[Albion] ESU and WSU open for Coventry game

[Weststander]

I think the club have played this pretty well. If the lower stands had flown out of the ticket office, then they could have released the upper tiers much earlier, but they didn't.

All this fuss about ST holders being upset about sitting their own seats, its one game, enjoy being in a different part of the stadium, you're able to group together with as many people as you like. Hard to imagine we were watching from an athletics track 8 years ago, now its anger at the club you can't sit in your 'own' seat. :roll eyes:

Not that I believe there is a great swell of annoyed ST holders to be honest.

Well said.

Of all things to moan about in life, failing to sit in your usual seat for one match, must be pretty trivial.

 

[Mellotron]

If anyone needs an incentive to go, Chris Hughton has confirmed today, that Jurgen Locadia will be starting on Saturday.

Gutted to be missing that.

 

[Weststander]

Had it been opened from the outset, STH's would have had the chance to sit in their own seats. The crowd figure would have been the same or more (some only like their own seats, so could have lost some). There is no argument that can suggest that this approach has maximised the size of the crowd. It can only be the same or lower as a result.

Said with hindsight. FAC attendances in the last 20 years are often disappointing, as borne out by the CP game. In light of that background, NO ONE knew whether an FAC tie against lower league opposition would be a big draw.

 

[Wozza]

Had it been opened from the outset, STH's would have had the chance to sit in their own seats. The crowd figure would have been the same or more (some only like their own seats, so could have lost some). There is no argument that can suggest that this approach has maximised the size of the crowd. It can only be the same or lower as a result.

This is simply not true. By making it a free-for-all from the off, with a max of 4 tickets per STHs, many of us bought extra tickets for family/friends. I bought FIVE.

If it was a case of reserving usual seats, I would have bought TWO and thought nothing more about bringing others.

 

[DumLum]

Said with hindsight. FAC attendances in the last 20 years are often disappointing, as borne out by the CP game. In light of that background, NO ONE knew whether an FAC tie against lower league opposition would be a big draw.

Some of us didn't need hindsight! Thought it was very odd from day one.

 

[Weststander]

Some of us didn't need hindsight! Thought it was very odd from day one.

Perhaps the wrong people are running the club then!

 

[kingcole]

The club have made amends but their initial decisions have definitely and potentially are costing us bums on seats at this game.

Despite how torrid some of the following may sound, there are some out there whom it will apply to:-

Some want a lower tier. Maybe due to health / mobility issues.

Had the upper tiers been open from the outset then the less favourable areas of the lower tiers would have been the last to sell, meaning there would have been a choice for all

Some will have not fancied sitting next to the away fans in the corners and won't have checked back

Not everyone checks the website, Twitter or visit NSC so won't have known other seats had been released

Some STH's only want their own seats

A relatively small number from the SW corner would have been unlucky here regardless but there were about 7500 who could simply not have bought their season ticket seat, even though it was not being occupied by an away fan nor a home fan

There has been no family area seating for a whole week up until kick off

Some with kids will only sit in a designated family area. Most know the reality of this is just an area of the ground that's no much different to anyone else but instead of the usual 3 and a half blocks in the lower tier plus the shelf only 2 blocks were designated family. This was the ideal game to encourage new families to attend but the only options for much of the selling period was wing seats next to 4500 noisy visiting fans

Why not offer 15 loyalty points?

I got 15 for visiting Stoke and the club didn't earn a dime from me. If a home cup game isn't going to be an automatic sellout then encourage more to come by giving something that costs nothing.

Whenever I hear undue criticism of the club, either of here or elsewhere, I can quick to defend them but on this they got it totally wrong.

It was easy to predict the demand for this game. If you look back on this thread, even myself, who is not privy to any of the stats the ticket office had to hand have managed to call this as it has been, as have many others.

They clearly done the right thing by eventually opening the upper tiers, but they didn't really have a choice.

Had all areas been open from the outset, a decent provision for families made (rather than cut it by over 50%) then this would likely already have been sold out.

They got the pricing spot on and now seem to be pushing the marketing aspect of this game.

FWIW I think we will have an attendance around 28200.

 

[Hotchilidog]

The club have made amends but their initial decisions have definitely and potentially are costing us bums on seats at this game.

Despite how torrid some of the following may sound, there are some out there whom it will apply to:-

Some want a lower tier. Maybe due to health / mobility issues.

Had the upper tiers been open from the outset then the less favourable areas of the lower tiers would have been the last to sell, meaning there would have been a choice for all

Given that the lower tiers initially sold pretty slowly, surely anyone who had the concerns would have bought accordingly.

If we do end up with a crowd of around 28k then that suggests to me the club have got it spot on, unless everyone was just assuming that an FA Cup tie against a L2 team was a guaranteed sell out. Outside of the ties against Arsenal this will end up being one of our largest FA Cup home crowds.

There are not hordes of people missing out on this. If anything the can we sell the next group of tickets hoo ha, has actually provided some additional entertainment as the race has been on to fill up the ground.

 

[kingcole]

Given that the lower tiers initially sold pretty slowly, surely anyone who had the concerns would have bought accordingly.

.

Yes and most would have. But we are talking about getting the maximum bums on seats. All of the examples I have listed might seem churlish to some with easy work arounds, but for some it will have been a game changing decision.

We all know the sorts that just 'can't be bothered' My 17 year old son for example who has not missed a home or away game for years and could probably tell you how many blades of grass there are in the penalty area, would likely not have seen a single away game this year if buying the tickets was down to him!

 

[Hotchilidog]

Yes and most would have. But we are talking about getting the maximum bums on seats. All of the examples I have listed might seem churlish to some with easy work arounds, but for some it will have been a game changing decision.

We all know the sorts that just 'can't be bothered' My 17 year old son for example who has not missed a home or away game for years and could probably tell you how many blades of grass there are in the penalty area, would likely not have seen a single away game this year if buying the tickets was down to him!

This is indeed true....

 

[heathgate]

Given that the lower tiers initially sold pretty slowly, surely anyone who had the concerns would have bought accordingly.

If we do end up with a crowd of around 28k then that suggests to me the club have got it spot on, unless everyone was just assuming that an FA Cup tie against a L2 team was a guaranteed sell out. Outside of the ties against Arsenal this will end up being one of our largest FA Cup home crowds.

There are not hordes of people missing out on this. If anything the can we sell the next group of tickets hoo ha, has actually provided some additional entertainment as the race has been on to fill up the ground.

....a 5th round tie... Yes, a sell out was expected at home against almost anyone... Coventry have a history and decent support, so an open normal sale of all stands from the outset would have smoothed the path to a sell out without as some on here advocate, giving the away fans 10k tickets, preposterous though that is to proper football fans.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Easy 10]

If we do end up with a crowd of around 28k then that suggests to me the club have got it spot on

It would suggest to me that the game all but sold out despite the clubs general buffoonery over this tie, not because of the way it went about selling tickets. I've got mates who've bought tickets in the ESL who are a bit macked off now at not having their usual WSU seat. I'm in the WSL myself and not overly bothered, but would I have chosen to go there ? Nope.

Once we knew it was a Saturday 3pm job, and they'd priced it properly, there was no reason to expect this would sell poorly. Complete overreaction by the club in the wake of the Palace games.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

It would suggest to me that the game all but sold out despite the clubs general buffoonery over this tie, not because of the way it went about selling tickets. I've got mates who've bought tickets in the ESL who are a bit macked off now at not having their usual WSU seat. I'm in the WSL myself and not overly bothered, but would I have chosen to go there ? Nope.

Once we knew it was a Saturday 3pm job, and they'd priced it properly, there was no reason to expect this would sell poorly. Complete overreaction by the club in the wake of the Palace games.

Spot on.

 

[el punal]

Who?

Exactly! The proverbial misspelling of our glorious manager was deliberate, as I'm sure (I hope!) you were aware.

 

[kingcole]

661 in WSU
156 in ESU + WC

 

[worthingseagull]

Well its been an interesting 10 days on this thread and we are now approaching match time, so wherever we are sitting on Saturday - lets make some bloody noise !!!




oh and surely this thread deserves to enter the NSC Gold hall of fame ?

 

[Bold Seagull]

It would suggest to me that the game all but sold out despite the clubs general buffoonery over this tie, not because of the way it went about selling tickets. I've got mates who've bought tickets in the ESL who are a bit macked off now at not having their usual WSU seat. I'm in the WSL myself and not overly bothered, but would I have chosen to go there ? Nope.

Once we knew it was a Saturday 3pm job, and they'd priced it properly, there was no reason to expect this would sell poorly. Complete overreaction by the club in the wake of the Palace games.

Not just the Palace game though, last season in the 4th round we had MK Dons, I think the tickets were £10? you got 15-20 loyalty points and 11k turned up. Where were all these miffed ST holders and their precious own seats then?

 

[n1 gull]

Not just the Palace game though, last season in the 4th round we had MK Dons, I think the tickets were £10? you got 15-20 loyalty points and 11k turned up. Where were all these miffed ST holders and their precious own seats then?

Totally different circumstances. The goal 100% was promotion. We had a weaker squad and no real prospect of advancing the cup. The Championship had loads more games so everyone had seen the team more. This season we have only won 5 games at home (including Palace) so its the chance to watch the team play in a winnable tie. Two new signings playing one a hero and the other a record club signing. Loyalty points last season were not an issue. These are a few points off the top of my head

 

[Is it PotG?]

Totally different circumstances. The goal 100% was promotion. We had a weaker squad and no real prospect of advancing the cup. The Championship had loads more games so everyone had seen the team more. This season we have only won 5 games at home (including Palace) so its the chance to watch the team play in a winnable tie. Two new signings playing one a hero and the other a record club signing. Loyalty points last season were not an issue. These are a few points off the top of my head

Yet many, many complaints this season about the closed shop and inability to get on the ladder. Also, whether we have been winning/likely to win should not be an issue if you are going along in order to support the Club.

 

[chaileyjem]

Once we knew it was a Saturday 3pm job, and they'd priced it properly, there was no reason to expect this would sell poorly. Complete overreaction by the club in the wake of the Palace games.

Opening the ground area by area for cup games and friendlies isn't an over-reaction or "buffoonery" after Palace - its just normal or being cautious. They've done it many times at the Amex. And its normal for many (non Albion) grounds hosting games like this.
As for predicting the crowd then there was plenty of predictions on this thread, for starters, that there wouldn't be enough demand to sell out the lower stands to open the ESU and then again for the WSU because the club had stifled demand by not allowing fans to sit anywhere in the ground. And even though the reasons for not turning up for Palace are well known , did anyone still really think a few weeks in advance that only 15K would show ?