“City Matters” fan committee

I’m sorry mate it just doesn’t wash with me.
You have little or no evidence to go on with assertions that are made.

I know you’re doing your best and I don’t want to appear negative but there are far too many accusations thrown around.
How do you know they get them through the SC or through points whores (two sides of the same coin if you ask me)? And if they get them through the SC then that’s good, it means the club knows who’s getting them, the person gets the points and it encourages them to join the SC.
I have to say I was a bit surprised at the numbers, with 35% getting tickets through the OSC/hospitality, but at least I'll give credit to the club for giving us that information, which is at least a step forward. I know people in the older branches, such as London OSC, who complain they struggle to get away tickets because of the growth in numbers of branches and OSC members. How long the OSC allocation will be sustainable under those circumstances is open to question. That's for the club & OSC to sort out though and at least the OSC process, if it's done properly, gives younger people and others a chance of a ticket and the points and I'd say probably 95% of those people who want the ticket and get it, actually use it. That's fine by me.

I will ask the question about the distribution of points in the 18-25 group though as it's an interesting question. Then we'll know. But the 18-25 rep was the one who said most of his mates get their tickets off other people and, if they're not getting them from the club or OSC then there's only one other source isn't there.

Got to sign off for the moment as I'm recording a podcast in a few minutes so need to get set up.
 
Can you imagine selling it on if you've a medical/personal problem, another emergency, etc etc. Yep lets penalise them.

Awful idea.

I think your underestimating how much it goes on.

Also, If you have some sort of last minute emergency or illness then the last thing you’ll be worried about is selling your £30 ticket.

A genuine reason for passing the ticket on can be proven quite easily. The club could even be notified if they were at all interested in such things.

Therefore genuine reasons for passing a ticket on would not be penalised.
 
Encouraging more 18-25 year olds is absolutely essential. Not just for our away atmosphere, but for home too.

The next generation of die hards who are going to create an atmosphere at home games are likely to come from this age range. I’d even extend it to 16 year olds.

When I was in this age range, away tickets were available to all regular (5 years and above) season ticket holders. For big games a certain amount of away stubs were also required.

It rewarded loyalty, but it wasn’t a closed shop like it is now. A 16 year old kid wanting to go to an away game now has got absolutely no chance of a ticket, unless his dad has been taking him to aways regularly since he was a kid. That’s not fair on the youngsters who weren’t so fortunate.

I appreciate people with shit loads of points will feel like they shouldn’t be penalised, but we need to look at the bigger picture. The future of the club depends on the younger generation coming through and creating an atmosphere.

And another thing people with loads of points need to understand is, other people with less points are not necessarily less committed or less loyal. The lads I used to go to regular aways with all the way down to the 3d Division refused to pay for Platinum when it was introduced out of protest at being fleeced / having their loyalty exploited.

There are people who’ve been to less games, in a much easier climate watching better football with more points, simply because of the ridiculous Platinum system. It doesn’t make them any more “loyal”. It just makes them the beneficiaries of a misguided, warped points system.

I agree with some kind of reward system, and feel it’s right that the most comitted fans should not be tossed aside. But it’s becoming an “old boys club” and City should not fall in to that trap. As with everything in life, there should be some balance.
Agree with most of that.

My lad (late 20's) has been going since points first started (and before), and has a good total, but partly because of my work a few years back, and me not going, he's fallen behind ( I was still paying the bill then), he's now earning good money, and still buys platinum for the points, but its got to the stage where he can't get away tickets for most games now either, even though he's ahead of me these days. As we live 200 miles away we'd have to meet up these days, and that means organising life carefully, and for most of the games that do get down to my points level, its too late to organise both our working lives.

I think we need to reduce everyone's points total proportionally somehow, to give everyone a better chance to get tickets.




I also agree with the points made about Thomas Cook (or any other travel company we might use in future), they're not interested in City fans, just taking City fans money, so anything that benefits them is wrong. That said, they're never going to be able to get 3000 away fans to a destination, and City could limit how many they get anyway.
 
Agree with most of that.

My lad (late 20's) has been going since points first started (and before), and has a good total, but partly because of my work a few years back, and me not going, he's fallen behind ( I was still paying the bill then), he's now earning good money, and still buys platinum for the points, but its got to the stage where he can't get away tickets for most games now either, even though he's ahead of me these days. As we live 200 miles away we'd have to meet up these days, and that means organising life carefully, and for most of the games that do get down to my points level, its too late to organise both our working lives.

I think we need to reduce everyone's points total proportionally somehow, to give everyone a better chance to get tickets.




I also agree with the points made about Thomas Cook (or any other travel company we might use in future), they're not interested in City fans, just taking City fans money, so anything that benefits them is wrong. That said, they're never going to be able to get 3000 away fans to a destination, and City could limit how many they get anyway.
It's a pisser to please everyone, as I said earlier i'm all for helping the 18-25 year-olds out, but what about the 25-30 year olds which you're lad falls into, then the next age bracket again.

Big problem to solve.
 
People can debate the ticket points system till their blue in the face but ultimately everyone is going to side with what suits them best.
As pointed out by a few already I think they need to prioritise initially sorting out the ticket office which is shambolic at the moment before moving on to other ideas.
All these ideas being banded about In the recent survey about different types of season tickets, they struggle now sorting out one type of ticket so God only knows how they will cope with numerous different types.
On a personal note I'm on day 90 waiting for a refund on the ticket exchange which is messed up too so basically what I'm saying is they need to get the current issues ironed out and resolved first of all before moving on to try and tackle other issues otherwise it's just gonna end up in a shit storm of chaos
 
I agree with a lot of points made here. I think the club should reduce those given to corporates and use the ones saved in a ballot for younger fans. I also think the club should be lobbying for bigger allocations or even neutral sections like Fulham. I go to most away matches and you sometimes see the away end packed while other home sections are not always full.
English clubs should be required to make a bigger sections available for away fans if demand is high. In Germany you often see 6000 plus away fans but their stadia are not much bigger than England. In addition clubs like Bournemouth are taking the piss considering they get £100m in TV money each year. Their ground is too small for the Premier League. Don't agree with the Thomas Cook suggestion. As far as I am concerned they already rip off the fans with their prices. Abolishing Platinum is a good shout as long as they also reduce season ticket prices by £50.
 
How long do ticket points last? I mean, if they lasted say 3 or 5 years, then it allows younger folk to catch up quicker without penalizing longer standing too much as they won't drop.

Also perhaps introduce diff types of memberships. For example, there is no way I can afford time or money to do domestic or European always at the moment. Therefore I would be happy with domestic home season ticket.

But next year things might change and I join the full domestic ticket list.

Can use that to divvy out priorities for tickets etc.


Either that or an it's a knockout style race for tickets?

No easy wins here Is there....
 
20% out of an allocation of 3000 tickets are going to the supporters club
600 tickets that are probably going to people who are jumping over supporters who have more loyalty points than them.
How can this be right
Another 20% going to hospitality and staff
That's 1200 tickets between them and the supporters club out of 3000
It's quite clear that the loyalty points system would work and most people would get a ticket for an away matches if all the tickets were being sold through the loyalty scheme and not being creamed off
Most away matches have been getting down to 15500 points or less, put the missing 1200 tickets back into the loyalty scheme and the points sell out criteria would probably be 10000 points or less
 
I’m sorry mate it just doesn’t wash with me.
You have little or no evidence to go on with assertions that are made.

I know you’re doing your best and I don’t want to appear negative but there are far too many accusations thrown around.
How do you know they get them through the SC or through points whores (two sides of the same coin if you ask me)? And if they get them through the SC then that’s good, it means the club knows who’s getting them, the person gets the points and it encourages them to join the SC.

it’s tiresome seeing the same old unsubstantiated mantra trotted out re ID and tickets. I’d like to point out that not one of our CL games this season have required ID, and not one has sold out either, sort of blows that argument right out of the water.
Southampton and Cardiff both went to very low points, where’s the clamour for tickets there?

I believe I'm the young 18-25 PB was referring to in his prior post, correct if I'm wrong @Prestwich_Blue!

But he is correct about young fans going through points whores or via the SC. For a specific example, I won't name names, but I know a lad who is the same age as me. This lad has been going to away days for roughly the same time as me (circa 2004/05), yet I now have just under 19,000, he will be lucky to have 12,000. He wasn't as lucky as I was and didn't have a father who would take him up and down the country to accumulate points at a young age. He still goes regularly and was even at Lyon away the other week. Now Lyon went to open sale as you mentioned, but the point remains that for essentially every normal domestic game (not the other side of the country the day before NYE) he has to go via a points whore on a Facebook site or online etc. He has paid over £100 on numerous occasions.

I could name a a number of other examples.

Now, my point isn't to sound like all 18-25 can't attain a ticket or to be all miserable, rather I just want to prove that the current system does make it hard for this specific age group. PB and the other members have suggested a potential ballot. If operated well (I won't hold my breath with the ticket office) and with only a very limited number of tickets (say 100/150 in a 3,000 allocation - could even be siphoned from corporate), there is no reason this suggestion couldn't help alleviate the current predicament we find ourselves in.
 
I watched City at over 40 league grounds,mostly by the age of 25,pay at the gate,mainly coach travel as it was the main thing in my life at that time late 70s early 80s,feel sure there are far more things to do for 14-25 year olds now,it’s a completely different era to be honest.
 
I believe I'm the young 18-25 PB was referring to in his prior post, correct if I'm wrong @Prestwich_Blue!

But he is correct about young fans going through points whores or via the SC. For a specific example, I won't name names, but I know a lad who is the same age as me. This lad has been going to away days for roughly the same time as me (circa 2004/05), yet I now have just under 19,000, he will be lucky to have 12,000. He wasn't as lucky as I was and didn't have a father who would take him up and down the country to accumulate points at a young age. He still goes regularly and was even at Lyon away the other week. Now Lyon went to open sale as you mentioned, but the point remains that for essentially every normal domestic game (not the other side of the country the day before NYE) he has to go via a points whore on a Facebook site or online etc. He has paid over £100 on numerous occasions.

I could name a a number of other examples.

Now, my point isn't to sound like all 18-25 can't attain a ticket or to be all miserable, rather I just want to prove that the current system does make it hard for this specific age group. PB and the other members have suggested a potential ballot. If operated well (I won't hold my breath with the ticket office) and with only a very limited number of tickets (say 100/150 in a 3,000 allocation - could even be siphoned from corporate), there is no reason this suggestion couldn't help alleviate the current predicament we find ourselves in.
I have neither the time or the inclination to go through each point you make.
However you, as you say, are from a particular group and want what’s best for that group.
Self interest is always a strong emotion.

Aside your cheap digs at halfway across the country the day before NYE. To me pointing out that ID checks used to be used for Euro aways to aid distribution and yet no ID checks this year and none have sold out.
If you’re desperate to go to away games you would make Southampton, plenty managed it for the last day of the season.


As I said earlier why aren’t you concentrating on issues that affect all our fans and not just the select few?
Ticket office and stewarding feature regularly on this forum, yet no mention of either of those.
Just how can I get a ticket for the big games.

Sorry if that annoys some.
 
Agree with most of that.

My lad (late 20's) has been going since points first started (and before), and has a good total, but partly because of my work a few years back, and me not going, he's fallen behind ( I was still paying the bill then), he's now earning good money, and still buys platinum for the points, but its got to the stage where he can't get away tickets for most games now either, even though he's ahead of me these days. As we live 200 miles away we'd have to meet up these days, and that means organising life carefully, and for most of the games that do get down to my points level, its too late to organise both our working lives.

I think we need to reduce everyone's points total proportionally somehow, to give everyone a better chance to get tickets.




I also agree with the points made about Thomas Cook (or any other travel company we might use in future), they're not interested in City fans, just taking City fans money, so anything that benefits them is wrong. That said, they're never going to be able to get 3000 away fans to a destination, and City could limit how many they get anyway.
Like I said we're talking about maybe half of one plane, not filling a fleet of fucking 747's. Maybe 100 people getting tickets they might not have got otherwise but the other measures that are being talked about should more than compensate for that by making sure people aren't buying and passing on tickets they have no intention of using themselves. That could easily see an extra few hundred tickets come available so what's 100 where people might not have enough points? We know it's not a perfect solution but we all felt that this was the least inconvenient way for all parties involved, all of whom have valid concerns that need to be addressed.
 
Like I said we're talking about maybe half of one plane, not filling a fleet of fucking 747's. Maybe 100 people getting tickets they might not have got otherwise but the other measures that are being talked about should more than compensate for that by making sure people aren't buying and passing on tickets they have no intention of using themselves. That could easily see an extra few hundred tickets come available so what's 100 where people might not have enough points? We know it's not a perfect solution but we all felt that this was the least inconvenient way for all parties involved, all of whom have valid concerns that need to be addressed.
I'd agree.
 

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