Loyalty Points

[spongebobblade]

I don't think it is a bad idea at all. If you worked it out on mileage from the lane and increased points as you worked outwards, that would work I think. Perhaps an increase for night games as well? I sympathise with your daughter to a degree. As I have said earlier though, what is to stop someone like me with 54k, buying a ticket for Hillsborough and giving it to my mate who has 25k points? Any system devised would always be open to loopholes like that, and I don't see how you can please everyone.

All systems are open to loopholes and she has benefitted from it herself. For the younger generation it’s about getting to the match and sod who gets the points. There is little that can be done though at the Lane for derby tickets they wanted customer numbers, names AND addresses. One person wanted a ticket under his own name only to find someone he had borrowed his customer number to previously had used it online before him! For me the system needs sorting in a way that loyal (but not prehistoric) supporters are looked after and the new get their chance and altering points for distance travelled could be the answer. If you don’t do the miles then you can’t have the complaints. Ultimately the true fan will stay and the top and the diehard young/new fan gets a chance.

 

[spongebobblade]

I think when younger children/ grandchildren come into the equation it starts to change people’s perceptions of the system. This is definitely going to increase over the years

 

[cooperblade]

I simply don't see WHY we should try and put in balances to stop an age bias.

In my opinion, it's meant to be a loyalty scheme but it's now a scheme where going less often for longer can, in some cases, outweigh going more often for a shorter period of time (as a coincidence of when you were born). Which is the most loyal?

Again, just my opinion, but I'd say someone who has done every away game for the last few seasons shouldn't miss out on a ticket for Monday because someone who's done a handful of aways over a 12 year period wants to go. The current system would allow that to happen.

Completely agree there's no perfect solution.

 

[Numpty's Dusty Ruts.]

Lost 2-1 Bash was sent off. 10.30? You had it easy!! I left with 10 mins to go the snowflakes were that big. After driving for almost 9 hours I (and many many more Blades who were stuck on the M1/parkway eventually got home after 2am. Surely that entitles is to 2.5 million points?

Hats off Spongebob! Went a weird way home (M6, M60, Woodhead), and outran the storm to an extent. We were about the last car over Woodhead before they closed it. Refused to go away on Boxing Day since!!

 

[Sean Thornton]

My son is 14 and is 10k points behind them. Let's assume both our lads continue to get season tickets. If my lad went to 10 away games more a season than your lad (at an average of 100 points per game), it would take him 10 years to catch up.

It's just really hard (impossible) for the young ones to catch up with anyone who goes regularly.

Anyway, not a unique problem to United by any means, I know Wolves fans are constantly debating their system.

P.S. A spare for Leeds would make a young lad very happy...

It’s the younger ones like your boy that really suffer. (( others do, non local Blades for example) One fairer option would be to give more points for away games apart from the big ones, but for those who've got 50k plus that means they’ve been to a hell of a lot of away games. Personally I don’t think they should lose any of those points. If there was to be a reset of the system, let’s start it at the first season in L’1. I’d guess the people at the top now would still be there and possibly a lot calling for a change would be in exactly the same place or worse. It should put any youngsters with STs and away points more recently a better chance for the big games.

 

[Sean Thornton]

In my opinion, it's meant to be a loyalty scheme but it's now a scheme where going less often for longer can, in some cases, outweigh going more often for a shorter period of time (as a coincidence of when you were born). Which is the most loyal?

Again, just my opinion, but I'd say someone who has done every away game for the last few seasons shouldn't miss out on a ticket for Monday because someone who's done a handful of aways over a 12 year period wants to go. The current system would allow that to happen.

Completely agree there's no perfect solution.

12 years of season tickets and only a few away games wouldn’t have been anywhere near a ticket for the first allocation. I don’t know what points totals were necessary for the second.

As you say, what is the answer? Is there one?

 

[itsinyerblood]

12 years of season tickets and only a few away games wouldn’t have been anywhere near a ticket for the first allocation. I don’t know what points totals were necessary for the second.

As you say, what is the answer? Is there one?

"Love is the answer" - so says the great Todd Rundgren.

 

[Sean Thornton]

"Love is the answer" - so says the great Todd Rundgren.

You’ve seen the light

 

[itsinyerblood]

You’ve seen the light

"Can we still be friends?" - nicely linked into....I sent a message, did you read it? A suggested meeting if you're free.

 

[Davalon]

The current system is probably as fair as you can get, but like others say there is no perfect solution.

I sympathise with the kids issue. My 12 year old has had a season ticket for years and gets to a few away games too. He still has had to miss one or two big away games due to not having enough points, and not being able to find someone I know who had and wasn't using them.

I feel for those who would love go but can't for various reasons, but it wouldn't be fair either for those who have gone regularly through the much leaner times to potentially miss out.

 

[dingledog]

There is no easy answer to this. The ‘my kid is 12 and can’t go’ argument or the ‘I’ve been going 55 years with season ticket’ who’s most loyal? The system is probably about as good as it could be, but there will always be people who argue they are the biggest Blade ever etc etc.

 

[Selly]

Rewarding loyalty by taking points off you?

Rewarding loyalty by giving you points for activities.

Requiring you to spend some of those points if you want to attend the most highly sought after tickets.

The theory being that the same 3000 people don't get to go to every away game IF we do go up. That to me (when you are talking about drawing a distinction between fans that are both very loyal - see cooperblade and brownie and their lads as an example) seems fairer.

In the interests of full disclosure, I have no dog in this fight - I have nowhere near enough points to get anything ahead of General sale these days.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

The system is probably about as good as it could be

I disagree – there are tweaks that could be made to improve it, and there have already been some sensible suggestions in this thread. Would there really have been mass outrage if 100 tickets of the recent derby allocation had been put into a ballot? Absolutely put in some minimal criteria for that (say a very modest 2,500 points) if that’ll reassure people that the tickets are going to actual fans.

We will never get a system that pleases everyone, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to not look at feasible ways of improving the current one.

 

[PokerBlade]

I disagree – there are tweaks that could be made to improve it, and there have already been some sensible suggestions in this thread. Would there really have been mass outrage if 100 tickets of the recent derby allocation had been put into a ballot? Absolutely put in some minimal criteria for that (say a very modest 2,500 points) if that’ll reassure people that the tickets are going to actual fans.

We will never get a system that pleases everyone, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to not look at feasible ways of improving the current one.

Well, there really isn't a "mass outrage" about this game, to be fair. There'll always be people squabbling about the fringes.

The main complaint seems to be that people that have been part of the scheme since its inception have more points, which doesn't seem to be a problem that should cause "mass outrage". It's kind of the point of the system.

 

[ghandi]

My daughter has been to ALL the distant away games this season yet cannot get to the local ones using her points. For every Swansea there’s others who go to Rotherham, Leeds and the pigs (where they can’t get tickets) and the situation never changes. How about larger rewards for the bigger distances as I’ve suggested? 300pts for Swansea, Reading, Bristol and Ipswich for example? If they put the miles in then reward them and give them the chance. The diehard still won’t suffer

This is the only thing that needs changing larger points for the least attractive away fixtures.

 

[wizadry]

The loyalty points system is flawed to a degree by Blades buying away tickets a lot of the time then either just not going to the game or selling their ticket to someone else, that’s not loyalty, it’s bollocks.

I know it would be hard or literally impossible to stop this from happening but that grinds the gears of a lot of Blades I know.

 

[dingledog]

I disagree – there are tweaks that could be made to improve it, and there have already been some sensible suggestions in this thread. Would there really have been mass outrage if 100 tickets of the recent derby allocation had been put into a ballot? Absolutely put in some minimal criteria for that (say a very modest 2,500 points) if that’ll reassure people that the tickets are going to actual fans.

We will never get a system that pleases everyone, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to not look at feasible ways of improving the current one.

So those people who have been loyal and built up the points who then wouldn't get a ticket because of this ballot wouldn't be upset? I think there are some serious flaws in your proposal.

 

[NuddysGloves]

My son is 14 and is 10k points behind them. Let's assume both our lads continue to get season tickets. If my lad went to 10 away games more a season than your lad (at an average of 100 points per game), it would take him 10 years to catch up.

It's just really hard (impossible) for the young ones to catch up with anyone who goes regularly.

Not being able to catch up with supporters who go regularly isn't the problem, it's catching up with the ones who don't go regularly which needs to be sorted out and as has been mentioned numerous times on here the simplest way to do that is offer more loyalty points for the more difficult to get to and less fancied away games. This would allow people to gain more loyalty points and probably increase our away following at the same time.

6 pages of this discussion (plus all the pages on all of the other threads about the same thing) it's clear that there is no perfect system as you can't please everybody, but maybe we should be thankful that when these big matches come around and people can't get tickets there is still a way that they can see the match? Everybody sing it with me..... SKY TV IS......well pretty damn good actually!

 

[Silent Blade]

How did he get loyalty points for today's match?