Cologne fans

[beorhthelm]

so im a bit confused - did 20k fans turn up without tickets and got in, or did they have 18k tickets beyond their allocation?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

so im a bit confused - did 20k fans turn up without tickets and got in, or did they have 18k tickets beyond their allocation?

It would appear Arsenal supporters had sold tickets to them. They're being reported as "ticketless supporters" but most seemed to have got hold of tickets for the home end.

 

[Simontheseagull]

For FA Cup games Arsenal should allocate a minimum of 15% of tickets to away fans at the Emirates (around 9000 tickets minimum).

Instead of allocating just 3000 tickets to Cologne supporters for a Europa Cup match where Arsenal supporters knew they would pretty much be watching their squad players, Arsenal should have offered more tickets directly to Cologne supporters. Instead Arsenal failed to take into account basic supply and demand economics and the club deserves to be fined by EUEFA.

Sadly a lot of English clubs' CEO's do not put enough effort into meeting "customer" demands for both home and away customers. At Villa Park at the end of last season Villa preferred to have half a stand empty rather than sell extra tickets to Albion fans (Villa customers for the day) for a match that could have seen us as Football League Champions. Instead "home tickets" were put on general sale via Seatwave so it was hardly surprising that some Albion fans were sitting amongst Villa supporters. Did a similar situation occur at the Emirates last night?

Don't blame Aresenal fans for not taking up tickets to watch their squad players in a EUROPA Cup match. Blame the club for not determining and then appropriately meeting home and away customer demand for tickets. Typical of a corporate club. Treats fans as customers yet fails to fully understand customer needs.

 

[neilbard]

Well done to the Cologne fans they brought the attendance up to a respectable level and sang for most of the match.

Old Trafford was the same the other night all you could here was FC Basel supporters.

 

[Simontheseagull]

We're so uptight in this country. If several thousand home fans prefer to make money than support their team then they shouldn't cry about it when the away fans out think, sing and perhaps even fight Islington's 'finest'. A memorable night, Arsenal are nothing better than a hollow corporate masquerading as a football club and have been well and truly embarrassed tonight. That's all an Inquiry will find - might as well save the cost of!

Perhaps some Arsenal fans needed to buy tickets for a meaningless match just to get some more STH loyalty points. They then were presented with an easy opportunity to recover their costs by selling their tickets on to genuine fans who were prepared to travel many miles to watch their team thathadn't played in Europe for many years.

 

[studio150]

I still dont know what to make of last night's events.
While it would seem that a number of Germans had brought tickets in home areas, many had still travelled without a ticket.
Personally I don't understand why you would do that given the distance involved and the fact the game would be live on TV.
There seems to have been some criticism of Arsenal fans selling there tickets on. However if you transfer the hour delay to kick off to the Amex I could see many who travel by public transport doing the same to ensure they could get home rather than leaving at half time.
It must have been a bumper pay day for the touts.

Anyway a good away win for Arsenal

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

A mate who went to Arsenal's last home match against Bournemouth had a group sitting next to him who asked him who he supported, i.e. Arsenal or Bournemouth, because they assumed the fans weren't segregated. He had to explain about the Bournemouth fans being in the away section. It's no wonder the place is a library.

 

[el punal]

Perhaps some Arsenal fans needed to buy tickets for a meaningless match just to get some more STH loyalty points. They then were presented with an easy opportunity to recover their costs by selling their tickets on to genuine fans who were prepared to travel many miles to watch their team thathadn't played in Europe for many years.

Some maybe, but the best part of 17,000? I doubt it. Unless of course there is some Arsenal "black market agent" who everyone knows, who buys a huge proportion of tickets and then flogs them off to a source in Germany at exorbitant rates. If that is the case then shame on those Arsenal fans who make a mockery of being a loyal supporter.

I sincerely hope those fans who were guilty of profiteering are found out and banned, likewise any Albion fan doing similar. Name and shame. Wishful thinking maybe, but hey-ho.

 

[dazzer6666]

It would appear Arsenal supporters had sold tickets to them. They're being reported as "ticketless supporters" but most seemed to have got hold of tickets for the home end.

No - loads registered as Arsenal members and simply bought tickets from the club according to a pal - there was nothing to stop them doing it and no previous purchase history was necessary for this game.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

No - loads registered as Arsenal members and simply bought tickets from the club according to a pal - there was nothing to stop them doing it and no previous purchase history was necessary for this game.

Personally I have no idea but I find it very hard to believe the club were knowingly selling thousands and thousands of tickets to German addresss and credit cards.

 

[Simontheseagull]

Some maybe, but the best part of 17,000? I doubt it. Unless of course there is some Arsenal "black market agent" who everyone knows, who buys a huge proportion of tickets and then flogs them off to a source in Germany at exorbitant rates. If that is the case then shame on those Arsenal fans who make a mockery of being a loyal supporter.

I sincerely hope those fans who were guilty of profiteering are found out and banned, likewise any Albion fan doing similar. Name and shame. Wishful thinking maybe, but hey-ho.

Your point is well made but perhaps it is the club that is guilty of profiteering. If Cologne supporters could register as Arsenal members to buy tickets in the home end, then the club deserves all the critisism it will get (see post from dazzer6666 above).

 

[Thunder Bolt]

The press putting their usual negative slant on football fans.

Shameful throwback to the hooligan days of the 1980s John Cross Mirror

There were just 5 arrests.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Personally I have no idea but I find it very hard to believe the club were knowingly selling thousands and thousands of tickets to German addresss and credit cards.

Your point is well made but perhaps it is the club that is guilty of profiteering. If Cologne supporters could register as Arsenal members to buy tickets in the home end, then the club deserves all the critisism it will get (see post from dazzer6666 above).

If that is true, it's incompetence to a staggering level. In the past when we've played high demand, high profile games, purchase history has been mandatory, and postcode were checked to ensure this didn't happen. But to sell 17k tickets to new members, with German postal addresses is madness (when you're playing a German team)!

People should be sacked for this level of ****wittery.

 

[Dr. Notthenineo'clocknews]

One quite unsavoury incident last night was at least 3 twitter accounts claiming to have lost children in the family section and asking for retweets despite only giving a vague description. One received thousands but a click on a profile proved one to be a Leeds fan simply trying to promote the profile of some home made tipping service.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

One quite unsavoury incident last night was at least 3 twitter accounts claiming to have lost children in the family section and asking for retweets despite only giving a vague description. One received thousands but a click on a profile proved one to be a Leeds fan simply trying to promote the profile of some home made tipping service.

One of those had a surname of McCann, claiming to have lost his 7 yr old daughter. It went on for a while, until he claimed he'd found her, and was going to take her on a holiday to Portugal, because she was so distressed. His comment was, she'll enjoy that.
People realised it was a very sick joke.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Arsenal Tarquin's and Rupert's get tough by calling over the stewards

Before s/t's to watch Arsenal costs £2k, they used to have working class supporters.

Well I got given a ticket last night last minute. The people around me were as diverse if not more so than the ones around me at the Amex, in my experience their is just more of them so more seats and more corporate. Many of them wanted safe standing to push the capacity up to 80, 90K. All of them old enough went to Highbury. In my experience its just a bigger version of the AMEX on matchday but more activity around the ground, Pubs, Cafes, Stalls all rammed.

I think where the Koln fans had massed as well made it busier, people suddenly had 2 hours to kill so the bars were packed and cafes and restaurants all full. I loved the novelty of seeing a goal scored at what must have been quarter to eleven at night. But I certainly wouldn't have said the fans trying to attack and throw out the Koln fans when they scored were in anyway corporate, in my experience they were what I assume you refer to as working class.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Your point is well made but perhaps it is the club that is guilty of profiteering. If Cologne supporters could register as Arsenal members to buy tickets in the home end, then the club deserves all the critisism it will get (see post from dazzer6666 above).

It will be interesting to find out what actually happened. Now the dust is settling I'm of the opinion that both sets of supporters and the police have handled themselves very well. This could have been total and utter carnage had one or more of these three groups reacted differently.

 

[Triggaaar]

Time for UEFA to ban English clubs from Europe again, obviously. Trouble at an English ground - so we must be the problem. Five years this time?

We're not actually winning anything though, so no need this time.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Personally I have no idea but I find it very hard to believe the club were knowingly selling thousands and thousands of tickets to German addresss and credit cards.

The people I went with said that was probably the case as they are a globally known and sell a lot of tickets overseas, however this wouldn't have taken away the fact they were sending a lot to Koln. Also like our system you can get a reprint in ticket form of your season ticket for about a fiver so touts could in theory buy sections up. I am still confused as to why the game needed to be an hour delayed. Lots of people around us had to leave early - half time early to make connections home.

The game is part of your season ticket

 

[Thunder Bolt]

It will be interesting to find out what actually happened. Now the dust is settling I'm of the opinion that both sets of supporters and the police have handled themselves very well. This could have been total and utter carnage had one or more of these three groups reacted differently.

Report on BBC Breakfast with a statement from Arsenal, blaming touts.