The thing is that the current system can be made fair. It just takes City to actually give a toss and set in place a system whereas the tickets are going as far down the ladder as they can.
Them doing nothing is making it harder and harder for those that have a very healthy history of going to support City all over the place. With each passing season, more and more of our more loyal support are seeing their points become less valuable, even when attending as many games as you can.
I don't believe that the system should be as ruthless as you miss a game or don't apply then you're out because it shouldn't be compulsory for supporters to have to go to every away game but those that have chosen to do so for a very long time should, without a doubt be protected.
It's far easier to want to go and watch City nowadays than it was 15 years or more ago and the supporters who've got a history of support regardless of any success should be rewarded.
Looking at a supporters purchase history however might not paint the true picture.
Police the current system and they'll go a lot further down the ladder. Prevent the hoarding of tickets using multiple seasoncards with high points that get passed on to mates, friends or even sold on at a profit and reduce the amount that go to corporates/sponsors and club staff. Have a small amount go to ballot so every City fan that wants to experience supporting at any away ground has at least a small chance with the OSC allocation being put in said ballot.
We saw with the Celtic game how much further they can go down the ladder if the system is policed.
I'm not bashing the OSC either before anyone has a pop. I just don't see why someone on 15k points who's in an OSC has more of a chance to get to away games than someone on 15k (or more) that's not.
But what is "fair"? If "fair" means everyone who wants a ticket can get one, then that's obviously not going to happen for most games. If by "fair" you mean that tickets only ever go to the highest points holders, then that's patently not fair in my view. Even if we agree that a "fair" system means that some people who wouldn't qualify on points occasionally get an away ticket then that's kind of what we have now although it could probably be improved.
All OSC applicants have to have a supporter number, so you could just as easily put those tickets in a general ballot.
But to answer the point about having a better chance of a ticket in an OSC, let's take the 60/20/15% breakdown across general admission, OSC and hospitality for 3k away tickets. There are 37k season card holders with 1,800 tickets so that's a 1 in 20 chance.
Then there are 20k OSC members, but let's say 5k of those are ST holders, meaning there's 15k with 600 tickets, which is a 1 in 25 chance, but a 1 in 30 chance if you include all OSC members.
Finally there's hospitality ST holders. We don't know how many of them there are but let's guess at 4k, who get 450 tickets, meaning a better than 1 in 10 chance.
If everyone had an equal chance, it's be slightly more than a 1 in 18 chance (if you eliminate double counting of OSC members who are also ST holders). So it's clear that by far the best chance of a ticket is if you're a hospitality season card holder and the worst chance is if you're just an OSC member.
