4,000 Villa tickets sold so far

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Is it likely to be sit in your allocated seats then? Hope not cos I've brought my tickets seperate from the people I'm travelling up with.

 

[kingcole]

Erm, its obv going to be a sell out, so if you want to change your seat, prob means someone who made the effort to book their party together will be broken up......

So the answer is a 100% yes- you will HAVE to sit in your allocated seat -

 

[clapham_gull]

Is it likely to be sit in your allocated seats then? Hope not cos I've brought my tickets seperate from the people I'm travelling up with.

100% certainty

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Because it is currently possible to attend 90%+ of away games paying on the day, meaning that you can be a very, very loyal away fan but with the club having absolutely no record of that loyalty whatsoever.

The fact is that Albion fans travel in reasonable numbers. And only reasonable. We do not travel, contrary to what many think, in amazing numbers. If Albion fans travelled in the same quantity as, say, Leeds, then all away games would be all ticket with all sales being processed through the Albion ticket office. This would permit the club to have a complete record of 'loyalty' and base ticket sales on future games based upon that as you seem to want.

Often the response to my argument above is "make people keep ticket stubs" but this is simply not a workable solution for a number of reasons...

- many clubs, when paying on the turnstile, do not issue a ticket stub.
- ticket stubs get lost.
- paper/card stubs degrade quickly and easily. Especially if they get wet.
- relying on the presentation of ticket stubs for ticket purchase will create a massive administrative exercise for the sale of each and every game, whereby fans have to send in stubs, they need to be examined by ticket office staff and then returned.
- what happens if someone's stubs get lost in the post?
- a self-serve online model is all but worthless.

You forgot to add that the game could be early in a season and we may not have had many away games, people may attend alot of away games over a season but may not have been to any after the first month (due to work/travel/whatever) so would miss out as they had no ticket stubs whetheras people who knew a big game was coming up could go to an away match just for a ticket stub and to get priority.

Also - Could you imagine the chaos if several hundred people turned up at once with their ticket stubs to try to get match tickets for a big game, the ticket office isn't geared up to handle that, plus the need for extra equipment, staff etc to handle it - not very practical if these kind of games occur every couple of seasons, and as said before, ticket stubs are useless if applying online (how do you prove they have them and are genuine)

The current scheme is the way to go imo.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

100% certainty

Ah what, that is super gay

 

[R. Slicker]

Is it likely to be sit in your allocated seats then? Hope not cos I've brought my tickets seperate from the people I'm travelling up with.

You didn't wait for your mates to get their tickets, eh? Nice.

 

[Springal]

You forgot to add that the game could be early in a season and we may not have had many away games, people may attend alot of away games over a season but may not have been to any after the first month (due to work/travel/whatever) so would miss out as they had no ticket stubs whetheras people who knew a big game was coming up could go to an away match just for a ticket stub and to get priority.

Also - Could you imagine the chaos if several hundred people turned up at once with their ticket stubs to try to get match tickets for a big game, the ticket office isn't geared up to handle that, plus the need for extra equipment, staff etc to handle it - not very practical if these kind of games occur every couple of seasons, and as said before, ticket stubs are useless if applying online (how do you prove they have them and are genuine)

The current scheme is the way to go imo.

I don't think you quite get the system, what Englandfans do is make you send off proof of travel [credit card statement, in your name showing purchases in said country, or flight stubs [originals only, not eboarding cards] so I assume if we were to do this you'd have to send in your stubs and your account would get credited. It would not be a case of taking in a wedge of stubs and fighting over priority. But it would either mean outsourcing [englandfans do this, for 35k members] or doing it in house, but that is going to need a small team working on a full time basis just to sort this.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

You didn't wait for your mates to get their tickets, eh? Nice.

My mate was being a clitoris and said he had to get someone to buy it in his ex wife's name or summink. Oh I dunno. I just couldn't wait anymore. I work with spastics.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

3 big games in 6 years is not "often enough", in my opinion, to justify an all-singing all-dancing away attendance computerized recording system to sort the ticketing.

You've got STH's, then a two-tiered membership scheme. That should suffice.
However, where I think the club HAVE dropped a bollock somewhat is in allowing brand new members (ie those who have joined up since Villa came out of the pot) the same chance as existing members. Thats not very fair.

It may seem unfair but i understand why it has been done.

There are fans out there that don't yet have a Gold/Blue/White/Junior membership - for example, ex-season ticket holders who didn't join the new scheme when it 1st changed, fans who travel to away games regularly but decided not to join the scheme as the matches they attend are pay on the gate and therefore a membership could be deemed unnessessary.

Arguably they are equally as / more deserving of a chance of a ticket as existing scheme members, some existing members may only have become members of the scheme just so they could get tickets for the Spurs or West Ham games but arn't really fans. By allowing them the chance to upgrade / join the scheme, it gives them a chance to attend this match too.

However there may be people who join just to try to get tickets for this one game, which is why i guess there is a charge for membership, trying to discourage those people by making them pay a £10 for a white membership and knowing they may still miss out. Current white members who are worried they may miss out are able to upgrade to blue, giving them a better chance of getting a ticket (in this case everychance of getting one, as we won't sell out before the blue priority period ends) - If someone buys the blue membership just to get tickets for this one match but isn't really a fan of the club, at least the club makes some money out of that person who is looking to get ahead in the queue of our genuine fans who had the same opportunity to upgrade but didn't.

 

[northstandsteve]

not sure if this has been raised or taken into account of the 4,000 already sold, but there is the players and staff allocation to take into account. These have to be in by close of business on Wednesday, so if correct the 2,400 left maybe a lot less.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I don't think you quite get the system, what Englandfans do is make you send off proof of travel [credit card statement, in your name showing purchases in said country, or flight stubs [originals only, not eboarding cards] so I assume if we were to do this you'd have to send in your stubs and your account would get credited. It would not be a case of taking in a wedge of stubs and fighting over priority. But it would either mean outsourcing [englandfans do this, for 35k members] or doing it in house, but that is going to need a small team working on a full time basis just to sort this.

However that then relies on people not leaving it til the last minute to have the stubs accreditted to their account (which is in some peoples human nature) so you could still get a large number of people turn up at once when the ticket details are announced, trying to get their stubs added so that they are able to get a ticket for that match. - Plus you would still get people who went to games and didn't register their stubs moaning if they were to miss out due to the new priority structure this would result in.

Proof of travel wouldn't work in this case, as people are staying in the same country, and the problem with stubs are that not every club issues them when you pay on the gate, so is it that workable?

England frequently has demand for tickets outstripping supply, therefore a scheme like this (with its added expense) is far more justifiable. However, in our case, you are talking about the odd game here and there, and possibly several seasons between games where this proof is needed, so it is harder to deem it cost effective or much more beneficial than the existing scheme.

 

[empire]

not sure if this has been raised or taken into account of the 4,000 already sold, but there is the players and staff allocation to take into account. These have to be in by close of business on Wednesday, so if correct the 2,400 left maybe a lot less.

agree ,all the footyball in the community coaches etc,i saw one today and he was getting 4

 

[northstandsteve]

staff get a maximum of 2 each

 

[empire]

not what he told me

 

[Springal]

However that then relies on people not leaving it til the last minute to have the stubs accreditted to their account (which is in some peoples human nature) so you could still get a large number of people turn up at once when the ticket details are announced, trying to get their stubs added so that they are able to get a ticket for that match. - Plus you would still get people who went to games and didn't register their stubs moaning if they were to miss out due to the new priority structure this would result in.

Proof of travel wouldn't work in this case, as people are staying in the same country, and the problem with stubs are that not every club issues them when you pay on the gate, so is it that workable?

England frequently has demand for tickets outstripping supply, therefore a scheme like this (with its added expense) is far more justifiable. However, in our case, you are talking about the odd game here and there, and possibly several seasons between games where this proof is needed, so it is harder to deem it cost effective or much more beneficial than the existing scheme.

Firstly, there should be a 2 week period after a game to send in their stubs, after that they are not valid.

Secondly, sorry was not suggesting we should implement proof of travel.

England have not had an away game where they have sold out [and had to ballot tickets] since the Euro qualifiers I believe and that was against Estonia [1400 allocation.] But the system is in place for any games over subscribed [there is even talk that the world cup is undersubscribed for every game... even the ones where we get 3000 allocation.]

I really think we'd need to be in Championship at least to consider implementing such a system [and be at Falmer.]

 

[R. Slicker]

My mate was being a clitoris and said he had to get someone to buy it in his ex wife's name or summink. Oh I dunno. I just couldn't wait anymore. I work with spastics.

Seems you did the right thing.

 

[patchamalbion]

sooo many people are saying different things,doubt anyone will listen to me but if you get to the ticket office by 11 tomorrow i reckon a ticket is yours. Insider at 3.00 today said we have sold approx 4,000...then you have kingcole or whatever his name is who reckons its nearer 5,000 as the 'scottish' bloke told him we were 'well over' 4,000 yesterday. and i very much doubt that many white members have bothered to pay the extra for a blue membership,its a waste of money!

anyway suppose we will see tomorrow,good luck

 

[Djmiles]

Get ready for the ticket binfest to begin.....T-minus 12 hours and 57 minutes....

 

[simon195]

Get ready for the ticket binfest to begin.....T-minus 12 hours and 57 minutes....

yeah, a lot of people gonna have sore fingers pushing that connect button.. 9am wed morning..and there off....click click, huff puff.. :US::US::US:

 

[atomicjam]

atomicjam whats your view on Hesky?

I think he is playing better now than at any time since signing. Since Downing came into the side we have a more multiple attack- Gabby, Downing, Milner, A Young (and Warnock & L Young do get forward at times) so having Heskey to hold up, lay off or flick on is beginning to work for us. That said I prefer Carew- when he is up for it he is as good a target man there is; if he was always up for it he would probably not be at the Villa.