Individual Match Tickets - 2024/25

[bluenova]

Don’t think so I got a very similar queue number to last year 34000 took about 1 hour 45 min , but last year tickets were appearing and disappearing and I ended up with just one game. This year once in there was far more choice, and found tickets for 3 games ,wasn’t bothered which 3, and the 3 games that went on yesterday don’t bother me that much, just like going to games.Think less people being allowed in at one time helped. Could have bought more but will buy them as they come up.
The only issue as I said had to buy singles close together a shortage of seats together, but that can’t reaaly be solved until the extended end opened and relocations occur.

But the 34000 was just a bit of luck. I was 17000 yesterday and got nothing, and on two devices today. One was 44k, but the device i logged in on first, only got 67k. I guess if you're not bothered about the games, that helps. I'm happy to see a mix, but let's face it, seeing United or Liverpool is no longer just about the 'big name', it's more about seeing one of the few competitive games that we'll play all season.

I nearly mentioned the 'less people at a time'. I think once you were through, there was time to have a look around and get a few tickets, whereas last year it really was crazy, with everyone seemingly on at once. I suspect a lot of people yesterday got all three games, and today people who were high up got the pick of games across the season.

The advantage of the crazy last year was that with United, Arsenal and Liverpool in the mix, and it being tricky to get multiple tickets in your basket, it made a lot of others easier to get. I was pretty much on the half way line for half a dozen games, including the last of the season, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Today, the biggest team left was Newcastle, and that was way up in the gods. Last game of the season had gone, and I only just made it in for the first game.

The system this year was more 'organised' but probably led to random big winners, and big losers.

 

[blueparrot]

But the 34000 was just a bit of luck. I was 17000 yesterday and got nothing, and on two devices today. One was 44k, but the device i logged in on first, only got 67k. I guess if you're not bothered about the games, that helps. I'm happy to see a mix, but let's face it, seeing United or Liverpool is no longer just about the 'big name', it's more about seeing one of the few competitive games that we'll play all season.

I nearly mentioned the 'less people at a time'. I think once you were through, there was time to have a look around and get a few tickets, whereas last year it really was crazy, with everyone seemingly on at once. I suspect a lot of people yesterday got all three games, and today people who were high up got the pick of games across the season.

The advantage of the crazy last year was that with United, Arsenal and Liverpool in the mix, and it being tricky to get multiple tickets in your basket, it made a lot of others easier to get. I was pretty much on the half way line for half a dozen games, including the last of the season, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Today, the biggest team left was Newcastle, and that was way up in the gods. Last game of the season had gone, and I only just made it in for the first game.

The system this year was more 'organised' but probably led to random big winners, and big losers.

Fair points.

 

[shemnel]

Sorry to hear about the hassle many have been through today.

As some of you may know, City Matters worked with the Club after the Real Madrid debacle in 2023 to improve match day criteria - explicitly rewarding prior attendance. That's worked relatively well on occasion, such as Madrid last season, but we still believe that the criteria should be organised around ticket points and that for Premier League games in particular it should be tighter.

The Club's view is that they want to ensure that those who purchase a membership are not locked out from buying tickets. So the current approach helps to sell memberships. It also creates a higher demand on days like today, which is probably good from a marketing perspective. Likewise, sales in advance does provide relative financial certainty from their perspective (although I don't think we would have to worry about ticket sales if we priced match day tickets accordingly, but I digress). But my primary concern is that it creates a poor experience for supporters and does not adequately reward prior attendance.

Believe it or not, yesterday and today could have been worse. The initial plans were to use three games as the criteria for the United, Liverpool and Arsenal matches. We managed to get this changed back to five games. The Club also intended for the final home game of the season to be sold to those who purchased membership at any time, but they changed this to before the fixtures were announced.

Whilst I am evidently pleased with those changes we achieved, it's also plainly obvious that they do not go far enough. It gives more evidence to my views outlined in the second paragraph, although I think the case was already compelling in that regard.

As one slither of silver lining, the Club have agreed that any tickets returned by an away team will be capped at £30. This makes sense given that the Club will have accounted for a £30 sale in their business plan. So, there is likely to be a number of matches with (relatively) cheaper tickets on sale at short notice.

Another element to this is All Games on Sale, which I don't particularly support given the financial outlay required and the free for all it creates. That said, the Club have agreed to bring in a sales window three weeks out from each game (in part, I think, due to the Flexi Gold sales). I am still waiting for clarity on the numbers that will be available in isolation from Flexi Gold, but I will be pushing that there is robust ticket point criteria in place.

So, I assume there are enough tickets kept back for every game for every flexi gold member to have a chance to buy one, a month before the game? Would that be right? Any idea how many that would roughly be?

 

[blueparrot]

So, I assume there are enough tickets kept back for every game for every flexi gold member to have a chance to buy one, a month before the game? Would that be right? Any idea how many that would roughly be?

The flexi gold seats are guaranteed for the holder of that seat until 3 weeks before the game when they will go on sale if not taken up, along with normal S/C seats put on the exchange. How many FG ,no idea.

 

[jimharri]

I just typed City v Ipswich into google
First one……
784 tickets available.
Just think of 784 tickets x 4 major ticket agencies ***shakes head***

From £84? Fucking hell, I paid £48 after queueing for 2 hours earlier today. What's that; 75% mark up?

 

[Theblueguy]

Sorry to hear about the hassle many have been through today.

As some of you may know, City Matters worked with the Club after the Real Madrid debacle in 2023 to improve match day criteria - explicitly rewarding prior attendance. That's worked relatively well on occasion, such as Madrid last season, but we still believe that the criteria should be organised around ticket points and that for Premier League games in particular it should be tighter.

The Club's view is that they want to ensure that those who purchase a membership are not locked out from buying tickets. So the current approach helps to sell memberships. It also creates a higher demand on days like today, which is probably good from a marketing perspective. Likewise, sales in advance does provide relative financial certainty from their perspective (although I don't think we would have to worry about ticket sales if we priced match day tickets accordingly, but I digress). But my primary concern is that it creates a poor experience for supporters and does not adequately reward prior attendance.

Believe it or not, yesterday and today could have been worse. The initial plans were to use three games as the criteria for the United, Liverpool and Arsenal matches. We managed to get this changed back to five games. The Club also intended for the final home game of the season to be sold to those who purchased membership at any time, but they changed this to before the fixtures were announced.

Whilst I am evidently pleased with those changes we achieved, it's also plainly obvious that they do not go far enough. It gives more evidence to my views outlined in the second paragraph, although I think the case was already compelling in that regard.

As one slither of silver lining, the Club have agreed that any tickets returned by an away team will be capped at £30. This makes sense given that the Club will have accounted for a £30 sale in their business plan. So, there is likely to be a number of matches with (relatively) cheaper tickets on sale at short notice.

Another element to this is All Games on Sale, which I don't particularly support given the financial outlay required and the free for all it creates. That said, the Club have agreed to bring in a sales window three weeks out from each game (in part, I think, due to the Flexi Gold sales). I am still waiting for clarity on the numbers that will be available in isolation from Flexi Gold, but I will be pushing that there is robust ticket point criteria in place.

Thanks for sharing that info.
As some others have said, the site was much more stable today. I am assuming they slowed down the amount of traffic or upgraded their systems.

But the sales criteria for the ''top 3' yesterday was a joke and same again for Bournemouth today.
Was surprised to see chelsea without any restrictions.

The issue with going on a points based system is that you do lock out alot of people from the last few years, and it also plays into the touts hands as it rewards historic Purchases, not actual attendance. Points based will allow people who have been buying and selling on for many years to continue doing so. I'm supportive of the Previous Season purchase history but I think the criteria could have been a bit more restrictive and potentially have them in a couple of windows.


"The Club's view is that they want to ensure that those who purchase a membership are not locked out from buying tickets."
If they had put better sales criteria in for certain games those matchday members would have been able to get say a Fulham, Brighton, Southampton, Wovles etc and then next season when they have some history behind them they will then be in with a shout of getting some of the higher ranking teams.


I'd appreciate it if you could find out some more on these '3 week before' sales. Will they be on a set date with a Queue number lottery like today? Will they be giving people with prior purchase history from last season advanced slots before a free for all?

I'd also appreciate it if you can find out if Junior FlexiGolds will be on offer again next season.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

So, I assume there are enough tickets kept back for every game for every flexi gold member to have a chance to buy one, a month before the game? Would that be right? Any idea how many that would roughly be?

The flexi gold seats are guaranteed for the holder of that seat until 3 weeks before the game when they will go on sale if not taken up, along with normal S/C seats put on the exchange. How many FG ,no idea.

I'm sure it was reported that only 600 FG were offered and they went in a matter of minutes.

 

[BlueBing]

Didn't get the option of mobile tickets when I got to payment . I've downloaded the passes onto my wallet but how soon before the game does your ticket appear on there?

 

[ysmsa]

The flexi gold seats are guaranteed for the holder of that seat until 3 weeks before the game when they will go on sale if not taken up, along with normal S/C seats put on the exchange. How many FG ,no idea.

Correct,

FG holders have a 4 day window 2 weeks before the game date to purchase the ticket.

If not purchased it will be available for sale however way the club choose.

It will be interesting to see how it works once the season starts and games start getting shunted around, postponed etc at short notice.

 

[Alex - City Matters]

The flexi gold seats are guaranteed for the holder of that seat until 3 weeks before the game when they will go on sale if not taken up, along with normal S/C seats put on the exchange. How many FG ,no idea.

That's right. I think there's just over 1,000 Flexi Gold tickets.

Thanks for sharing that info.
As some others have said, the site was much more stable today. I am assuming they slowed down the amount of traffic or upgraded their systems.

But the sales criteria for the ''top 3' yesterday was a joke and same again for Bournemouth today.
Was surprised to see chelsea without any restrictions.

The issue with going on a points based system is that you do lock out alot of people from the last few years, and it also plays into the touts hands as it rewards historic Purchases, not actual attendance. Points based will allow people who have been buying and selling on for many years to continue doing so. I'm supportive of the Previous Season purchase history but I think the criteria could have been a bit more restrictive and potentially have them in a couple of windows.


"The Club's view is that they want to ensure that those who purchase a membership are not locked out from buying tickets."
If they had put better sales criteria in for certain games those matchday members would have been able to get say a Fulham, Brighton, Southampton, Wovles etc and then next season when they have some history behind them they will then be in with a shout of getting some of the higher ranking teams.


I'd appreciate it if you could find out some more on these '3 week before' sales. Will they be on a set date with a Queue number lottery like today? Will they be giving people with prior purchase history from last season advanced slots before a free for all?

I'd also appreciate it if you can find out if Junior FlexiGolds will be on offer again next season.

Appreciate that it isn't easy on whether we use attendance in competition or ticket points for matchday criteria. I err towards the latter given the practical alignment with how we structure other ticket sales, but also to reward those with attendance over a number of seasons. I think in practice, given that we are talking about the match day membership which buy and large do not have that many ticket points, this wouldn't restrict those who had become a member more recently had they attended a number of fixtures.

I've asked around the three weeks before but I'm still waiting for some of the finer detail. I think given the demand shown over the past few days, there should really be criteria (as there should be anyway).

The Club confirmed to me that for the foreseeable future, the only new season tickets that would be made available will be Flexi Gold - so I would assume if there are any new ones offered next season, they would try to offer Junior Flexi Gold again too. I also assume that there will be 'standard' season tickets on offer when the North Stand re-opens.