Great Post mate. Really resonates with me, and I suspect many other fans, at the moment. I'll probably retain my season ticket but won't be using up any holiday entitlement trekking to Sunderland midweek for a League Cup game.As a lurker, this is my first (and probably) last post. Having followed this thread and the Porto one I have been saddened to see (a) the frustration of loyal blues who feel let down by the club (b) a bit of blue on blue anger.
What I would say to those who are understandably upset and are saying they are done with the club, based on personal experience either find a way to let it go or take the leap and change your relationship with the club. Either way do not stay in an angry limbo.
In 14/15 I found myself, at renewal time, having tests to see if I was seriously ill. I asked the club for a (tiny) bit of flexibility during the renewal process and got nowhere. As a long-term season ticket holder I was raging that there didn’t seem to be even a bit of reciprocation for my loyalty. To GortonBlue62's point, why wouldn’t the club look after a fanbase who had kept them relevant in the dark times with a show of loyalty that most clubs could only dream about?
Then the light bulb came on…when we were crap the only thing special about the club was the fans. But now the club were becoming exceptional in other ways, special fans really didn’t need to be part of the equation anymore. Broadly speaking pretty much any old fan or customer would do. In despair I sacked off my SC and vowed never to give City a penny ever again, but I remained upset and angry for a while.
Fast forward a few years and frankly the quality of my life has improved as a result of my choice. My investment in the club has diminished and this has been a net positive. Despite my vow, I still support the club and get enjoyment from it, but I don’t consider myself a loyal fan. I am a customer and sometimes the club gets my custom and sometimes it doesn’t. I occasionally get nostalgic and feel sad about that changed relationship but overall I’m good with it. I don’t feel like I’m being exploited, and City doesn’t dominate my life the way it once did. I have lost touch with a few people, but I spend more quality time with my family, I do more stuff in my local community because my time is more my own again and I would argue I have a much better perspective. I look back at the fact I nearly lost my job because I flew to a big meeting the day after 93.20 still so pissed that I mispronounced my own name during the introductions, and I realise that was not the behaviour of a rational person. At a more mundane level, a few years ago Atwell’s shitshow last night would have wound me up for days but by the time I went to bed last night I just thought ‘meh’.
Point of this ramble? Huge sympathy to loyal blues who are missing out, I think it is down to the circumstances we find ourselves in and the choices the club made. It is not worth turning on each other and if this has broken people's relationship with the club either a little or a lot I hope you find a way through that. Don’t stay angry, decide positively what, if anything, you want to do about that and make your peace with that choice. (However, it is perfectly ok to perpetually despise the kind of knobhead who would choose badminton over football).
I looked at Chelseas site last night re CL feedback and they said you needed one but as you say who knows.Would think its a legal due care and attention bollox.I think they send it by e mail to you at some point. There are that many things to get your head around, wallets to put tickets in on your phone, a track and trace thing I'm still not sure if this is an extra thing, I thought as the club have all 10,000 people's records who are attending that would suffice, who knows?
Rang today and they still won't do it, have to wait until Friday and hope it turns up by 5pm.I approached them yesterday on behalf of my mate, received a reply today saying printable ticket can be made available so I have requested one for him.
People with lots of points also attended in the 70 and 80s and get not credit, it is a level playing field, and there was not demand for away tickets 15 years ago so good luck selling on.Probably, I don't know enough to have a proper opinion. I just go off seeing plenty complaining that some of those on high points are because they've bought platinum, or bought tickets but , not attended themselves. As I say don't know enough myself. It also doesn't seem to take into account those that attended a lot pre 2000, or back in the 70s 80s, but not quite so much since the points were introduced.
Just my obsevations from looking in on the arguments from outside of it.
Rang everyday this week, we will send new e-mail with new embedded link that works within 24 hours. Had the same promise each day and nothing. Also rang today and now told they will send printed ticket on Friday. Let's see if it turns up!Rang today and they still won't do it, have to wait until Friday and hope it turns up by 5pm.
Certainly a problem these days compared to just 10 years ago.People with lots of points also attended in the 70 and 80s and get not credit, it is a level playing field, and there was not demand for away tickets 15 years ago so good luck selling on.
The problems started due to the more success city had, the higher demand, and less tickets available to points. If tickets were 100% allocated on points everyone would have a fair chance.
Have I got this right. People were buying tickets to obtain points and then going to the hassle of selling them on just so that they could then go to the odd high profile game knowing they had enough points. How many people were doing this as I don't understand why people would go to the trouble of traipsing all over the country for years and then decide that they just wanted to go to a couple of away games per season. Doesn't make sense.Certainly a problem these days compared to just 10 years ago.
But if tickets were allocated on points then it's the people on higher points who would have a chance, not everyone. The problem with the points system currently is that there's a huge incentive to buy tickets to maximise your chances and maintaining your points total, even if you didn't want to go to a game.
That's one of the main reasons we wanted to stop giving points for away games, so that there wasn't that incentive to buy tickets people weren't planning to use. So if you really didn't fancy it, you were t risking losing out if you didn't buy a ticket.
You only had to go on the Ticket Exchange here or various Facebook groups to see how much of an issue it was. And the club obviously monitor this and were particularly keen to deal with it. I suspect the club also had far more data than they were prepared to divulge at the time but they told us it was a significant problem.Have I got this right. People were buying tickets to obtain points and then going to the hassle of selling them on just so that they could then go to the odd high profile game knowing they had enough points. How many people were doing this as I don't understand why people would go to the trouble of traipsing all over the country for years and then decide that they just wanted to go to a couple of away games per season. Doesn't make sense.
There would be enough available to climb the ladder if all went to points. Someone on 12k could get to 50%+ one season and it would go up each time.Certainly a problem these days compared to just 10 years ago.
But if tickets were allocated on points then it's the people on higher points who would have a chance, not everyone. The problem with the points system currently is that there's a huge incentive to buy tickets to maximise your chances and maintaining your points total, even if you didn't want to go to a game.
That's one of the main reasons we wanted to stop giving points for away games, so that there wasn't that incentive to buy tickets people weren't planning to use. So if you really didn't fancy it, you were t risking losing out if you didn't buy a ticket.