I was given 2 options when renewing. Everyone was. Gold or Platinum. One with TE, one without. £50 difference. Now, given my location and ability to make only around 60-70% of games, it was much more beneficial to go with Platinum. Whether or not its 'fair' or 'right' or not to those who chose gold is up for debate, but the club have chosen this route and that won't change for this season. Just because Gold members may think it's 'unfair' that they paid £50 less to not get the Exchange is not going to get me to make a 'moral'/'ethical' decision to pass up a potential £200-300 back in my account, for tickets I can't use, to help with travel to games.
Does that mean I was 'suckered in'? I don't think so, however I really won't be giving a shit when using that potential £300 max to help with travelling to games this year. A cost most Gold members won't have this year, with most seasoncard holders living locally.
I don't think the majority of Platinum members were 'suckered in' at all. I think they would have made a choice, a choice based on their own personal situation, between the two products given for this season and, knowing that making a 'moral decision' will do fuck all for them for this coming year, chose Platinum because it is the best option for them at this time.
Some Gold members may have chose Gold to show City they disagree with the whole thing. That's fine and well done to those members, however the onus is not on anyone else to follow suit and if those gold members were in the exact same situation as some of the Platinum members who will be relying on the Ticket Exchange to reap back some money to help pay bills or whatever, then they may have thought differently and decided that £200-300 extra for this coming year is alot more helpful to them personally than sticking 2 fingers up at Viagogo and taking the high ground.
You want my opinion as a prime example?
I do think it should be open to all season members. Its beneficial for both the season member, the blue member who couldn't get a ticket because a tourist beat him to it, and the club as there's an even better chance of a fan in every seat for every game. I even think it should be open to Blue members to sell incase something comes up at the last minute, and that blue member should be able to sell the ticket for a maximum 100% face value after any fees. I also think Match Day Priority should only be available to members with at least 250 loyalty points, but there's a con in the fact that those genuine fans who may only be able to one or two games a season may build points very slowly. 2 games a year since 2002 and the glory days of David Sommeil would only have net you 200 points to present for your obviously genuine support, but that's where the reprieve of the Exchange comes in anyway!
I do hope that the club are using Viagogo as a tester, analysing how it all works out with a limited set of fans and if it actually makes an effect in attendance amongst those qualifying seats, and then planning to build their own, or buy the system from Viagogo, that is open to a wider selection of members. After all, even charging just a fiver fee to those sellers (if they really have to!) and nothing to the buyer would be mega-beneficial to City as more empty seats filled and any, if all, fees go to them and not a third-party. And I do not for one second believe that they wouldn't be realising that already. I believe and really hope that this is just Phase 1 to a bigger, open, fairer system and I would agree that it's very risky to open it to all seasoncard members when they haven't tested it on just a portion of them.
If I still lived in Manchester, I would be walking to every match and not spending £300 a year on travel to home games and I could, and would, waive the TE to stick it to them. But right now, for this season at least, when I'm travelling 200 miles to a home match (and 10+ of them a year at that!), sticking my fingers up at them would just make life a bit harder for me financially. 'Suckered in'? Nah. And I think the majority of other genuine, Platinum City supporters are in the same boat.
