City Matters thread

[Manc Born & Bred]

Who is 'the club' in this case? Who is actually giving the instruction on a significant percentage of the small away allocation to be given to what I call 'non-regulars'?

No idea but someone is taking the away allocation and carving it up in a way that suits the suits so to speak and not the fans. Arsenal away end was a joke, this will be even worse. The club refuses to be transparent on away ticket allocation but it blindingly obvious that 'customers' are receiving tickets for away games before points holders. I suspect many at Arsenal wouldn't have been able to name to team even once they were on the pitch.

 

[Beaker]

Who at the club thinks carving the away tickets up to “customers” is a good idea? Surely any revenue generated in the grand scheme of things is minuscule in comparison to turnover. Surely having vibrant away ends that can be heard clearly on TV is better for the clubs brand, than squeezing an extra few quid out of a few people.

I file this under the category of £45 kid’s tickets and fastest finger first free-for-all’s for in demand fixtures. So short sighted, looking to make a quick buck now, but with no regard for the long term implications. Surely somebody needs to get a grip of this and sort it out.

 

[MCFC Wirral]

Was I reading the Derby was 3:30pm on a Sunday? Seems unusual?

 

[M18CTID]

No idea but someone is taking the away allocation and carving it up in a way that suits the suits so to speak and not the fans. Arsenal away end was a joke, this will be even worse. The club refuses to be transparent on away ticket allocation but it blindingly obvious that 'customers' are receiving tickets for away games before points holders. I suspect many at Arsenal wouldn't have been able to name to team even once they were on the pitch.

Yep. And as much as United fans despise their owners, at least their club is transparent about away allocations to the point that they not only give the exact split as to what has gone where, but they also state how many fans applied in the first place

 

[M18CTID]

275 left for United when I qualified for mine at 1pm

 

[Stephen230]

Yep. And as much as United fans despise their owners, at least their club is transparent about away allocations to the point that they not only give the exact split as to what has gone where, but they also state how many fans applied in the first place

Not so transparent about home tickets it seems. They were all going mental last week that they reckon the club were selling directly to Galatasaray fans in the home end for £85 a pop.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Wasn't the unofficial supporters club (can't remember the actual name, possibly independent supporters club) formed about thirty years ago as the officials had a clause in their constitution forbidding criticism of the club. This was at a time when most fans wanted the removal of PJS but the supporters club couldn't support the motion.

Don't recall a clause in the constitution but what started it off was at the height of the Swales campaign Frank Horrocks was in the MEN claiming the the OSC had 100% support for Swales.
I had a letter in the MEN published, stating that as a member I wasn't consulted and neither was the branch I was in consulted about whether or not I supported Swales.

At the next OSC committee meeting at the social club a vote of no confidence in Swales was asked to be taken and susequently refused.
Eleven branches resigned on the spot and the Independent Supporters Club was formed and backed Franny Lee.

I think the leading branches were Chadderton, Yorkshire and Reddish.
@yorkblue may be able to add to it.

I wrote about it in the fanzine Blue Print at the time, with what was my favourite headline to anything i wrote "The little (closed) shop of Horrocks"

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Didn't they eventually merge with the OSC after the Sheikh took over? Vaguely remember something along those lines, but could be mistaken. :-)

Yes. The club didn't want to have to deal with 2 different groups both pretty much wanting the same thing.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Not so transparent about home tickets it seems. They were all going mental last week that they reckon the club were selling directly to Galatasaray fans in the home end for £85 a pop.

Some of the Gala fans paid £400 to Utd for a ticket

 

[M18CTID]

Not so transparent about home tickets it seems. They were all going mental last week that they reckon the club were selling directly to Galatasaray fans in the home end for £85 a pop.

Probably because they can make more money from home tickets! In any case, how easy was it for a Galatasaray fan to get a ticket for last week's match at Old Trafford? I'm guessing that if they coughed up an initial £35 or so for a membership then that would give them some kind of chance to access tickets. It also wouldn't have helped that United have had an indifferent start to the season meaning demand would've been lower amongst home fans which in itself creates a vacuum for the Galatasary fans to take up the slack. Anyway, the point is that there's no need for City to indulge in profiteering from away tickets because what they can make is a literal drop in the ocean compared to the overall turnover. Plus they risk pissing off a significant section of our most loyal fans into the bargain.

 

[Beaker]

Probably because they can make more money from home tickets! In any case, how easy was it for a Galatasaray fan to get a ticket for last week's match at Old Trafford? I'm guessing that if they coughed up an initial £35 or so for a membership then that would give them some kind of chance to access tickets. It also wouldn't have helped that United have had an indifferent start to the season meaning demand would've been lower amongst home fans which in itself creates a vacuum for the Galatasary fans to take up the slack. Anyway, the point is that there's no need for City to indulge in profiteering from away tickets because what they can make is a literal drop in the ocean compared to the overall turnover. Plus they risk pissing off a significant section of our most loyal fans into the bargain.

That section of loyal fans will be the people they will wish they hadn’t pissed off when the time comes that results aren’t quite what they’ve been recently.

For such a forward thinking organisation in so many areas, the short sightedness of ticketing and supporter relations is just baffling.

 

[Manc Born & Bred]

His explanations and other replies make for interesting reading, I wonder if the club really care

 

[M18CTID]

His explanations and other replies make for interesting reading, I wonder if the club really care

We know there are issues with ticket allocations for United away but they're still on sale and projected to sell out at a slightly lower bracket than I expected. Unless I'm mistaken, I was closer - in terms of points brackets - to not getting one last season than this time round. Like I say, I could be wrong on that but there are 4 more points brackets after mine this season when I'm sure last season it was more like 2 or 3.

Can anyone recall how many points it sold out at last season? @Corky - you're normally the go to person for this kind of question

 

[wolfie1988]

We know there are issues with ticket allocations for United away but they're still on sale and projected to sell out at a slightly lower bracket than I expected. Unless I'm mistaken, I was closer - in terms of points brackets - to not getting one last season than this time round. Like I say, I could be wrong on that but there are 4 more points brackets after mine this season when I'm sure last season it was more like 2 or 3.

Can anyone recall how many points it sold out at last season? @Corky - you're normally the go to person for this kind of question

We had 150 less tickets last year and it sold out in my window which I assume would have been 23,000 or 22,500. I've just got mine for this season now and there are 150 left at 16:12.

 

[James2401125]

quite clear city are reselling them on towards 3rd party sites etc.
Nothing can be done about it sadly and it'll only get worse, old trafford is a shithole anyway.

 

[M18CTID]

We had 150 less tickets last year and it sold out in my window which I assume would have been 23,000 or 22,500. I've just got mine for this season now and there are 150 left at 16:12.

Thanks. Just done some more digging. We got 2947 tickets last year as opposed to 3008 this year so only 61 more this year. Here's the criteria from last year:

26,000	Wednesday 14th December	9am
25,000	Wednesday 14th December	12pm
24,000	Wednesday 14th December	3pm
23,000	Thursday 15th December	9am
22,000	Thursday 15th December	12pm

I was in the 23,000 points bracket and I think it made it to 22,000. There's a chance it makes it to 22,000 this time round so although we've all been losing ground in recent seasons, when you add in the extra points we all got in the summer for renewing our seasoncards, etc, it could be argued that we haven't lost any ground this time round. I've got over 24500 points now and there are 4 brackets below me (not guaranteed that it gets to all 4 of course), yet last season there was only 1 bracket below me. Of course, the 500 point drops this time as opposed to 1000 point drops last time out help in that sense but,even so,I was surprised how many were left when I got mine this morning.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

We know there are issues with ticket allocations for United away but they're still on sale and projected to sell out at a slightly lower bracket than I expected. Unless I'm mistaken, I was closer - in terms of points brackets - to not getting one last season than this time round. Like I say, I could be wrong on that but there are 4 more points brackets after mine this season when I'm sure last season it was more like 2 or 3.

It looks like this guy wasn’t quick enough with sorting the pull through ticket for his lad. I assume the pull through allocation had gone. Maybe he’s trying to use social media to put pressure on City to find another ticket. I’ve no idea.

I’m not sure it’s fair for very high points holders to get 2 tickets each but that’s the system so I’ve no complaints.

 

[bluesmith]

His explanations and other replies make for interesting reading, I wonder if the club really care

His 3rd ticket i assume is through the junior pull through I'm fairly certain they have reduced this pot this season to 5% - it's never been clear what this is in previous years.

 

[bluekeith]

It looks like this guy wasn’t quick enough with sorting the pull through ticket for his lad. I assume the pull through allocation had gone. Maybe he’s trying to use social media to put pressure on City to find another ticket. I’ve no idea.

I’m not sure it’s fair for very high points holders to get 2 tickets each but that’s the system so I’ve no complaints.

I think the point he is making is that he was always in the 1st window (and could get a pull through) and this year he is in the 2nd window and he can't work out why he is now in a different window when nothing has changed.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I think the point he is making is that he was always in the 1st window (and could get a pull through) and this year he is in the 2nd window and he can't work out why he is now in a different window when nothing has changed.

Thanks for the info.