[Albion] Season Ticket Farce @PaulBarber

[Lower West Stander]

I wonder if he's reading this thread?

Paul - if you are, are we all wrong?

Please no diatribe - just a simple yes or no....

 

[BNthree]

I wonder if he's reading this thread?

Paul - if you are, are we all wrong?

Please no diatribe - just a simple yes or no....

Of course we're all wrong. We're just football fans that want everything for nothing. Barbs knows best.

 

[chaileyjem]

Meaning folks staying away for covid reasons weren't able to pass on their tickets trivially and quickly. The people weren't staying away because of the scheme but the fact there were gaps was because the non-attenders weren't able to bung their cards to their neighbours/colleagues/in-laws etc. I know you've said not everyone staying away would have been able to have found someone to take their place and that's correct but there would have been more people in the stadium if it was still possible to pass season ticket cards on. That's a given.

People have stayed away this season for normal reasons (holidays, tv scheduling) but i suspect most have because of Covid (fears of infection, being ill). I was one of them. I missed Man City due to having Covid and nobody filled my seat. The sharing scheme has probably helped reduce those no shows in some cases - there are plenty who are using it - and i'm sure there are arguments that in certain cases if it was free or worked differently then plenty more seats would be filled. There's lots of debate and examples on here that outline why its a barrier to sum and is preventing seats being filled. Agreed.
But the idea that the 10,000 empty seats on Wednesday , hours after the govt had been on national TV urging people to be cautious and not leave the house (like the 14, 000 who didn't turn up yesterday at Spurs) were not mostly because we're in the middle of a particularly infectious phase of a pandemic and we've been advised to stay at home , rather than the cost of an Albion + membership is quite the stretch. But thats the claim.

 

[BNthree]

There might have been. But that wasn't the claim.

I never once stated that was the claim. You're talking details with regard to the article and counter article where as I (and many on this thread) are talking in general. So yes you may be correct with regard to the article but we're correct in general. There would have been more people in the stadium for the Wolves match if it was still possible to pass season ticket cards on.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Yes, but guests do not need a paid membership do they.

So doesn’t it work out roughly the same ?

 

[BNthree]

So doesn’t it work out roughly the same ?

Before the half season membership price drop it was usually cheaper (on the total cost) to just buy a guest ticket if only missing 1 match a season.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

So doesn’t it work out roughly the same ?

The point being that people who plan to go to a match will usually be prepared to pay full price. Those that buy into the scheme as they plan to share a ticket over several matches of the season are also served well. Most complaints about the scheme are covering the circumstance where one misses a match unexpectedly or as a one-off. As a one-off, it is expensive and there's undue friction, as a last minute thing, ie due to illness or emergency, it is impossible now, I have phoned around a few mates in the past on the off-chance on the rare occasions that my brother was unable to go. Sometimes just an hour or so before one would set off for the match. None of those people would want to pay £45 for something that may or may not transpire as it is unpredictable.

 

[Creaky]

Just a thought but with the omicron variant spreading so rapidly maybe it’s no bad thing that crowds are down

 

[SAC]

I wonder if he's reading this thread?

Paul - if you are, are we all wrong?

Please no diatribe - just a simple yes or no....

Not only reading but replying too!

 

[Seaview Seagull]

I never once stated that was the claim. You're talking details with regard to the article and counter article where as I (and many on this thread) are talking in general. So yes you may be correct with regard to the article but we're correct in general. There would have been more people in the stadium for the Wolves match if it was still possible to pass season ticket cards on.

I understand your point but the CEO was responding to a claim made elsewhere that the reason for the missing Thousands at the Wolves game was entirely due to the sharing scheme. No reason he should be pilloried for that.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Not only reading but replying too!

With multiple accounts!

 

[chaileyjem]

I never once stated that was the claim. You're talking details with regard to the article and counter article where as I (and many on this thread) are talking in general. So yes you may be correct with regard to the article but we're correct in general. There would have been more people in the stadium for the Wolves match if it was still possible to pass season ticket cards on.

Ha ! I think we can all agree that I don't think anybody - who might have gone - would have turned into a lifelong Albion fan after wednesday's miserable 90 minutes.

 

[amexer]

Don’t you pay full price for the guest ticket?

Yes again irrelevant. So your now saying scheme came in to stop people passing discounted tickets on. Funny PB had often previously said it came in because it was depriving members getting a ticket. Of course now tickets available every game PB cannot use this one. Fact is it came in to raise additional revenue and until they change it we have to like it or lump it. Just hope for clubs sake it is not to many of the latter

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

The point being that people who plan to go to a match will usually be prepared to pay full price. Those that buy into the scheme as they plan to share a ticket over several matches of the season are also served well. Most complaints about the scheme are covering the circumstance where one misses a match unexpectedly or as a one-off. As a one-off, it is expensive and there's undue friction, as a last minute thing, ie due to illness or emergency, it is impossible now, I have phoned around a few mates in the past on the off-chance on the rare occasions that my brother was unable to go. Sometimes just an hour or so before one would set off for the match. None of those people would want to pay £45 for something that may or may not transpire as it is unpredictable.

You mention several types of ticket sharers of which the last minute variety are only one. That makes sense. In that case it can’t really be true that the Armageddon of low attendance is being caused by the ticket sharing scheme as claimed by people on this thread. I sense that we are just going round in circles. Those that used to lend their ST cards (contrary to the terms and conditions) are never going to be happy at having to pay to do it. I suspect that the club will just raise ST prices next season and abolish the sharing scheme. Everyone then has to bare the cost for a service only required by a minority. A Pyrrhic victory.

 

[BNthree]

I understand your point but the CEO was responding to a claim made elsewhere that the reason for the missing Thousands at the Wolves game was entirely due to the sharing scheme. No reason he should be pilloried for that.

Yep but this thread was already several pages long before he made his response. The thread isn't about the article and counter-article. It's about the sharing scheme and season ticket holders' gripes with it.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I think it's a real shame that the club appears to have become something of a lightning rod for the current state of affairs on Plague Island. For sure they get a few things wrong - who doesn't? - but there's nothing that can't be tweaked for the better as a result of customer feedback. But during this rotten time of covid, seems to me that a totally justified sense of low-level depression with life in general gets amplified and distorted on here and used as a stick to beat the club with. Understandable maybe, but doesn't seem entirely fair

 

[Milano]

Paul Barber seems to be getting more and more irritated with our supporters. I am starting to wonder if this is an exit plan.

 

[Lower West Stander]

I think it's a real shame that the club appears to have become something of a lightning rod for the current state of affairs on Plague Island. For sure they get a few things wrong - who doesn't? - but there's nothing that can't be tweaked for the better as a result of customer feedback. But during this rotten time of covid, seems to me that a totally justified sense of low-level depression with life in general gets amplified and distorted on here and used as a stick to beat the club with. Understandable maybe, but doesn't seem entirely fair

Very fair point.

But doesn't that point to the lack of empathy people are pointing out on the thread?

 

[Bry Nylon]

I suspect that the club will just raise ST prices next season and abolish the sharing scheme. Everyone then has to bare the cost for a service only required by a minority. A Pyrrhic victory.

Well, I suppose it will make a change to finally get a victory.

 

[Harold]

The days of the “super fan” have gone as are the days of being noticed at away matches. It is an inevitability of following a growing and successful club. Our loyalty is measured by points. It doesn’t sit comfortably for many of us but it is what it is!!

At a guess I would say that many of the complainers on here went through the “war years” and cannot handle the change.

Secretly I think many of us still support the “old” Albion

Not worried about a super fan label, or being noticed at away matches.

Not overly worried about loyalty points being the scheme of choice to prioritise high demand ticket access. Always be a scheme like that at every club.

I AM worried about unnecessary nickel and dime charges like the ST share being more important to the board than fan relations. This issue was glibly batted away at the fans forum where Camilin intimated it had been the main issue from fans emails received. It has reared it's head again. Barber has done heck of a lot right and propelled us to another level. I love the old and new Albion, and for me this is simply a tragic communication by Barber. I genuinely believe he knows this scheme has proved neither flexible or popular.