“City Matters” fan committee

[Prestwich_Blue]

Thanks for being honest and marries perfectly with my experience of an OSC in the 90's/00's for aways that will remain unnamed.

Been thinking about this quite a bit as I've been getting loads of CM emails about ticket allocations although these are my thoughts as an individual rather than as a City Matters rep.

Why did SC's get ticket allocations in the first place? Because in the old days, when you had to go down to Maine Road to buy a physical ticket (or write in with an SAE) it made a lot of sense. Instead of 50 people all having to traipse down to the Ticket Office, they could send 50 tickets to the branch and get one cheque. And it also helped them shift tickets when crowds were more variable, there were less restriction on numbers and demand was probably lower. Also there were far fewer branches than there are now. It suited the club and it suited the branches.

Why did we have the loyalty/ticket points system? It was used to help stimulate demand rather than ration tickets. I never had a problem getting tickets for the majority of away games prior to 2011 or 2012 even though I wasn't right at the top of the points ladder. You bought tickets because you wanted to go to games, not to stay in touch with points totals for the people around you. On top of that, Platinum was a useful source of revenue, probably about 5% of our matchday revenue.

But now both systems are no longer really fit for purpose, certainly not now we're a highly successful, high-profile team where demand for tickets often exceeds supply. We have vastly more SC's with (I think) about 16k members. We need to ration ticket demand not stimulate it.

Hospitality seasoncard holders were few and far between. If someone had an executive box and asked for 6 tickets they probably got them and no one batted an eyelid because apart from the Derby, no one noticed. Now people are paying £15k for a Tunnel Club season ticket or £20k for a box, not to mention Chairman's Club, Legends etc. Any organisation will look after its high-paying customers, be that airlines, casinos or whoever. There's a whole new set of considerations and the old systems need ot be looked at, re-evaluated and revised if necessary.

 

[squirtyflower]

And there we have it in plain black and white.
Two of the reps from the City Matters forum want to ‘look at ticket allocation”, whilst other posters have been saying there are more pressing matters that affect everyone.
So why was away ticket allocation picked as the hot topic?

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

And there we have it in plain black and white.
Two of the reps from the City Matters forum want to ‘look at ticket allocation”

I did say "these are my thoughts as an individual rather than as a City Matters rep". And Alex is not a City Matters rep by the way. He's a student who probably goes to as many games as you do and has done since he was little. So you've probably bumped into him at many away grounds.

What we will be asking the club at the next meeting is what they intend to do for the refugees from the Tunnel Club, which is one of the things that's important to you and others (and which I need to speak to you about).
We want to talk about a new idea for seat relocations for season ticket holders as the current system is crap.
We are talking about catering as that's a huge area of complaint for many fans and there's loads of things we want the club to do that would help improve things.
We want to talk about why we only got 32k for Burton and how we fill the ground.
We want to talk about more flexible ticketing options so that fans and the club can manage things better.
We want to talk about the ticketing system, where there are still issues (though some have been fixed) and the overall issue of the deterioration in customer service.
We've told the club we want to cover all other aspects of the matchday experience, including transport & security/stewarding, another of your (and others) complaints.
We want to talk about TV games, how City can help fans impacted by games changed for TV and whether the PL clubs as a whole can demand more consideration from the TV companies for travellling fans.
The club's attitude to disabled fans is very poor and we want to get that sorted out.

Personally I agree with you that it's not the most important thing on the list but the club wants to talk about ticket allocation and the points system so we'll talk about that. And to answer your earlier point, we've certainly had no indication from the club that they want to drop the points system but they would like to look at it and see if we make it more relevant to where we are now, rather than where we were in 2005.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

And there we have it in plain black and white.
Two of the reps from the City Matters forum want to ‘look at ticket allocation”, whilst other posters have been saying there are more pressing matters that affect everyone.
So why was away ticket allocation picked as the hot topic?


@Alex-MCFC are you also a member of the Supporters Club?

I kind of agree. If this was about reconnecting the Club with the fans then a few away tickets here or there is a bit like shuffling deck chairs. If City are being fair to the City Matters Grouo then there should be an early big win. A freezing of season card prices for next season would fit the bill. This would give a good platform from which to address other issues that City Mattera identified.

I realise the City Mattera Group can’t dictate this and it would need goodwill from the Club.

 

[squirtyflower]

I did say "these are my thoughts as an individual rather than as a City Matters rep". And Alex is not a City Matters rep by the way. He's a student who probably goes to as many games as you do and has done since he was little. So you've probably bumped into him at many away grounds.

What we will be asking the club at the next meeting is what they intend to do for the refugees from the Tunnel Club, which is one of the things that's important to you and others (and which I need to speak to you about).
We want to talk about a new idea for seat relocations for season ticket holders as the current system is crap.
We are talking about catering as that's a huge area of complaint for many fans and there's loads of things we want the club to do that would help improve things.
We want to talk about why we only got 32k for Burton and how we fill the ground.
We want to talk about more flexible ticketing options so that fans and the club can manage things better.
We want to talk about the ticketing system, where there are still issues (though some have been fixed) and the overall issue of the deterioration in customer service.
We've told the club we want to cover all other aspects of the matchday experience, including transport & security/stewarding, another of your (and others) complaints.
We want to talk about TV games, how City can help fans impacted by games changed for TV and whether the PL clubs as a whole can demand more consideration from the TV companies for travellling fans.

Personally I agree with you that it's not the most important thing on the list but the club wants to talk about ticket allocation and the points system so we'll talk about that. And to answer your earlier point, we've certainly had no indication from the club that they want to drop the points system but they would like to look at it and see if we make it more relevant to where we are now, rather than where we were in 2005.

Thank you for the response.
A decent list of things to bring up which affect us all.
I posted earlier in the thread that my fear is that the club is the one driving the agenda on tickets for away games and I’m far too cynical to trust a ticket office that can’t sort out the simplest job of just selling tickets for home games, getting tickets out on time, giving fans info in good time, cancel cards willy nilly, remove people from cup schemes when they shouldn’t, lose tickets in the post, couldn’t organise ticket collection properly etc etc.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Been thinking about this quite a bit as I've been getting loads of CM emails about ticket allocations although these are my thoughts as an individual rather than as a City Matters rep.

Why did SC's get ticket allocations in the first place? Because in the old days, when you had to go down to Maine Road to buy a physical ticket (or write in with an SAE) it made a lot of sense. Instead of 50 people all having to traipse down to the Ticket Office, they could send 50 tickets to the branch and get one cheque. And it also helped them shift tickets when crowds were more variable, there were less restriction on numbers and demand was probably lower. Also there were far fewer branches than there are now. It suited the club and it suited the branches.

Why did we have the loyalty/ticket points system? It was used to help stimulate demand rather than ration tickets. I never had a problem getting tickets for the majority of away games prior to 2011 or 2012 even though I wasn't right at the top of the points ladder. You bought tickets because you wanted to go to games, not to stay in touch with points totals for the people around you. On top of that, Platinum was a useful source of revenue, probably about 5% of our matchday revenue.

But now both systems are no longer really fit for purpose, certainly not now we're a highly successful, high-profile team where demand for tickets often exceeds supply. We have vastly more SC's with (I think) about 16k members. We need to ration ticket demand not stimulate it.

Hospitality seasoncard holders were few and far between. If someone had an executive box and asked for 6 tickets they probably got them and no one batted an eyelid because apart from the Derby, no one noticed. Now people are paying £15k for a Tunnel Club season ticket or £20k for a box, not to mention Chairman's Club, Legends etc. Any organisation will look after its high-paying customers, be that airlines, casinos or whoever. There's a whole new set of considerations and the old systems need ot be looked at, re-evaluated and revised if necessary.

Thanks for all your hard work on City Matters Colin. I’ve sort of lost interest in away ticket allocations stuff but for info, I think there are about 20k of SC members and 250 Branches.

You mentioned your thoughts and I agree with some of what you say. I disagree with the economics though. I reckon the many thousands of Supporters Club members are putting more into the Club financially and reputationally than the aggregate of the Corporate season card holders. I am talking about the sum of season and match day ticket sales and helping to ensure our end at midweek games like Newcastle in January are sold out. (Obviously, this doesn’t compare on an individual monetary basis with Tunnel Club members but they do little when the Club faces an annual media onslaught for slow Wembley ticket sales).

Thanks for all the other issues you are looking at as well.

 

[Chappie]

My post was relevant to the topic. Yours is relevant to your agenda. I’m probably bias too but from an SC influence. At least I can admit that.

Btw this is the City Matters Thread and away tickets are a big deal to a minority of fans. I understand why. I think the bigger issue is why we didn’t get more than 32k for Burton this week. I assume you were at the game mate.

You assume rightly and for your info, l don't have or need any agenda regarding loyalty points.
But I do believe in fairness and I see the organisation that you appear to represent and corporate hospitality eroding the ticket allocation of the supporters who rely on the loyalty scheme as their way of getting to away games.

 

[stadiumcat]

The big question is why are we still allowing a Supporters club allocation? Just add their percentage to the points allocation.
There is no argument for 'we want tickets together' Friends and family' on the ticket site covers that.
Oh the other argument, 'we will not be able to sort transport' what a load of rubbish, how many tickets do you get in your allocation? 5, 10, 20, 30, or 40 You don't all need to go on one 'BIG' coach.
we should ALL Use the points system, with the club introducing a ticket verification of points holder at point of use.
The current SC allocation is being used to get around the points system, and there is no excuse for it.

 

[Andyleg]

You assume rightly and for your info, l don't have or need any agenda regarding loyalty points.
But I do believe in fairness and I see the organisation that you appear to represent and corporate hospitality eroding the ticket allocation of the supporters who rely on the loyalty scheme as their way of getting to away games.

I think this just about gets to the point I have been trying to make, both on here and across social media. Fairness!!!

I cannot understand why anybody would think the 'fairest' system the club can come up with is to allocate just 55% (52% for Euro aways once TC get their cut) of away tickets to those supporters who have a long term proven record of purchase with the club.

I agree that there are lots of pressing issues at the club and I am sure the CM reps will make a good stand on behalf of the people they are representing.

That said on this issue though, I do get the impression that the club is using the reps to drive their agenda. From the late release of minutes right through to decisions being made without any real consultation with the supporters who will be affected. Ultimately the club will say it consulted with the reps the supporters chose.

Within the whole process there is an assumption being made that the problems with the passing on of tickets sits in the current 60%. An element will be passed on that way certainly. However more tickets end up in the hands of non qualifying supporters via SC's and corporate than from any other source. Those are the areas that should be being targeted (if you need to target anywhere) to provide young people with an allocation as that is where most are getting them from.

Lots of businesses these days are rightly criticised for their failures to reward their most loyal customers in order to chase additional revenues. Manchester City are just as guilty and we are enabling that if we don't strive for openness and fairness in all areas of the clubs operations. Sadly self interest still dominates and as long as that remains the case the club can drive the agenda on any matter it chooses.

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

I did say "these are my thoughts as an individual rather than as a City Matters rep". And Alex is not a City Matters rep by the way. He's a student who probably goes to as many games as you do and has done since he was little. So you've probably bumped into him at many away grounds.

What we will be asking the club at the next meeting is what they intend to do for the refugees from the Tunnel Club, which is one of the things that's important to you and others (and which I need to speak to you about).
We want to talk about a new idea for seat relocations for season ticket holders as the current system is crap.
We are talking about catering as that's a huge area of complaint for many fans and there's loads of things we want the club to do that would help improve things.
We want to talk about why we only got 32k for Burton and how we fill the ground.
We want to talk about more flexible ticketing options so that fans and the club can manage things better.
We want to talk about the ticketing system, where there are still issues (though some have been fixed) and the overall issue of the deterioration in customer service.
We've told the club we want to cover all other aspects of the matchday experience, including transport & security/stewarding, another of your (and others) complaints.
We want to talk about TV games, how City can help fans impacted by games changed for TV and whether the PL clubs as a whole can demand more consideration from the TV companies for travellling fans.
The club's attitude to disabled fans is very poor and we want to get that sorted out.

Personally I agree with you that it's not the most important thing on the list but the club wants to talk about ticket allocation and the points system so we'll talk about that. And to answer your earlier point, we've certainly had no indication from the club that they want to drop the points system but they would like to look at it and see if we make it more relevant to where we are now, rather than where we were in 2005.

Before you go too mad how about getting them to put ticket prices that are visable on a mobile phone ?
As at present you carnt see them
Small acorns and all that