Posts Tagged → Tottenham Hotspur
RANT – Bolton and Wigan Are Selling Your Away Allocation To Tourists!
You might have heard about this and thought nothing of it but I’m going to put it another way and after you’ve gone part way through this, you should stop reading, then start writing your own email or letter to United. If you’re a season ticket holder and you don’t start writing one, there is something very wrong with you.
Here is the email address for Manchester United Ticketing and Membership services.
ticketingandmembershipservices@manutd.co.uk
Most season ticket holders pay over £1000 a season for the privilege* to apply for away tickets and most of the time the chances of a ticket are very slim. Unless theres a large allocation of 5,000 or more tickets which is very rare, the chances are almost zero. I’ve already covered the reducing of allocations to our supporters but what happened last weekend against Bolton is another level of boiling blood. Bolton had reduced Manchester United’s allocation and then decided sell a selection of tickets to an Irish Travel firm to sell on as away tickets. This was also true for another unknown group of Norwegians who were also sold tickets as away tickets. This is another kind of low and it has to stop right now. We knew this went on last season at Wigan but today this has really started to get noticed after a number of us started investigating it.
These are sold as travel packages to so called Manchester United fans who have nothing to do with the club. They gave United the lowest amount of tickets 10% which was 2,771 tickets out of the 28,000 capacity and then technically upped it again by selling more away tickets to Manchester United fans. Where they came from doesn’t matter, how they were sold does. Manchester United Football Club should be the only ones given the tickets and they should be the only ones allowed to sell away tickets to Manchester United fans. All Season Tickets Holders have an agreement with the club on domestic away tickets. They are the first ones who are allowed to apply for these tickets but an Irish Travel firm as we speak is selling away end tickets in the Manchester United away section. By buying a season ticket you get certain rights and applying for away tickets is one. If other Manchester United fans regardless of where they from are allowed to buy the away end tickets now but other the fans who have paid a lot of money for the privilege of applying officially through the club will never get the chance of getting a ticket, there is something very wrong here. If tickets are being sold outside of the agreement to any Manchester United fans, this must for one break a number of safety regulations. They are Manchester United fans in the away end, in the stadium under Manchester United’s name but they have nothing officially to do with the club. The safety panel have said the number of Manchester United fans in the ground must be reduced and this clearly not the case. This must also break the agreement in a number of ways between the club and the season ticket holders. Clearly the action of selling away tickets only to season ticket holders is not the case and it’s not correct. These agreements for away tickets must question a number of, safety regulations, FA rules and Premier League rules. If something was to happen with the Manchester United fans, Manchester United Football Club would be blamed and they wouldn’t even know who was in the ground.
It’s not only Manchester United Season Ticket Holders who will suffer but Wigan and Bolton are doing the same thing, selling away tickets away from the clubs of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham. They will do the same thing. Give allocations of 2,700 tickets or there about, then try and sell the remaining to tourists away from those clubs.
If at this point, your blood isn’t boiling you need a kick in the face. Write your email at this point and if you aren’t happy with the response send it me on twitter at @wewantglazerout You can also send your stories to @barneyrednews who will be very interested.
*Based on a 3rd tier season ticket for 19 home games and 10 cup games at £34 a game + champions league ticket price increases.
Away Allocations And Club Failings
Half a century of blogs on football governance and ownership issues but this 50th blog will look at how the club deals with the fans. It’s not only just the two issues of ownership and governance which are important to me. It’s the whole football experience, a change of ownership could improve allocations, standing and the general football experience. Currently that’s impossible to get across.
One issue which keeps popping up is tickets and allocations. In the modern game you’d think this wouldn’t be a problem but it’s a massive problem. The standard Premier League allocation for league games for each away team is either 3,000 tickets or 10% of the capacity. It is very rare these days that United see a full allocation of tickets. The main reason that does the rounds is normally persistent standing but it seems this isn’t the case. Each stadium, club and council has it’s own way of dealing with these things and normally the fan visiting has no involvement and isn’t contacted by anyone. When an allocation is cut such as away at Tottenham or Sunderland the reasoning is kept behind closed doors. The club ‘Manchester United’, don’t investigate or publish why the allocation is as it is. When a letter is sent out from the club with the tickets the only word ever used is ‘persistent standing’ but if you ever contract Tottenham Football Club or the local council, the word ‘standing’ is unlikely to the used. The words ‘Health and Safety’ are more likely to be used and the real reason isn’t clear.
Manchester United as a club fail time and time again on behalf of the fans to deal with the issue. There is also a group called ‘the fans forum’ and what they do? I have no idea. Since the club don’t allow criticism of anything they do anymore, there isn’t really much point in the group. Allocations are still dropping, drinks and tickets prices are still going up. Those are the three things most fans are interested in. IMUSA in the past was that group, they called for lower ticket prices and worked with the club on controlling standing and allocations. There is no group like this anymore which challenges the club. It still exists externally but now it has no role within the club.
The club should be challenging standing and allocations. It’s rumoured the standing it’s self isn’t the problem. Keeping the fans informed should be number one and if there is an issue which has affected an allocation it’s best to advise the fans what the issue is. If the real issue isn’t made known it can’t be fixed and it cannot be challenged in the future.
The Olympic Stadium, what about the fans?
This may not be Manchester United related and some will say keep your nose out but its been noticed and I’ve seen the photos of the Spurs fans protesting against any move from White Heart Lane.
In a football environment what you want isn’t what Crystal Palace have got planned or what the FA did with Wembley. What you need is seats near the pitch, you don’t want a running track creating extra yards to the pitch. At Wembley you need a mobile phone to talk to the person next you as they are that far away. You also need a tv if your in the heavens to see what score it is. I’ve been to Moscow and Rome, stadiums with running tracks. Fact is no, it doesn’t work. Olympic stadiums with running tracks over the years have been redeveloped or become underused. You give Westham the track for running and by 2025 they’ll be looking for another option. Trust me now, interms of a bid and move for football the Spurs bid is the one to go for. City removed the running track in Manchester. Bayern Munich moved from the Olympiastadion as soon as they had the chance. Juve are currently converting the old Stadio delle Alpi into a proper football stadium with no running track. Give Roma and Lazio a chance, they’ll move of out their running tracked stadium. The Spurs move seems like the best option but for the fans it might not be. Spurs currently have plans in place to redevelop their current stadium, my view go ahead with that. Now Westham, interms of location they aren’t a million miles away from their home and some Westham fans won’t want to move. The perfect option that I can see is the Stadium goes as Spurs plan to do, its knocked down or made smaller, with a new stadium built next door. Westham build a new 40,000-60,000 seater football stadium, as Spurs have planned and a smaller athletics stadium is in place. The site which the stadium sits on the areas around the current stadium should in theory be large enough for both. In the short term this might seem like total madness but in the long term, more than likely UK athletics always has the possibility of losing its track. Spurs plan to knock it down anyway. It says alot about the stadium which has been put up for the games, about how they funded it and built it in the first place. The plan from the start was to reduce it down to 20-25,000 seats after the games. The two plans put forward don’t really seem to suit anyone and more than likely it will cause more hassle which ever route they choose. If they choose Westham or Spurs, this will end up in the courts and it will go on for along time. Football gets its self in a mess again. If your a director of Spurs listen to the fans, they know what is good for the club, its why they support it.