a transparent basis so that people know exactly what they have to do to get increased priority. I'm in favour of an amnesty for any number of reasons (not least of which being the ideal of the club being able to identify who's where in the event of an emergency) but couldn't really justify "seniority" being carried over for exactly the same reasons as I can't really justify "first come first served" for away tickets. If I miss out on the Makems game I'll be p****d off but I can quite see that a number of people deserve one more than me.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

PS. Bill, I do take your point about accruing points when priority goes to people who have already got points which is why I think they have to explain what exactly goes on. The sad truth about this is that all the big clubs have difficulty with away allocations (particularly Man Utd and Liverpool) and seem to have decided that the only equitable way to distribute tix is on a "loyalty" basis.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

Ask why applications containing more than 2 vouchers always get "lost in the post" even when handed in personally!

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

One of the inconsistencies in the current priority allocation system (assuming of course there is one) is that, as we all know, an awful lot of fans apply for every game whether they intend to go or not, on the basis that they can always sell on tickets they decide they don't want.

Because they always apply, they are always near the top of the priority list, even if they only actually attend now and again. This approach also virtually guarantees these people a ticket for the really big games.

This is unfair to people who only apply for games they wish to attend, but I have no idea how it could be controlled - other than by having the ticket specific to the name on it, with proof of identity required for entry - and virtually impossible to police.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Clarky - what somebody does with their ticket after they've got it is their business. I'm not aware of any small print that says it can't be handed/sold to somebody else. In the past, I (and you!!) have been very happy to get away tickets via this method. If somebody is happy to pay up front for every game, then fair do's. However, I know some clubs (ManUre???) operate a voucher system. Not sure how that works nor if it is any better for prioritisation.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

The loyalty scheme is the only workable system for dishing out tix for away games and long may it continue (he said with his massive tally of loyalty points safely tucked away on the computer). The debacle of not taking up full allocations, especially for London games, MUST be addressed. There is without doubt enough floating support living within the M25 to guarantee a full take up of any allocation at a London fixture. I think the club sometimes underestimates what a positive impact a large travelling support can have on the team.

Charging £42 for a seat in the Milburn wings is scandalous, the thinking seems to be "We'll charge what we can get away with and sod the fans", hardly what John Hall had in mind with his "Seats for everyone" battlecry. Talk is cheap, our seats certainly aren't.

The mackems get a lot of stick for their FTM policy but pesonally I think dishing out free tix to schoolkids can only have long term benefits - catch 'em young and they'll be fans for life. So if a game such as Derby or Blackburn looks like being way short of a sell out why not allocate 500 tickets to local schools? Better to have 500 prepubescent mags hurling abuse at Mark Hughes or Siver fox Ravenelli than 500 empty seats.

Simple things like opening a couple more windows at the ticket office during busy periods might not be a bad idea.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Got to disagree with you there Clarky: I bought a Leicester tick and gave it to Pit Bill but I've still been to more away games than most people this season and may yet go to the Leicester game (if St Mungo can help). It's flawed but loyalty points based on the number of tickets purchased has to be the most equitable way of handling these things. There aren't that many games where people can't get in who want to go and I suspect that the latter rounds of the Cup are what people are worried about. In this regard, prioritise people who were at the Crystal Palace game.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Who takes note of when the Pit Bills of this world apply for away tix and are rejected. When they take 200 for a London game and someone has been applying for away games all year but not getting any how do they know?

Why not sell an Away season ticket? They should know the mimimum number of seats they will get per game. Pre sell that amount for the season, then put up the extras for the bigger capacity grounds.

They will then know for example that they can take full allocations because they already have the cash for a percentage of seats.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Sorry Gus, I'm not forking out £400 for my Season ticket then another £400 before the ink's dry on the first cheque. I might however be on for an away Season ticket that could be paid in installments (and NOT using one of NUFC's infamous 27.6% APR jobs either).

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002