"QPR, hooligans and empty seats"

[Yorkie]

Are you sure Yorkie? Reading? maybe Portsmouth, maybe Palace?? There were a few more than two.

It all boils down to how badly you want to go really, if all your mates are up for it then great, it does mean more organisation though. I end up going with just a couple of mates now adays compaired to at least 5 or 6 in the Goldstone days.

Looking forward to QPR all the same and have my ticket as do my mates....

I was just quoting two recent games Caveman. Berkshire doesn't know the difference between home and away games so I thought I would quote something fairly recent so that his memory wasn't too severly stretched.

Wolves was another pay on the day before anybody says that most Div 1 games were all ticket.

 

[berkshire seagull]

Loads of clubs have hooligans,but they don't need a shite sheme like this do they.
Stoke only recently done it and there history of it neverends,so does QPR have it i bet they don't.

MONEY MONEY MONEY AND THEY CAN STICK THERE STAMPS AND ENVOLOPES UP THERE ARSE.

 

[berkshire seagull]

I was just quoting two recent games Caveman. Berkshire doesn't know the difference between home and away games so I thought I would quote something fairly recent so that his memory wasn't too severly stretched.

Wolves was another pay on the day before anybody says that most Div 1 games were all ticket.

The fact is we do get ams away games quiet often so stop talking tosh.

 

[Stuart Munday]

I think the AMS is ok if you send off in time you get tickets no problem

 

[albiongirl]

I'm not a season ticket holder I'm a AMS member whats the problem tenner for life!! The only bug bear re tickets for home games in our championship season the last game against Swindon. I got the "Dear Supporter" letter and ended up in a pub watching sky sports as I couldn't bear to be anywhere near the ground as it was torture!! I was gutted so I know what it is like not to get tickets. It doesn't put me off Yes it is a hassle so far this season the tickets I have applied for it has been no problem mainly due to a drop in numbers. I'm sure once we get Falmer the system will be reviewed.

 

[El Presidente]

I have been an AMS member since it started and have had no problems getting tickets for any matches. I normally go with a few other lads from the Stockport Seagull Massive and one of us applies with the names of the others and we all receive tickets.

AMS is there to show that the club has taken steps to prevent the hoolies attending. It's a box ticking and lip service exercise, but if it helps the club to get Falmer, then posting an envelope a few times a season is a price wirth paying IMO

 

[mitch]

no problem with ams qpr tickets just arrived and granted it would be easier to phone and get them sent out but this is the way it is.
imo the ticket office do a great job

 

[The Wookiee]

Away games I have attended this season where I have paid on the day:

Oldham
Barnsley
Hartlepool
Peterboro
Notts County
Tranmere
QPR
Also travelled to Colchester,Brentford & Bournemouth without tickets but still managed to see matches.
It all depends how much you want to watch the Albion.

 

[Zeitgeist]

The AMS was introduced after problems at Chesterfield and Aldershot some years ago. As a means of stopping troublemakers, it's pointless. Anyone can get round the system in its present form. As a means of paying lip service to the council etc, that we were doing something to combat potential hooligans from travelling with the Albion, it may have served it's purpose? Whilst a one off tenner is nothing to those who follow the Albion on a regular basis, it does nothing to encourage any pontential floaters or new supporters, young and old, who may wish to take in a game and hopefully become addicted to watching the Albion. We have to broaden our scope to fill those seats at Falmer. Despite being a one off, many are going to turn their nose up at paying a tenner. Then again, why levy a charge at under 16s? Are the club that desperate, or do they think nine year olds are potential troublemakers? Surely a gesture to give under 16s free membership wouldn't be too hard for the club? After the farce of Grimsby last season and Reading the year before, the AMS is in need of servicing.

 

[Yorkie]

The AMS is free to season ticket holders anyway.

 

[portslade seagull]

The ams scheme has probably turned more prospective fans
away from the albion than its gained members.
I agree the club now need to be more pro-active with the home
tickets because apathy is now setting in with the casual fans
who now cannot be arsed to spend 20 odd quid.
maybe a re-think on the prices might have to reckoned with.
what really pissed me off was stating the season ticket prices
were put up (season 2002/03) to increase the playing budget
but buggerall was spent and we are still paying these prices now.

 

[Hannibal smith]

There was a huge debate about this in the weeks before last season's Grimsby game. The problem is that many supporters go to lots of away games and just pay on the gate, without this being recorded anywhere. Why should they be denied tickets for the "big" games?

Not often I disagree with you my lord but on this instance I do.

If the club stated that all tickets bought through AMS would count towards you being allocated a ticket for where demand equalled supply then we would all know where we stood.

We could then make the decision to buy tickets in advance and know this was being logged or take our chance and decide late and pay on the day knowing that this would not count in the above situation.

If a statement was published to that effect then we couldn't complain. Instead some kind of mickey mouse ballot will be dreamt up next time everyone wants to go to a must see game Then fans will complain that they were one of 500 at Lincoln away watching a truly terrible performance and where were you that day / my mums better than your mum so I should have a ticket etc etc.

Surely it isn't that difficult to work a structured method of ticket allocation?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

One problem with the Grimsby game was that the Club DIDN'T follow the terms of its Customer Charter.

The arrangement was supposed to give priority to AMS members, on a first-come-first-served basis, proportionately divided between AMS season ticket holders and AMS non-season ticket holders.

But they didn't follow the Charter. They decided to have a ballot instead. And all hell broke out.

Incidentally, the Charter terms have since been changed. What the Club promises now is set out on the official web-site:-

Away Matches

• Where it is likely that the requirement for tickets will outstrip the availability, away clubs or their local police force, may make the match “all-ticket” for Brighton and Hove Albion supporters only.

All supporters wishing to purchase tickets to away matches which are “all-ticket” for Brighton supporters must be members of the Away Membership Scheme (AMS). Away tickets are limited to one per member.

• Ticketing arrangements for all away matches are publicised on the Club’s website (www.seagulls.co.uk), in Club programmes and press releases.

Cup Competitions

• Tickets for home matches in Cup Competitions are prices according to the competition, the stage reached and the opposition. They are allocated as follows:

- From the first day of sale – season ticket holders and litter patrollers

- From the second day of sale – non season ticket AMS members

- From the third day of sale – available to all supporters.

• Ticketing arrangements for all home cup matches are publicised on the Club’s website (www.seagulls.co.uk)

The Club Shop does have information about how many away tickets have been bought through the AMS scheme. But - as several people have pointed out - even when the AMS scheme is in operation, opposition teams usually make tickets available on the gate. So a large number of regular away supporters NEVER report their attendance to the Albion. These are the people who would kick up a stink if "number of games attended" became the main way of getting a ticket out of the Albion.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Couldn't supporters planning on making the trip, or who have made the trip, present some kind of reasonable 'proof' (match ticket, rail ticket, programme etc.) at the club shop and get a passport-type stamp for that match. The club could stamp the passport and the 'proof' so it couldn't get used twice. Sort of like the Harvey's Ale Trail type thing where you visit twenty Harveys pubs and get a free tankard or tee-shirt or whatever. In this case, the club could give priority to those with a minimum number of stamps in their passports.

Or should I get me coat?

 

[Brixtaan]

Get your coat Tom,it begs an explosion in black-market passport forgeries.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Get your coat Tom,it begs an explosion in black-market passport forgeries.

Yup, for away matches we'd end up with illegal emigrants

Coat on, off to the 5B bus stop

 

[Storer68]

Burnley away last season is a case in point.

It was a long way away so I get big brownie points for making the trip)
Its a big game (first game in the new Division 1)
A lot of Albion fans made the trip
Some people had tickets, some did not (me included)
I paid on the gate, didn;t get a programme (all sold out)


so how would I prove to the club that I went so that it could be recorded for the AMS. After all, they've only got my word for it.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

So we all end up making trips to the Club Shop for the sole purpose of getting the passport stamped?

This would really appeal to the people who don't want to have anything to do with the Club Shop, even when they are selling tickets.

What sort of coat, Tom?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

So we all end up making trips to the Club Shop for the sole purpose of getting the passport stamped?

This would really appeal to the people who don't want to have anything to do with the Club Shop, even when they are selling tickets.

What sort of coat, Tom?

A coat of the finest sackcloth and ashes m'lud

 

[Hannibal smith]

so how would I prove to the club that I went so that it could be recorded for the AMS. After all, they've only got my word for it.

This is exactly my point you wouldn't - However if the club stated that it would only count towards other games if you bought it from the club shop in advance and not on the day then I'm sure you would make the effort to buy in advance rather than pay on the day, wouldn't you?