Football Tourists

[Andyleg]

Another rare reply on a ticket related thread.

I think my last contribution was around something smilar ..... probably European away allocations.

I think the problem at City (and it is a problem) is that we are still a long way off the rags, Liverpool, Arse and even Chelsea in global terms. United, and I guess the other three, are able to sell corporate packages willy nilly without the promise of 'guaranteed' away tickets. United are able to ballot their corporates for away tickets and can be reasnably transparent about how many tickets are made available to those supporters as demand for corportae packages is high and their 'glory hunters' dont need the extra incentive to spend.
As the new kid on the block City are trying to entice those very same corporate clients. We can't offer the united 'history' or 'global appeal' (and yes I know it's cliched but it's how corporate clients see it) so we have to up the game. What can we do? Throw in guaranteed away tickets ..... there's your answer.
Now I certainly don't agree with it but I get where they are coming from. It's not about a few thousand quid from a few hundred tickets ..... it's about enticing that few hundred/thousand to buy corporate deals. Essentally the club is whoring itself to corporate clients with a better deal than the one offered elsewhere.

I don't know if there is a solution but it does need resolving. We are getting shafted by the club and they dont give a fuck. It's what frustrates me when we all fight over distribution amongst supporters ..... huge points, mid points, low points ....... we sould all be singing from the same sheet. City need to respect their system ..... the one were thse with the loyalty qualify for the ticket they are entitled to ......

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

it is what it is, can't see me or any of the older guys missing out but if we do we do. its now a juggernaut and it aint for stopping.

so its alright if you older guys can still get tickets, but the younger ones it doesnt matter ?. you say its not stopping, but germany is a perfect example of what we could be, mainly young people. with the cheaper tickets this season plenty more young people could go.

lets pick a sponsor. call it de niro's pizza shop chain. mr D will ask for and get say 30 tickets. it will offer them to friends and family and clients, they never have been near a game let alone be city fans but that's irrelevant we took mr D's money in the first place so we have little or no say. on his tickets will say things like "no colours" but either way they will not be blues. they will be in our end at times but once again if sponsor is putting miillions in to the club he'll get his tickets, and rightly so.
times that by 10 sponsors and our stand will be full of "tourists".


football and in particular city has moved on.

ps. its not bollocks. its fact.

so your alright with the whole away end being tourists then ? as long as the club makes money. you dont think theres anything wrong with that, loyal city fans who can get tickets completely unable to, but tourists who aren't city fans are. you say football has moved on, but most away games its the hardcore that go and thats the same for pretty much every club, so it isn't the times now.

ps. im not saying we shouldn't have tourists, but city fans with enough points shouldnt be sidelined for them for aways games.

 

[Bill]

so its alright if you older guys can still get tickets, but the younger ones it doesnt matter ?. you say its not stopping, but germany is a perfect example of what we could be, mainly young people. with the cheaper tickets this season plenty more young people could go.




so your alright with the whole away end being tourists then ? as long as the club makes money. you dont think theres anything wrong with that, loyal city fans who can get tickets completely unable to, but tourists who aren't city fans are. you say football has moved on, but most away games its the hardcore that go and thats the same for pretty much every club, so it isn't the times now.

ps. im not saying we shouldn't have tourists, but city fans with enough points shouldnt be sidelined for them for aways games.

i'm not alright with anything. I wish the away end was rammed with proper blues. sadly that's not realistic in todays football. our game as a whole has gone. we either embrace it and go when we can or we simply don't go.

by the way Middlesboro go on sale Monday, lets see how they sell. tomorrows game will embarrassing, there are 100's of season tickets being hawked about. so its the same old same old. people only want the big games, as do our sponsors, funny that.

 

[cleavers]

That was probably more the case for Arsenal than Chelsea because I'm not sure we've got more than 3,000 Blues who can get home at 3am and be up for work the next morning.

Not all of us live within 10 miles of the Etihad, luckily I was home by 12, no thanks to TfL I might add, but there are plenty of vocal blues who live down south, and I would imagine 30% of blues at Chelsea come in that bracket, and the majority of those are also at most home games, as you would know if you used Virgin trains from London/Milton Keynes for every home game, not to mention the many that also drive.

 

[cleavers]

they go to the fans , the players and our partners. all people who contribute to the coffers in one way or another. what they do with their tickets and what they charge (if anything) is entirely up to them

Not for away games Bill, for away games City are just acting as an 'agency' to sell the tickets to away fans, on behalf of the home club, so, if the tickets are £30, then City have no right to sell them at a higher price to anyone, that is touting. Obviously they can give them away as part of some corporate package (that costs more), but the tickets should not be being shifted on at a higher price to anyone, and the club should ensure that people getting them are only blues.

What I witnessed the other night was 20-30 people, who were not blues (and some were chelsea), sat in with the ordinary £30 paying blues (and judging from who they were, it wasn't corporate), those tickets were in a group booking, so must have come through City somehow, I suspect passed on to 'a n other' ticket agency.

I defend the club on many things, but not this, its totally out of order, and it potentially puts them, you, me, and everyone else in danger of trouble kicking off.

 

[Shirley]

Whatever procedure they have at the rags seems to work as they are consistently the noisiest away fans.

That was hard work but needs to be said.

 

[Bill]

Whatever procedure they have at the rags seems to work as they are consistently the noisiest away fans.

That was hard work but needs to be said.

They place a mic there. Everything has too fit in with the myth .

 

[ballinio]

Not for away games Bill, for away games City are just acting as an 'agency' to sell the tickets to away fans, on behalf of the home club, so, if the tickets are £30, then City have no right to sell them at a higher price to anyone, that is touting. Obviously they can give them away as part of some corporate package (that costs more), but the tickets should not be being shifted on at a higher price to anyone, and the club should ensure that people getting them are only blues.

What I witnessed the other night was 20-30 people, who were not blues (and some were chelsea), sat in with the ordinary £30 paying blues (and judging from who they were, it wasn't corporate), those tickets were in a group booking, so must have come through City somehow, I suspect passed on to 'a n other' ticket agency.

I defend the club on many things, but not this, its totally out of order, and it potentially puts them, you, me, and everyone else in danger of trouble kicking off.

This is 100% correct, it's disgusting this by City.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Not all of us live within 10 miles of the Etihad, luckily I was home by 12, no thanks to TfL I might add, but there are plenty of vocal blues who live down south, and I would imagine 30% of blues at Chelsea come in that bracket, and the majority of those are also at most home games, as you would know if you used Virgin trains from London/Milton Keynes for every home game, not to mention the many that also drive.

Fair enough cleavers. I know many of the regular away day Blues from around the country and I would say at least a third live outside Manchester. The vast majority have Manc roots.!I was on the last train to Leeds on Wednesday.

Some will travel from further away than Manchester. Realistically, we've got about 1,500 away day regulars who can make a midweek game in London. The rest are very welcome as long as they support the lads.

 

[Ric]

Not for away games Bill, for away games City are just acting as an 'agency' to sell the tickets to away fans, on behalf of the home club, so, if the tickets are £30, then City have no right to sell them at a higher price to anyone, that is touting. Obviously they can give them away as part of some corporate package (that costs more), but the tickets should not be being shifted on at a higher price to anyone, and the club should ensure that people getting them are only blues.

What I witnessed the other night was 20-30 people, who were not blues (and some were chelsea), sat in with the ordinary £30 paying blues (and judging from who they were, it wasn't corporate), those tickets were in a group booking, so must have come through City somehow, I suspect passed on to 'a n other' ticket agency.

I defend the club on many things, but not this, its totally out of order, and it potentially puts them, you, me, and everyone else in danger of trouble kicking off.

I agree with this. It was my son's first ever away game, and we were pretty much the only City fans on our row. We were surrounded by 20 or so tourists, who were largely supporting Chelsea. Luckily they were ejected before it kicked off, when a few of them cheered Chelsea's first goal, but it could've turned ugly pretty quickly on another day. Think it soured his experience a bit, and it shouldn't be happening. This wasn't a few tickets falling into the hands of a tout, it was a whole section of seats.