Paul Barber - ID checks of fans at away games?

[trueblue]

There's no right or wrong on this issue. The club can choose how to allocate tickets in a number of ways, none of which have moral superiority over the others. The club are choosing to make away ticket allocation a perk of buying a season ticket.

As it has always been. And as it should be as season tickets provide important and predictable income. Fans who have season tickets AND travel away a lot will still always have the best chance of getting tickets for big games. Not keen on the ID plan at all - but it's surely only an attempt to make sure the most deserving fans get first dibs.
I can't see why many who feel they're in that category are so against the concept - even if the method is all a bit 1984.

 

[Notters]

Not only is the message hard to fathom, it's the tone of it. It pretty much gives the impression that fans will be tolerated, just, but they don't like you. Don't think I've felt like that since '97. (No im not comparing Barber to Bellotti et. Al., just the vibe)

 

[spanish flair]

I know your game Mr Barber, personalized scarf sales are not going too well and Barbers next statement is going to be a personalized scarf with name and fan number on it is going to be acceptable ID for a Brighton fan.
He never misses a money making scheme that draws money out of us fans, no sorry I mean customers.

 

[Leegull]

I think that the timing of this announcement is really poor, at a time when the entire club needs to be as one for that final push, it just smacks as being a quite snidey announcement and one that was always going to bring a big and unnecessary slice of negativity from a large proportion of the fan base! If it really needed to be announced and introduced then just bloody do it in the summer, when the season is done and dusted...

To that extent I think that Barber has dropped a clanger with this one!! It's the football ffs - I work for a bank and get compliance and regulations sent across day in day out. Drives me mad, I go to the football for a bit of escapism and feel some times that he comes across as a frustrated and wannabe compliance officer and we really don't need this in our footballing lives too!

 

[fosters headband]

If you want an example of how the club has lost the plot surely this policy of not transferring season tickets to a 'valid' family member is it.There may be many good reasons why a family may need to do this especially when an older child goes off to University.
So rather than being able to bring another child into the 'Albion ' and share the match day experience we have to have a potential plastic who's joining the ride for PL football.
As another poster remarked when the club are not in such a good position all these decisions will come back and bite them on the arse.

Yes but any slide down the leagues will mean Barber won't be here anymore, as he will obviously get an offer he can't refuse and has to leave, although his thought's and heart will always be with the Albion.

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

It's clearly unenforceable, they've just put a statement out as a scare tactic to try and prevent this type of thing happening.

With regards to demand and supply, after the first season in the Premier League I can't see us selling out for more than 12 games. This won't be a problem, we will not be taking 3,000 or selling out the Amex for Stoke, Burnley, Middlesborough, Swansea, Hull, West Brom and Leicester.

When we do come back down (eventually) and Barber goes this sort of thing will come back to bite us.

 

[kingcole]

This situation is crying out for some clarity. I have some unanswered questions myself. We have 4 season tickets, myself, 2 kids and a fourth kid ticket that is split between each of my sons mates with the proviso that they bring a mate to a game. Usually the older one takes someone to the evening games and the younger to the earlier games. On rare occasions we even upgrade the forth ticket so my wife can come, of course, keeping within the 6 upgrade rules.

For away games about half the time just me and my two boys travel but sometimes the older one brings a friend and this ticket, like ours is purchased using the loyalty/season ticket of the spare/ kids mates season ticket. If an ID check is done on my older lads mate then the ticket will be in the name of my younger lads mate. Are we screwed?

Should add, despite our arrangement, which the club knew of and has been in place since the presentation by Martin Perry at the construction site, the forth season ticket has had a bum on it for 95% of games and I can honestly say that at least 5 of the mates we have taken over the years now have their own season tickets, along with. a parent and in one case, I know a whole family of 5 have bought season tickets, all stemmed from us taking the little one to their first magical game.

The system is place is fare and I hope this is a lot of hot air to deter touting should out games become more popular. A good start would have been to deal with the touts I'm sure we all saw at the station last Tuesday rather than making some of the clubs most loyal fans feel they have commited a crime.

 

[spanish flair]

So which Man U or Saints fan gave up their ticket so you could attend the EFL cup final then Paul, are they going to be in trouble with their clubs?

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

As it has always been. And as it should be as season tickets provide important and predictable income. Fans who have season tickets AND travel away a lot will still always have the best chance of getting tickets for big games. Not keen on the ID plan at all - but it's surely only an attempt to make sure the most deserving fans get first dibs.
I can't see why many who feel they're in that category are so against the concept - even if the method is all a bit 1984.

No issue with the concept just the enforcement method. I will show ID to the police and even perhaps at a turnstile if required but I will not show it on demand to anyone else. Perhaps I have misunderstood the club's intention with regard to enforcement.

 

[drew]

Not only is the message hard to fathom, it's the tone of it. It pretty much gives the impression that fans will be tolerated, just, but they don't like you. Don't think I've felt like that since '97. (No im not comparing Barber to Bellotti et. Al., just the vibe)

It is starting to sound like that. The club need to be aware that the very fans they may alienate are the very ones that would normally be there if the roller coaster we are on takes a dip, very possibly with a relegation next year if we go up this one. I would suggest from a financial point a view the number of no shows by STH at home games should be more of a concern. The seat may well have been sold but there is no one buying from the concessions, the club shop etc. Probably for most, a voucher isn't tempting enough. Are the club going to get to the situation where if you don't use your ticket then you run the risk of losing it. Draconian and would only work if the club continued on an upward trend of success and therefore there was a demand for season tickets.

 

[Southy]

Surely the way round this is just to say you have no I.D if asked. It's illegal to search you and you can agree to present it at a later date. They would be on very dodgy ground legally if they banned a supporter from future away games for failing to provide I.D at time and I'm sure it could be challenged in courts.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Incidentally, in the Home Ticket T&C's is this phrase:

"In the event that you and/or your Guest are unable to use any Home Match Ticket then you may transfer that Home Match Ticket(s) to a natural person who is known to you personally who would be entitled (under the Terms & Conditions of Entry) to purchase such Home Match Ticket and attend such Match PROVIDED THAT such transfer takes place in consideration of no payment or benefit in excess of the face value of the Home Match Ticket, .."

I think that's fairly clear, and in the absence of any T&C's published regarding the sale of away tickets, I would have thought this would have equally applied?

 

[fosters headband]

Incidentally, in the Home Ticket T&C's is this phrase:

"In the event that you and/or your Guest are unable to use any Home Match Ticket then you may transfer that Home Match Ticket(s) to a natural person who is known to you personally who would be entitled (under the Terms & Conditions of Entry) to purchase such Home Match Ticket and attend such Match PROVIDED THAT such transfer takes place in consideration of no payment or benefit in excess of the face value of the Home Match Ticket, .."

I think that's fairly clear, and in the absence of any T&C's published regarding the sale of away tickets, I would have thought this would have equally applied?

I have a feeling that might suddenly disappear.
,

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

No issue with the concept just the enforcement method. I will show ID to the police and even perhaps at a turnstile if required but I will not show it on demand to anyone else. Perhaps I have misunderstood the club's intention with regard to enforcement.

It is lunacy -

" Excuse me mate are you going to watch Leeds v Albion? You're going to have to take your passport, but when voting for the Government that makes the laws that govern football fans, you won't need any form of ID"

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I have a feeling that might suddenly disappear.

lets monitor it

 

[fosters headband]

lets monitor it

Definitely,

 

[BensGrandad]

I havent read the thread, too many pages, but I assume somebody was either nicked or ejected from Forest who didnt buy the ticket himself and was using somebody elses points. How else would they know?

 

[Notters]

I think that the timing of this announcement is really poor, at a time when the entire club needs to be as one for that final push, it just smacks as being a quite snidey announcement and one that was always going to bring a big and unnecessary slice of negativity from a large proportion of the fan base! If it really needed to be announced and introduced then just bloody do it in the summer, when the season is done and dusted...

To that extent I think that Barber has dropped a clanger with this one!! It's the football ffs - I work for a bank and get compliance and regulations sent across day in day out. Drives me mad, I go to the football for a bit of escapism and feel some times that he comes across as a frustrated and wannabe compliance officer and we really don't need this in our footballing lives too!

Exactly this. I've worked for employers like this, where they watch your emails like a hawk for grammatical errors, where they get angry if your one minute late once a year. Whereas, in fact, you give a lot more time and effort (and in the case of the Albion, money) to a club that treats you well. It comes back to the original idea of making the Amex as welcoming as possible, this seems to be the opposite. What sort of club are you going to be more loyal too, one that acts like a friend, or one that acts like a 19th century factory foreman?

 

[fosters headband]

I havent read the thread, too many pages, but I assume somebody was either nicked or ejected from Forest who didnt buy the ticket himself and was using somebody elses points. How else would they know?

If that's the case it is a shame it wasn't passed on by a 1901 member, in which case it would not have been a problem. The hypocrisy of it all stinks.

 

[ForestRowSeagull]

Reminds me of Palace away in the play-offs where we had to show ID on the turnstiles despite no names being on the tickets. One of the most pointless exercises you'll see.