Third party ticket sites and City (dodgy site ticket claims - p32)

After discussing this issue on another thread a few weeks ago I did some research and I sourced a ticket site selling tickets for our game at Spurs in the away section for £572.00 each. This is not good from MCFC.
 
It's utterly deplorable that City refuse to share the away allocation. But I think we really need to all understand that the day's when this club gave a fuck about oridinary fans have long gone. They don't give a flying fuck. Wether that's tourists/away fans buying seats at the Etihad or the massive growth of tourists at away games (esp in London). Time to wake up.
 
This discussion was clogging up the North Stand Expansion thread so I thought it was worth moving to a separate thread.

There is the possible suggestion that the club are selling both home and away tickets at inflated prices to third party ticket sites and then these third party sites sell them on for an even greater sum.

If you attended the Real Madrid game recently, then you'd know that something didn't feel right about the makeup of the crowd, especially since the club introduced a more stringent criteria for official site purchases. Despite this, and in the run up to the game, at least one third party site had tickets for this fixture listed as soon as they officially went on sale.

As well as tickets appearing on these third party sites on the day they go on sale to points holders, there is an account about a ticket being listed on the ticket exchange and it never appearing on the planner. When the person who sat in the seat was asked where the ticket was purchased from they claimed they had bought it from a third party site. In another example, a seat which was listed on a third party site at an inflated sum appeared back on the official planner on the morning of a fixture for the official asking price having failed to sell previously.

At away games we're also seeing large volumes of individuals who clearly don't have the points to attend the fixtures. This number seems to be increasing year on year and there are now large amount of away tickets appearing on these third party sites for £200+. My understanding is that City Matters have approached the club for a breakdown of the away ticket allocation and where away tickets are being allocated, however, the club have refused to provide this information.

The concern is that the club are looking to increase ticket revenue and have relationships in place with at least one third party ticket outlet where the club can sell tickets to them for x2+ of what someone would pay on the official ticket site. This was done in plain site with Viagogo back in the day where they’d have tickets on sale for games the moment they became available to purchase and at highly inflated prices. Unfortunately, this seems to be the beginning of it all.

True City fans should not be priced out by tourists so that others can make an extra buck. Not only does it impact atmosphere, but it also leads to empty seats in 'sold out' fixtures. I believe full transparency is now required for City ticket distribution for both home and away fixtures.
At the recent Arsenal home game there was loads of empty seats around us in 324 . It isn't normally like this and is the first time it's happened this season. I couldn't understand why this was but the third party ticket selling of tickets has probably overpriced its tickets for this game and therefore couldn't sell them on even though it was one of the biggest games of the season. Greedy bastards.
 
While I share the same pov on all of your points, the club clearly don't give a fuck who attends these days, and the disconnect is getting worse by the game. I've said it before, but we don't have the numbers for this to be sustainable, and when the time comes when we're not quite as exciting to watch as we are now (and it 100% will) and the demand from day-trippers drops off, the absolute clowns at City making these short term decisions are going to look fucking pathetic.
I look forward to the post-stadium expansion, post-Pep begging letters offering discounted tickets and free pies, throwing crumbs to the legacy fans.

And I look forward to telling them to shove it up their arse.
 
It's utterly deplorable that City refuse to share the away allocation. But I think we really need to all understand that the day's when this club gave a fuck about oridinary fans have long gone. They don't give a flying fuck. Wether that's tourists/away fans buying seats at the Etihad or the massive growth of tourists at away games (esp in London). Time to wake up.
They stopped giving a shit the second Garry Cook left, if we're honest.

The on-pitch success under Pep has papered over a lot of cracks when it comes to the club/fan relationship.
 
I think that’s more pesky kids with advanced computer skills than anything more sinister.
Well most scalpers use bots to secure things that are in short supply to sell on at a profit, the potential mark up on away tickets is huge, even if someone only did it for 10 tickets at a cost of £300 the agencies would sell them for ca £2500, a lot of profit margin in there.

Point is the system isn’t fit for purpose, the 18-25 allocation should be done on a ballot to give all those who qualify a fair chance.
 
Is the season ticket waiting list still a thing? I remember them making a big song and dance about it around 10 years ago but haven't really heard anything about it since.

I imagine the club would get rid of season tickets altogether if they could.
 
Is the season ticket waiting list still a thing? I remember them making a big song and dance about it around 10 years ago but haven't really heard anything about it since.

I imagine the club would get rid of season tickets altogether if they could.
I'm a matchday member and I think they give them out based on the amount of ticket points you have now however the only ones I've heard I might get the chance to buy is the new Flexi-gold ST which you can't renew after a season anyway.
 
I'm a matchday member and I think they give them out based on the amount of ticket points you have now however the only ones I've heard I might get the chance to buy is the new Flexi-gold ST which you can't renew after a season anyway.
I’m sure you will be able to renew a flexi gold after a season
 
Well most scalpers use bots to secure things that are in short supply to sell on at a profit, the potential mark up on away tickets is huge, even if someone only did it for 10 tickets at a cost of £300 the agencies would sell them for ca £2500, a lot of profit margin in there.

Point is the system isn’t fit for purpose, the 18-25 allocation should be done on a ballot to give all those who qualify a fair chance.

There’s zero evidence to suggest that any of the 18-25 allocation is ending up on resale sites. And plenty of evidence to suggest they’re not, by seeing them at the games.

If some kids have found a way of getting on the ticket page early and bagging the tickets, then it probably isn’t fair on those that haven’t.

But it’s a completely different topic than the one under discussion on this thread.
 
There’s zero evidence to suggest that any of the 18-25 allocation is ending up on resale sites. And plenty of evidence to suggest they’re not, by seeing them at the games.

If some kids have found a way of getting on the ticket page early and bagging the tickets, then it probably isn’t fair on those that haven’t.

But it’s a completely different topic than the one under discussion on this thread.
I agree on this, my son has been successful on a number of occasions, strangely seems to depend on which device he tries on (phone better than laptop). But I do absolutely believe the club are profiteering through agencies to bypass the £30 cap (charge 116?)
 
Its undeniable the club shift tickets to the agencies.

I spoke to someone yesterday who gets offered tickets via an agency for him and his son (who is a big blue) through the local football clubs in deepest Dorset. Luton ticket and training session at academy was offered and West Ham last game ticket plus stadium tour £200.

I personally don't have a massive issue with the clubs offering tickets to grow the next generations (but I can sympathise with others who miss out) but its not right some agency takes a cut and the cost is so prohibitive to many.
 
It's very unlikely that the club are doing it is extremely likely that fans are doing it though. One game can pay for most of the season ticket so it will make sense for a lot of people to skip the odd big game and cash in
 
Can you imagine the shit PL clubs would get if they were selling tickets for £500 from their own ticket site ? Hiding behind these agencies is how they are escape what is essentially a racket.

Football has gone exactly the same way the gig industry has.

Live Nation realised Viagogo were making huge revenue flogging secondary sale tickets for huge mark ups. They wanted those profits so introduced surge pricing for elite artists. They introduced a resale option via their Ticketmaster operation - so if you can’t go they are selling it not Viagogo.

Football is going the same way. Fuck off seasoncards and concessions - they want affluent customers paying top dollar for the PL experience.

A good journo will eventually expose all this shit for big PL clubs.
 
It's very unlikely that the club are doing it is extremely likely that fans are doing it though. One game can pay for most of the season ticket so it will make sense for a lot of people to skip the odd big game and cash in

How would you explain the examples in the opening post?
 
This discussion was clogging up the North Stand Expansion thread so I thought it was worth moving to a separate thread.

There is the possible suggestion that the club are selling both home and away tickets at inflated prices to third party ticket sites and then these third party sites sell them on for an even greater sum.

If you attended the Real Madrid game recently, then you'd know that something didn't feel right about the makeup of the crowd, especially since the club introduced a more stringent criteria for official site purchases. Despite this, and in the run up to the game, at least one third party site had tickets for this fixture listed as soon as they officially went on sale.

As well as tickets appearing on these third party sites on the day they go on sale to points holders, there is an account about a ticket being listed on the ticket exchange and it never appearing on the planner. When the person who sat in the seat was asked where the ticket was purchased from they claimed they had bought it from a third party site. In another example, a seat which was listed on a third party site at an inflated sum appeared back on the official planner on the morning of a fixture for the official asking price having failed to sell previously.

At away games we're also seeing large volumes of individuals who clearly don't have the points to attend the fixtures. This number seems to be increasing year on year and there are now large amount of away tickets appearing on these third party sites for £200+. My understanding is that City Matters have approached the club for a breakdown of the away ticket allocation and where away tickets are being allocated, however, the club have refused to provide this information.

The concern is that the club are looking to increase ticket revenue and have relationships in place with at least one third party ticket outlet where the club can sell tickets to them for x2+ of what someone would pay on the official ticket site. This was done in plain site with Viagogo back in the day where they’d have tickets on sale for games the moment they became available to purchase and at highly inflated prices. Unfortunately, this seems to be the beginning of it all.

True City fans should not be priced out by tourists so that others can make an extra buck. Not only does it impact atmosphere, but it also leads to empty seats in 'sold out' fixtures. I believe full transparency is now required for City ticket distribution for both home and away fixtures.
Agree with your sentiments, but never going to happen.
The club is a business now, as are almost all CL clubs. The "core" support, as stated elsewhere, don't spend enough to warrant a second thought.
It's been a fantastic ride, but the price has come due.
I am interested though as to the legality of selling PL away tickets, if that's the case, to third parties. I wonder about this because of the £30 cap - is it right to take our allocation at £30 then knock them out at vastly inflated prices???
 
United fans in our end at Liverpool, United fans buying tickets in our end v Madrid at home and for the semi final against Chelsea, countless fans of other clubs in our away ends at most games all courtesy of our club. And you wonder why so many games are sold out at stupidly high points compared to other seasons? It's because more and more away tickets are being sold by the club via these sites. And if this weren't true then I expect the club to come after me and this site for libel.
 
I had 2 lads stood sat next to me at madrid away that were spanish speakers, aswell as 5 german lads in the row below. Not a chance in hell they were ST holders or even city members, yet somehow they all had tickets for the match.
 

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