liamctid
Well-Known Member
Perhaps is too soon in the season to identify trends because of kick off times, travel etc but there are signs that people are getting off the ladder at some point and it is good that people on the lower rungs are getting to matches albeit the' crumbs' perhaps. A wider distribution amongst season ticket holders can only be a good thing.
Too many tickets are 'getting away' to the agencies whether from the club, including players, the corporate allocation sold on or even the high points holders. Those who have acquired 8 or 9 season cards all with mega points certainly do not do it to 'pass on' to use the euphemism, at face value. The club is aware of these people who use false names and addresses to get the extra cards. Kevin Savage of the OSC explained some of the tickets measures on a video with Ian Cheeseman I think but some people got the wrong end of the stick and went off on tangent.
I do think that it is only fair that the OSC get a decent allocation of tickets. They having been going a long long time and have been involved in ticket distribution since the 70s or longer. Wee before loyalty points and Platinum came to be. There are problem with the way the OSC allocate their allocation. The club is pushing its overseas support and there are now as many overseas branches than UK based. There are some people who enrol in branches overseas purely form tickets but the club and OSC are aware that people do not come from Timbuktu every week and act accordingly. But there are also people in Cape Town etc who have lived away for Manchester for 10 years, kept up with City through their branch and come home to visit their folks and would love to see City whilst in UK. I do not have a hard enough heart to refuse that sort of fan. But what does concern me is when posters on here say their branch gets just two tickets whereas that 'certain suburb in Greater Manchester branch' gets enough to run coaches and other branches get pretty big allocations too. There was talk of asking how the OSC allocate away tickets being raised on the recent AGM but it seems it never happened.
But back to 'points holders' the fact remains that more than half the tickets are distributed to them with priority to the same old, same old and will continue to do so unless the club changes things - which they will. Various methods have been put forward by the club and discussed with CM reps and other parties and some will be implemented in due course.
Paragraph 1 - there is absolutely nothing you can tell from the games we have had so far this season, apart from the 18-25 ballot is not in fact a ballot it's a first come first served system. As previously said, we had 8 league games go to general sale last season, this image of thousands not being allowed in is dreamt up.
Paragraph 2 - "Kevin Savage" - that will cause a few laughs on here, that's for sure. Do you have any proof that people have acquired 8 or 9 season cards all with mega points to not pass on at face value? I've monitored every single page of this thread and your claim that "the club is aware of these people who use false names and addresses to get extra cards" is the first time I have read this - could you provide the details or the article where this has been written?
Kevin Parker bleated on like a politician that the OSC should forever get preferential treatment because they bought the ticket office 20 odd years ago or something, Cheeseman did challenge him a bit but not anywhere near as much as he should.
Paragraph 4 - What you've written there actually feels like a complete kick in the bollocks to me. I am 31 years old and I have dedicated my adult life to following City home and away, over 13 years I have got myself into a position where I can get a ticket for any game. It doesn't wash with me to say "you've had your turn, now it's someone elses go" - that's fucking shit. What are City going to do then to stop it being the same old same old? Put a limit on the amount of games a season you can go to? As said, 7 or 8 games last season went to general sale, there's plenty of opportunities for people to go to away games and until this season there was an opportunity for them to get themselves up the ladder of ticket points.