Bloke on the radio says we turned down extra West Ham tickets...

[eastlondonseagull]

Anyone else heard this? Apparently, we were offered an extra 1000 tickets, but they were on a pay-now, up-front, non-return business. And the club turned it down cos of cash-flow problems.

Is this old news? Surprising? Surely we'd sell an extra 1000?

 

[Wozza]

I find that hard to believe, personally.

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Harty's talking about it now, trying to get someone from the club to confirm / deny.

 

[gezza]

Harty states we had to pay up front for them!
I would of thought sale or return.

 

[Couldn't give a rats arse]

No point gambling in case we don't sell them - why lose out?

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Harty states we had to pay up front for them!
I would of thought sale or return.

Exactly. The club would've had to have come up with £24,000 to buy the tickets b4 selling them on.

 

[Icy Gull]

Why should we guarantee West Ham money when we make peanuts, if anything, from selling them?

Sounds like a load of bull to me

 

[Bozza]

This sort of deal is not uncommon nowadays.

I'm not saying it was the case with West Ham, but some clubs do offer this. And it does lead to some clubs turning down tickets if they do not feel they are guaranteed to sell them all.

However, if this was the case with West Ham, I to feel VERY disappointed with the Albion not stating this, especially given the numerous chances to do so on 'Ask the Club'.

Assume West Ham did offer the Albion 1000 more tickets on a sale or return basis - would we have sold them all? Who knows. If the Albion did turn them down, it implies there were not 1000 excess applications received. However, I wonder how many people like me did not apply as they knew the allocation would have sold out and an application would be fruitless? How many people did not know that applications were being invited (I know several)? How many did not know whether they could go and would have delayed a purchase until nearer the time?

I would like to hear an official word from the club on this.

 

[eastlondonseagull]

I would like to hear an official word from the club on this.

 

[Wardy]

Even if the club made a statement saying that they had had the offer of 1000 more tickets but it was on a pay now deal, and they were going to give it a week to allow people to make applications that had not allready, before seeing if there was enough need for them.

 

[jevs]

IIRC, you have 3 options as an away club. 1,700, 2,700 or 3,700, the latter being you have to buy all the tickets and there's no return on unsold tickets.

AFAIK, Brighton opted for the 2nd option.

I do stand to be corrected though.

"another 1,000 tickets" just can't be bought now unfortunatly as those seats would now be allocated to home fans.

 

[Wardy]

IIRC, you have 3 options as an away club. 1,700, 2,700 or 3,700, the latter being you have to buy all the tickets and there's no return on unsold tickets.

AFAIK, Brighton opted for the 2nd option.

I do stand to be corrected though.

"another 1,000 tickets" just can't be bought now unfortunatly as those seats would now be allocated to home fans.

Thanks for that, how long in advance do the away team have to say how many they want? Surely as a club we knew the answer to this and could have passed this information on to us the fans.

Even a email, TXT msg bit in the Argus saying

"we have the option for 3700 tickets but would have to pay upfront for them, to avoid unsold tickets please make sure your postal applications are in by (insert date a few days before they need to know) so we know how many tickets to get."

 

[Safeway]

I was told there were 1,500 unsuccessful applications.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

that sounds bout right

 

[sully]

It's stupid of West Ham, though, when they're not filling their ground to work on this policy. They could have got more money if they'd done what we appear to do and give the whole allocation, but get them to sell certain ones first. Thus when it is obvious that the whole allocation won't be sold, a block that can be segregated can be returned and the home team can try to sell tehm. That's happened on several occasions (admittedly in a lower division) even with our small away allocation at Withdean.

I think West Ham deserve far more derision than our club on this one.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The bloke who came up with the story didn't say anything about cash flow problems.

That was entirely invented by Ian Hart.

 

[southstandandy]

The club would'nt turn down an extra 1000 tickets - I reckon the story's crap.

I missed out on a ticket as I was a bit late in applying and I know many other people in my office who also were turned down.

 

[Harty]

Lord B, you clearly weren't listening properly, not for the first time, at no point did I actually say the club had a cash flow problem.
The question was asked by the caller as to was there any reason why the club didn't pay for the extra tickets up front when they clearly would have sold them easily.

 

[Safeway]

at no point did I actually say the club had a cash flow problem.

No, but you did suggest that the club didn't pay for the tickets up front because of financial restraints.

 

[Lush]

Don't forget that the club makes NO MONEY from selling away tickets. It would have purely been a gesture to fans.

I don't blame them for not taking the financial risk. West Ham have now lost the chance to sell an extra 1,000 tickets by offering them on a no-return basis. Can't believe they are turning down the cash.

ALSO - how many times have we had tickets returned at the last minute from clubs who requested the full allocation but then didn't sell them - not leaving us enough time to shift them either? LOADS!!!!!