European away games ticketing policy

[jrb]

Let me be honest.

Can I be arsed going to Swansea or Sunderland on a wednesday night when loads of ticket's are left? No I can't. Doe's that make me less of a City fan than those self proclaimed super City fans who go, no it doesn't.

Instead of going to Swansea away 2 weeks ago, I saved that money and it was used to go to Celtic. The same will apply to Barcelona and BMGB. I will sacrifice PL away matches to go to those 2 away CL matches.
How many of those City fans who went to Swansea are going to those 3 CL away matches? Who's the self proclaimed super City fan now?

City fans like me can't afford every away match. We also can't take the time off work. Or we don't want to use our holidays to take a day off to travel to or from Swansea. I'd rather be on a beach on holiday or go to Barcelona.(3rd time)

I stopped going to the London games due to the costs involed. £65 for a match ticket. £30 on the coach. £25 food and beer. £120! 2 games in London in a month. £240!!! A 1/3 of the cost of my season ticket. Not a f***ing chance. Now match tickets are at £30, London matches are possible.

The fact that I didn't go to Swansea also gave another City fan on less loyalty points the chance to go. I hope that City fan enjoyed the match. But yes, I was at Stoke and United, and I will do all the NW, Midlands, and some of the London games now, due to the match tickets being £30. That City fan will have miss out. Sorry.

Not all City fans want to go to every away game, can get the time off work to go to them, want to use their holidays to go to them, or most importantly, can afford to go to them. We've all got different circumstances and priorities in our lives.

Going to every away game does not make some of you a better or more deserving City fan. I'm sorry, but it doesn't.

 

[cheshirecheese]

Let me be honest.

Can I be arsed going to Swansea or Sunderland on a wednesday night when loads of ticket are left? No I can't. Doe's that make me less of a City fan than those self proclaimed super City fans who go, no it doesn't.

Instead of going to Swansea away 2 weeks ago, I have saved that money and it was used to go to Celtic. The same will apply to Barcelona and BMGB. I will sacrifice PL away matches to go to those 2 away CL games.
How many of those City fans who went to Swansea are going to those 3 CL away games? Who's the self proclaimed super City fan now?

City fans like me can't afford every away match. We also can't take the time off work. Or we don't want to use our holidays to take a day off to travel to or from Swansea. I'd rather be on a beach on holiday or go to Barcelona.(3rd time)

I stopped going to the London games due to the costs involed. £65 for a match ticket. £30 on the coach. £25 food and beer. £120! 2 games in London in a month. £240!!! A 1/3 of the cost of my season ticket. Not a f***ing chance. Now match tickets are at £30, London matches are possible.

The fact that I didn't go to Swansea also gave another City fan on less loyalty points the chance to go. I hope that City fan enjoyed the match. But yes, I was at Stoke and United, and I will do all the NW, Midlands, and some of the London games now, due to the match tickets being £30. That City fan will have miss out. Sorry.

Not all City fans want to go to every away game, can get the time off work to go to them, want to use their holidays to go to them, or most importantly, can afford to go to them. We've all got different circumstances and priorities in our lives.

Going to every away game does not make some of you a better or more deserving City fan. I'm sorry, but it doesn't.

 

[NPBlue]

Alienate the regulars and there will be loads of empties at away games in the future, fact is, there have been simply loads of games that have not sold out since the system was introduced, now the tickets are cheaper and city are competitive all of a sudden the system is unfair. Last season, both games at chelsea, norwich, sunderland twice, newcastle, southampton, liverpool,psg,juve, all didnt sell out. Also it has to be remembered actually joining cup schemes on platinum makes up a huge chunk of a seasons loyalty points. The club should scrap the corporate for away games and make this 10/20% available by other means to true city fans, but i doubt that fits the agenda

Not really. I for one would happily buy tickets the regular, alienated fan couldn't be bothered with.

I don't know what the fairest system is or will be, but these days it's a closed shop when it comes to buying tickets for away games.

Last season, I bought every single away ticket I could, work permitting, which was every cup game, and the league games at Newcastle, Sunderland and Swansea.

This season, I might be able to go to West Ham and Chelsea, as they are mid week games, but City in the City might put a brake on that. 90% of the away league games I have been to over the last two seasons have been mid week games.

I'm no JCL by the way. I used to travel away regularly, and circumstances prevented me from going platinum just as it was introduced. I gave up work to look after my mother. Up to that point I had no problem buying tickets, but those few years of having a gold card and not being able to travel away have left me so far adrift there is no point now trying to keep up.

I like the fact you think buying loyalty on the cup schemes with a platinum card gives you priority, but I've done enough hard miles watching City away over the years when we were crap. Christ, the games I've been to over the years all over the country and until recently I could count the number of victories I've seen on the fingers of one hand!

I've had a seasoncard since we first moved to the new stadium in 2003, I now have nearly 8,000 points, but it isn't enough, and it never will be.

Some on here say you should go to every game you can, and you will soon get your points up. From experience over the last couple of seasons, there are so few games available to supporters like me there is no chance of that happening. Every season the criteria goes up by a couple of thousand points. Six or seven away days a season is never going to close the gap.

The current system is so flawed a change is needed.

 

[cibaman]

Going to every away game does not make some of you a better or more deserving City fan. I'm sorry, but it doesn't.

I wouldn't couch it in terms of "better fan" or "super fan". But I do think that those fans who went to Kiev, Roma, Napoli, Bucharest etc have more right to a ticket for a glamorous sell out than I do.

 

[lancs blue]

It's not just about loyalty. At the time the platinum s/t was introduced I had enough points to attend almost all away games, however I didn't opt to join the scheme. Anyone behind me on the points ladder caught me up very quickly and have now sailed off into the distance. As nobody is allowed to join the scheme if they didn't do so at the time this has created a closed shop. Any young blues wil have next to no chance of attending away games in the future and that is a shame for them and the club.

I'm not sure what you mean by the highlighted bit, any S/card holder can opt in or out of platinum at the start of each season.

 

[RACHACE]

Even if a ballot is introduced those that have say 16k points and an obvious history of attending near enough all the away matches will be safe. A ballot wouldn't be for all the away allocation so those that have shown the dedication and loyalty in the past will be fine anyway.

It's again us in the middle of the points system that'll suffer more than anybody else. I have 12540 points. I can't afford nor the time or money to do every game and I accept the fact that a derby ticket for example would be out of my reach and to be honest it doesn't bother me. I choose not to do Sunday matches as I generally have a very early start at work on a Monday so I'm the sort of supporter that goes to the likes of Stoke, Swansea, Leicester, Sunderland, Southampton etc on a Saturday. I probably do around 8 domestic away games and 3 euros a season. I attend all home games too. Now I believe that is a fair commitment personally for your average working class supporter and I believe that the majority are probably in this boat.

Now my point with regards it's the likes of me who are possibly the real losers should a ballot come in is that all the above games I've mentioned at it is are near enough guaranteed so what do I want? Do I want to stick or do I want to twist and cross my fingers in a ballot with the advantage being that I now have a chance for Utd, arsenal, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Celtic, Seville away?

Either way a system that only allows those that can afford both in time and money to do (or buy) for every away game is only going to alienate future support.

Steps need to be taken to discourage those that simply buy tickets in order to stay at the front of the queue and I hope that rather than a ballot that city really invest some resources into ensuring that this is happens. Then at least us below the top pointers have a chance as it's clearly a bigger problem than maybe we all thought based on PSG, Madrid and even Celtic this season. Celtic would have sold out on 16k had the collection process not been implemented.

Seeing as points are that precious these days I suggest that city use that to their advantage. Random checks at the turnstiles to ensure that the supporter holding the ticket is the one that purchased it. Those that are found not to have actually attended the game get fined 2000 points meaning they go down the pecking order.

So rather than having to join 2 hour queues, supporters have to carry identification (driving license, passport, student id) and be aware that getting to the stadium a bit earlier would be better as random checks are being done.

If city work with the stewards and the police then this could work in my opinion. Let's say some have bought their tickets via a high pointer source and they decide to arrive very close to kick off. They've had a few ales and are agitated because of the delay in getting in the ground. A city rep wants to check a few of the tickets and they get even more agitated. The police are their on hand to deal with any issues the city rep may get.

It'd take some responsibility from us supporters but it's better than queuing for two hours.

Also talk of JCL's??? We were all JCL's at some point but today's City is a different beast to the City of 15, 20 years ago.

 

[jrb]

I wouldn't couch it in terms of "better fan" or "super fan". But I do think that those fans who went to Kiev, Roma, Napoli, Bucharest etc have more right to a ticket for a glamorous sell out than I do.

But those fans will never miss out. The club will never alinate those fans. I would assume the club values their loyal support. Those fans will always be guaranteed a ticket.

Whatever happens, their will be winners and losers in the up and coming loyalty points and away ticket's shake up.

 

[Dubai Blue]

Going to every away game does not make some of you a better or more deserving City fan. I'm sorry, but it doesn't.

Actually, I think it does. And, in turn, you sound like a more deserving fan that lots of others (including myself). But the JCL jibes from some posters on here are well out of order. As you say, not everyone has the endless supplies of time and money needed to do every single game, so I think some of the insulting language is uncalled for.

As for fixing the loyalty points system, just do it over a rolling 5-year period and have 15-20% of fans pick up their tickets in the host city. That would solve all the issues as far as I can tell, while also rewarding regular match-going fans and giving the younger lads a chance of one day catching up.

 

[lancs blue]

Actually, I think it does. And, in turn, you sound like a more deserving fan that lots of others (including myself). But the JCL jibes from some posters on here are well out of order. As you say, not everyone has the endless supplies of time and money needed to do every single game, so I think some of the insulting language is uncalled for.

As for fixing the loyalty points system, just do it over a rolling 5-year period and have 15-20% of fans pick up their tickets in the host city. That would solve all the issues as far as I can tell, while also rewarding regular match-going fans and giving the younger lads a chance of one day catching up.

Yes that would get my vote as the fairest solution even though I would probably drop down the order a bit as I've been to fewer aways recently for financial reasons.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Nowt to do with being a super fan.
Some fans go to every game. Others, (for all sorts of reasons) pick and choose.
The argument is whether the most fanatical should be inconvenienced, just because demand occasionally exceeds supply.

However, as many have already alluded, this system wasn't introduced to bring fairness and clarity. It was introduced because the foreign police wanted accountability, with tickets matching ID etc.
Also, it's difficult for a club to "name and shame" when according to their records, the supporter didn't have a ticket in the first place. (Chelsea in Paris being the obvious example)