Barca away criteria

[brianisablue]

Regardless of the ethics of allocating supporters club branches tickets there will be a lot of people questioning the benefits of joining a branch (and paying for the privilege) if the club cut them out of an allocation for any game. Supporters clubs are an integral part of following the club - organising transport, meetings, social events, fund-raising, travel to games and so on. It takes a lot of unpaid time and effort and I can't believe the club would be so naive as to potentially alienate them by giving no ticket allocation at all - even just for one game. It would in my opinion compromise the relationship and dialogue the club professes it has worked so hard to develop and maintain.

 

[Bill]

to be fair supporters clubs shift tickets that we can't sell. the sunderlands and fulhams away etc.

I don't agree with them jumping the queue but its not quite as black and white.

lot of gloryhunters and jcl around our club these days.

should we lose to barca we'll never hear from them again........ till we get another big game in the sun.

 

[squirtyflower]

Regardless of the ethics of allocating supporters club branches tickets there will be a lot of people questioning the benefits of joining a branch (and paying for the privilege) if the club cut them out of an allocation for any game. Supporters clubs are an integral part of following the club - organising transport, meetings, social events, fund-raising, travel to games and so on. It takes a lot of unpaid time and effort and I can't believe the club would be so naive as to potentially alienate them by giving no ticket allocation at all - even just for one game. It would in my opinion compromise the relationship and dialogue the club professes it has worked so hard to develop and maintain.

Funnily enough I organise transport to get to away games, or I'd not get there, and neither would my mates. I hold meetings with fellow blues which could be called 'social events' usually in Lloyd's Bar or the Hare & Hounds for a couple of hours pre and post match. I've even raised money for charities. And yet not once have I been paid for it, is it normal that one should?

 

[frasermcfc]

Not really. Because of this I am considering investing in a comfy new armchair to watch from. If i do renew (I probably will) I'll ditch the Cup schemes and with the money I'll save I will cherry pick my games and pay for a ticket from a tout or go corporate.

you're not a bad judge, I'm watching the spurs game on tv tonight. there is a chance my daughter can't now do the barca away game so I'm thinking if she aint going i'll duck it too, its just an awful lot of money. yet to come, arsenal away, utd away, Wembley and imo more CL after barca. where do you draw the line?

Do you have two spare tickets?

As he stated earlier in the thread, his spares have gone to his brother in law who supports newcastle and has no loyalty points :-)

 

[Bill]

you're not a bad judge, I'm watching the spurs game on tv tonight. there is a chance my daughter can't now do the barca away game so I'm thinking if she aint going i'll duck it too, its just an awful lot of money. yet to come, arsenal away, utd away, Wembley and imo more CL after barca. where do you draw the line?

Do you have two spare tickets?

As he stated earlier in the thread, his spares have gone to his brother in law who supports newcastle and has no loyalty points :-)

he's (son in law)not coming whatever happens.
just need young un to get time off, its murder waiting whilst her rota is or isn't sorted.

 

[cleavers]

Not since Lokeren have I known so many going to a euro away.

How many do people reckon we are taking over 5, 8 even 10 thousand!?!?

I can't see how we can 10k there and back to be honest, most people will have to get there and back in 2 or 3 days due to work, a few may go for the week but not many can. Given the number of flights into NE Spain on the average day from the UK, virtually every seat on every plane from all UK airports, for 2 or 3 days, would have to have a City fan on it, and that's very unlikely.

If you do the maths on it, and assume the average number of seats per plane is 160 (and I bet that is too high), 10,000/160 is over 60 aircraft, a few may drive, and a few may go by train, but it will be in the handfuls at most, even 7k is over 40 aircraft, so even that's a huge ask.

 

[Manchester33]

Does that mean supporters clubs have got 460 tickets?
i think that there are certain oversubscibed games - Barca away, Rags away, possibly liverpool (this year at least) that supporters clubs should not get tickets. OSC members with the correct loyalty points should apply themselves. For the vast major of away games anyone can get a ticket - its one or two a year that demand is oversubscribed - Barca is one of them.

Supporters clubs usually get 10% of the full allocation. Because this is the most over subscribed game they have changed the way it works. Usually the SC's would already have the tickets and be able to allocate them to certain members on the first day of sale.

However, there are two ways to look at it. The SC's encourage more fans to go to the Midweek London games so they get rewarded at the big games as well. A lot of the supporters in clubs 'including myself' get tickets through the clubs because it means I can sit with my friends without having to wait until the day we all qualify with our LP's. And they earn a lot of money for City's charities so the club aren't going to get rid of them any time soon.

Without opening up old wounds, here's my two penneth'

I have been a member of the SC off and on since the early 70s
1. The SC does not encourage people to go to midweek games, if the branch only asks for five tickets for Spurs away it will get five, it isn't told to buy 50 because they asked for 50 for Blackburn away
2. I have over 20 people on my 'friends and family' and can buy tickets for them quite easily
The only issue is we can't always sit together unlike you say you can for the SC, that is to their advantage to my disadvantage, therefore seems yet another perk.
3. Why has the SC earning money for charity got anything to do with ticket allocation? Isn't giving good for the soul? Or do they just give in order to get ticket priority?
You do realise lots of people give to charity, in fact even work for them, without having to be a member of a SC

It seems to me that you should qualify to buy a ticket when it gets to your points, whether a member or not.

Well I could qualify for the majority of games anyway with over 8,000 points, so it's hardly as though I do it to gain an advantage. I missed two games last season which was QPR away and Dortmund away, this season I've only missed Fulham and Spurs tonight. So even if I am taking advantage at least I'm making up the numbers at the Readings away on a Tuesday night unlike some other people here who are 'so desperate' to go to Barcelona.

The point about the Charity is that it's positive for the club, they would never stop using the supporters club system because it benefits the community and they've got a pretty good deal out of it. Nothing to do with trying to grease the wheels with the club, they do it because the amount of members put the club in a positive financial position.

in my opinion they do encourage fans to travel because the majority provide coaches and transport as well as helping people make friends with other fans who want to travel (more likely to go if friends are going than on your own).

 

[squirtyflower]

Supporters clubs usually get 10% of the full allocation. Because this is the most over subscribed game they have changed the way it works. Usually the SC's would already have the tickets and be able to allocate them to certain members on the first day of sale.

However, there are two ways to look at it. The SC's encourage more fans to go to the Midweek London games so they get rewarded at the big games as well. A lot of the supporters in clubs 'including myself' get tickets through the clubs because it means I can sit with my friends without having to wait until the day we all qualify with our LP's. And they earn a lot of money for City's charities so the club aren't going to get rid of them any time soon.

Without opening up old wounds, here's my two penneth'

I have been a member of the SC off and on since the early 70s
1. The SC does not encourage people to go to midweek games, if the branch only asks for five tickets for Spurs away it will get five, it isn't told to buy 50 because they asked for 50 for Blackburn away
2. I have over 20 people on my 'friends and family' and can buy tickets for them quite easily
The only issue is we can't always sit together unlike you say you can for the SC, that is to their advantage to my disadvantage, therefore seems yet another perk.
3. Why has the SC earning money for charity got anything to do with ticket allocation? Isn't giving good for the soul? Or do they just give in order to get ticket priority?
You do realise lots of people give to charity, in fact even work for them, without having to be a member of a SC

It seems to me that you should qualify to buy a ticket when it gets to your points, whether a member or not.

Well I could qualify for the majority of games anyway with over 8,000 points, so it's hardly as though I do it to gain an advantage. I missed two games last season which was QPR away and Dortmund away, this season I've only missed Fulham and Spurs tonight. So even if I am taking advantage at least I'm making up the numbers at the Readings away on a Tuesday night unlike some other people here who are 'so desperate' to go to Barcelona.

The point about the Charity is that it's positive for the club, they would never stop using the supporters club system because it benefits the community and they've got a pretty good deal out of it. Nothing to do with trying to grease the wheels with the club, they do it because the amount of members put the club in a positive financial position.

in my opinion they do encourage fans to travel because the majority provide coaches and transport as well as helping people make friends with other fans who want to travel (more likely to go if friends are going than on your own).

It amazes me that this 'discussion' always begins in the third person, or in this case the SC but when rebuffed becomes a response in the first person.

I have no axe to grind with you Loukas as some of my friends are in the SC and will no doubt get tickets for this game and having far fewer than 8000 points, so no need to make the issue a personal one.

As someone who has followed City for over fifty years, and a large number of them as a member of a Supporters Club, in fact my mum formed one in the 70s that is still going strong now, i believe the time has come to reconsider the allocations for the branches.

 

[mancitymick]

The friends and family system is a prime example on how it can be achieved, so you will not all sit together.

 

[brianisablue]

Regardless of the ethics of allocating supporters club branches tickets there will be a lot of people questioning the benefits of joining a branch (and paying for the privilege) if the club cut them out of an allocation for any game. Supporters clubs are an integral part of following the club - organising transport, meetings, social events, fund-raising, travel to games and so on. It takes a lot of unpaid time and effort and I can't believe the club would be so naive as to potentially alienate them by giving no ticket allocation at all - even just for one game. It would in my opinion compromise the relationship and dialogue the club professes it has worked so hard to develop and maintain.

Funnily enough I organise transport to get to away games, or I'd not get there, and neither would my mates. I hold meetings with fellow blues which could be called 'social events' usually in Lloyd's Bar or the Hare & Hounds for a couple of hours pre and post match. I've even raised money for charities. And yet not once have I been paid for it, is it normal that one should?

My point wasn't to argue that people who do all of the above are more "saintly" than the rest of us - although they probably are. Nor to argue that people who give up a lot of their time for others deserve some financial reward - although they may well do. My point was that the relationship between supporters club branches and the club works both ways. And one of the ways it works for the branches is that they get ticket allocations to distribute amongst their paid up card-carrying members.