Waiting List

[ThePompousPaladin]

... who wrote endless letters and signed endless petitions and protested to keep this club alive, is sadly being lost in the new corporate club that is emerging. But the Albion are not alone in this approach to modern day football. I find it all very sad.

It would have been wiser for you not to have signed those petitions then.
Albion would have gone bust, reformed and played at hove park or something, you could have stood on the touchline with 100 or so other people...

I do get your point about corporate football, but we wanted a successful football club, it's the price to pay.

 

[Bozza]

So the person I spoke to yesterday at the club about putting my youngest on the waiting list, who said the waiting list is about 500, was fibbing!

On the 24th February was I told by the club's Head of Ticketing & Supporter Services that it was over 1,000 at that point in time. 1,500ish seems perfectly feasible now.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

So the person I spoke to yesterday at the club about putting my youngest on the waiting list, who said the waiting list is about 500, was fibbing!

Maybe youngsters are on a separate list? Children grow up so move on to adult tickets, more than adult tickets are relinquished?

Edit to add [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] mentioned 1500 so it could be (wild speculation) 1,000 adults and 500 children?

 

[Greavsey]

Maybe youngsters are on a separate list? Children grow up so move on to adult tickets, more than adult tickets are relinquished?

Edit to add [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] mentioned 1500 so it could be (wild speculation) 1,000 adults and 500 children?

They're not. Just added my son to the list, he is number 1466. Bit frustrating as he's an Albion mad 6 year old, and I was just hoping to simply make the move from East Upper to the Family section next season.. but that's the price of success I suppose!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

They're not. Just added my son to the list, he is number 1466. Bit frustrating as he's an Albion mad 6 year old, and I was just hoping to simply make the move from East Upper to the Family section next season.. but that's the price of success I suppose!

Thanks. It was just a guess on my part.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

They're not. Just added my son to the list, he is number 1466. Bit frustrating as he's an Albion mad 6 year old, and I was just hoping to simply make the move from East Upper to the Family section next season.. but that's the price of success I suppose!

Presumably, being 'number 1466' on the list, doesn't necessarily mean that there are 1465 people (still) ahead of you? Perhaps they keep allocating sequential numbers to new applicants, even though some earlier numbers have already been given tickets? I.e. you could start at 'number 1466' but still only be 500th in the queue?

 

[Peter Grummit]

It would have been wiser for you not to have signed those petitions then.
Albion would have gone bust, reformed and played at hove park or something, you could have stood on the touchline with 100 or so other people...

I do get your point about corporate football, but we wanted a successful football club, it's the price to pay.

The debate about 'modern football', on here and elsewhere, is often over-polarised. It is perfectly possible to support the positive steps to professionalise the club over the past few years and yet object to the more extreme proposals, such as ID checks at away games. I am reminded of Des Lynam, with the best of intentions, imploring us to support planning policy changes that would 'save' the club financially. Those changes? To allow retail designation for the Goldstone, to increase the site value and allow us to borrow against it(!) Part of our role as fan 'stakeholders' is to challenge things that affect us and therefore act as a balance.

PG

 

[Bozza]

They're not. Just added my son to the list, he is number 1466. Bit frustrating as he's an Albion mad 6 year old, and I was just hoping to simply make the move from East Upper to the Family section next season.. but that's the price of success I suppose!

At the best of times, I'm not sure that's a simple move. The Family Stand could almost be a waiting list within a waiting list since spaces there are in pretty short supply. Getting 2 seats elsewhere is more likely, I would have thought, if more expensive.

 

[Braggfan]

How many of them went to Preistfield when we needed them?

I see you're catching some flack on here, but I sympathise with you. I had a season ticket for two years at Gillingham. There are a lot of new fans since then, but to be honest I don't begrudge anyone being a new fan, everyone has to start some time. I also don't consider myself superior to other fans who didn't go to Priestfield. Equally I know what I did for the club when it needed fans, and I have a sense of personal pride about that but I'm not going to ask anyone to pat me or any of the others on the back . Although I do find it irritating sometimes when someone starts telling me how crap Gillingham was and then discover that they went to 1 or 0 games. My gripe is more with modern football in general. Going to Priestfield was easy as it was a free on the bus with your season ticket, it was actually pretty good fun, you could get to every game and there was a real closeness amongst the fans. Geographically it was 70 miles away, experience wise it was a million miles. I personally feel that modern football and the Albion lacks some of that closeness nowadays. There was a time when it felt like the club needed it's diehard fans, and it doesn't feel like they do anymore. Not the Albion's fault, that's just the cost of progress I think.

 

[batch_91]

I'm moving back down to Sussex this year for the first time in a while so I joined the list in more hope than expectation.

Incidentally, does anyone know what the process is for the waiting list?

The only thing ive read is that once youve been offered you have two days to purchase.

 

[1066familyman]

Sarurdays?! No good if we don't get promoted then!

Or indeed if we do get promoted.

Saturday's in the prem aren't the norm either are they?

Admittedly, we wouldn't be the league darlings in that division and not likely to have over 15 tv games like this season.

 

[Bozza]

Or indeed if we do get promoted.

Saturday's in the prem aren't the norm either are they?

Admittedly, we wouldn't be the league darlings in that division and not likely to have over 15 tv games like this season.

I just scanned Burnley's fixture list for this season. Assuming none of their remaining Saturday games get moved, I make it that they'll have had 23 of 38 games on Saturday. I didn't check the times to differentiate between 3pms and others.

 

[Bwian]

I can add to that being a season ticket holder at the Preistfield, when the couple of thousand fans who traveled to home games were considered by the club as true fans. How things have changed, I am now a customer who can easily and gladly be replaced by a JCL with plenty of money. I wonder how many of those Gillingham traveling fans are left today?

 

[1066familyman]

I just scanned Burnley's fixture list for this season. Assuming none of their remaining Saturday games get moved, I make it that they'll have had 23 of 38 games on Saturday. I didn't check the times to differentiate between 3pms and others.

Funnily enough I started doing that last night with Bournemouth but gave up and got bored trying to find kick off times to match the day of the week.

Think I got bored because I've very little enthusiasm for Premier football, even though I'd obviously love us to finally get there.

This season with the biggest move away from Saturday 3pms we've ever had has taken its toll on me unfortunately.

 

[BNthree]

Oh how comical, answer my question where were they when we needed them.

They probably weren't born yet! Albion has managed to attract huge interest among local youngsters and a lot of the current floating fans are local families that come along occasionally or families that share a season ticket and now want their own.

 

[Nixonator]

Why don't you ask the same question to the existing 23,000 fans, the majority of which didn't have a season ticket at Withdean!

Is withdean somehow the litmus test nowadays for the under 30s?

I don't blame any fan born in the late 80's to early 90's for not getting enthralled at supporting the albion while playing at an athletics track where I had a school sportsday the year before moving in.

Terrible place to watch the game where I myself did not hold a ST through most of it.

Ambition, potential and progress, which we now have in spades, goes a long way in picking up new fans. This is a GOOD thing and my commitment through the last 6-7 years at the Goldstone into priestfield does not make me resent ANYBODY joining up now.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

25/30K who 'want to go' now?

25/30K DO go now.

So unless they give up their seats, which clearly isn't about to happen, where are all the JCL glory-hunters in Arsenal / Spurs / Chelsea shirts going to sit?

The next logical step, following any period of sustained success, will be to price existing STH out of their seats. Practically guaranteed. Can almost hear the robotic Barberesque reasoning now: 'Due to the unprecedented numbers of customers on the waiting list, the club can no longer afford to subsidise those in the cheap seats. So we will be raising prices by 100%. We believe this to be fair on everyone, and in particular on those JCVLs willing to pay £22 just to go on a waiting list to watch a spot of Premier League football. Please drop your ST in the recycling bin on your way out'. Or words to that effect.

 

[Nixonator]

The next logical step, following any period of sustained success, will be to price existing STH out of their seats. Practically guaranteed. Can almost hear the robotic Barberesque reasoning now: 'Due to the unprecedented numbers of customers on the waiting list, the club can no longer afford to subsidise those in the cheap seats. So we will be raising prices by 100%. We believe this to be fair on everyone, and in particular on those JCVLs willing to pay £22 just to go on a waiting list to watch a spot of Premier League football. Please drop your ST in the recycling bin on your way out'. Or words to that effect.

If there was that significant demand then we would open up the can of worms that is the stadium expansion debate and what quantifiable demand would justify structure change.

The cheapest way to increase capacity would undoubtedly be to introduce safe standing in the north at a 1.5/2 ratio, but they would need plenty of empty seats spare in the ground for people to potentially move out to.

Either way, we're very far from that right now but I do take your point about there being myriads of high-spenders joining the ranks for potential top tier football for which PB will want to capitalise.

 

[rippleman]

And not to forget that back in 2011 Palarse trolls on here told us it was new stadium syndrome that would wear off after a couple of years.

And what would the scum know about "new stadium syndrome"? Their decrepit shed is barely standing.

 

[rippleman]

The next logical step, following any period of sustained success, will be to price existing STH out of their seats. Practically guaranteed. Can almost hear the robotic Barberesque reasoning now: 'Due to the unprecedented numbers of customers on the waiting list, the club can no longer afford to subsidise those in the cheap seats. So we will be raising prices by 100%. We believe this to be fair on everyone, and in particular on those JCVLs willing to pay £22 just to go on a waiting list to watch a spot of Premier League football. Please drop your ST in the recycling bin on your way out'. Or words to that effect.

Absolutely.