It's a grumble!.... - South Stand ticket move & press box

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Symphatise with you Deadbat. IF they somehow find you a seat in the South Stand, maybe low down, would you accept it? I think it's a lot harder to properly assess the game from the first rows.

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We were threatened with this a few years ago, when they were thinking of extending the corporate seats outwards to cover the area behind the home dugout. I would have kicked up a fuss because that shows a clear indication by the club that they would favour corporate income over longterm "ordinary" fans. They did take some seats, but not the whole block as threatened.

This is a little different in that it isn't at the club's discretion. Ideally the issue would have been identified before season tickets were offered to all and sundry and you could've chosen an unallocated seat but, like others, I'm not sure what practically they could offer you now so you don't feel as short-changed.

I'd ask whether the TC10 offering is fully-subscribed as that would be ideal for someone in your Uncle's position and, as a gesture of goodwill, they may be open to negotiation as to the cost on a seat-only basis to allow you an equivalent view.
 
Another BLUT poster here Deadders. View and stairs already covered by others but what should put the Tin hat on it is the exit policy, which drives everyone into two exits - one of which merges into the South Stand - plus the atmos outside on Bramall lane can get a bit lively and will probably be moreso next season when you'd expect a full compliment of Away fans every week. It really, really isn't going to be an enjoyable experience for your Uncle.
 
I'd be asking for first dibs on any seats that come up in the south stand, there must be some that come up eventually. That corner stand is no way as good as sitting on the half way line on the south stand
 
Jim Chimmerney said:
It's kind of catch 22 for the club, season ticket renewals were sorted before Prem status and even when promotion was secured, the club might not have been aware that further 'requirements' would mean some losing their seats.
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As others have said, with a little more common sense and planning this could have been handled better by simply holding some South Stand seats at the stage they were on sale, rather than delivering what they think is a solution with no consultation. Had we been 7th and unexpectedly sneaking into the playoffs at the death before promotion, you could perhaps excuse the club for not looking at the published requirements in the Premier League handbook. But we were fighting for 2nd – the fact these requirements seemingly weren’t taken into account is a bit of a major fuck-up by the club. Forward-planning is a part of any business – it will be someone’s role to have flagged this ahead of the ticket sales. Even fans on this forum were aware of these back in May, and we’ve no responsibility for that sort of planning.
 
LoughboroBlade said:
As others have said, with a little more common sense and planning this could have been handled better by simply holding some South Stand seats at the stage they were on sale, rather than delivering what they think is a solution with no consultation. Had we been 7th and unexpectedly sneaking into the playoffs at the death before promotion, you could perhaps excuse the club for not looking at the published requirements in the Premier League handbook. But we were fighting for 2nd – the fact these requirements seemingly weren’t taken into account is a bit of a major fuck-up by the club. Forward-planning is a part of any business – it will be someone’s role to have flagged this ahead of the ticket sales. Even fans on this forum were aware of these back in May, and we’ve no responsibility for that sort of planning.
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this presumes though that there were enough free seats in a similar position but yeah, no foresight.
 
This is my first post ever but I feel it necessary to give my point of view as one of the displaced fans having received the letter from Mr Bettis.
I am in my mid-seventies and have supported the club as best I can since the 1950s. I am in poor health and find the climb to my lost seat at the very back of the South Stand an increasing test as it is. I have recently lost a large part of one lung from pneumonia and am told I will require dialysis before I get much older. I also unfortunately suffer from PTSD all my life and this causes anxiety which is often severe. Despite these setbacks, I have held down a professional career until I was forced into premature retirement.
I have no family and, often, my eagerly anticipated fortnightly outing to BDBL is the only social interaction I have for days on end.
I shall miss my old seat and friends but my main concerns are, firstly, that I am not sure how I will negotiate the stairs to the Westfield Upper seat I have been allocated. I already have a long walk from and to the top of Sharrow Lane where I usually park. Second concern is my wish to be given priority to return to a suitable seat in South Stand when one becomes available.
Rather than apportion blame as to how and why this problem arose I feel compromise is the best solution for both parties. I have no need of sympathy, a voucher to spend in the club shop or even an adjustment to what I have already paid.
I would, however, prefer, after all these years, to retire gracefully from supporting my team at a time and in a way which suits me and not the club or Sky, other media or anyone else.
I am quite certain there will be many others affected in equal or even worse circumstances than Deadbat and myself. What a sad ending to many happy memories!
 
I can understand it from a commercial perspective (££££££) but the club could have avoided lots of issues by staging the ticketing rather than the free-for-all it inevitably became before our league position was confirmed but promotion looking likely.

Existing season ticket holders should have taken priority over returning fans, who then should have had priority over new season tickets.

New season ticket holders should have been taking their pick of what was left once everyone else was sorted.
 
Deadbat said:
Before the thread police jump on this as a thread about tickets and thus may not be the right place to be; I wanted to put it here so it gets a wider audience as would welcome some advice.

There is probably very little I can do about this but wanted to see what others thought before I proceed.

Basically I have sat at the back of the South Stand for a good 10 years now and have great seats - I was lucky to get them from some other people who stopped going but told me - so moved from the Kop.

Today, I got a letter (which I will attach) from the club basically saying my (mine and my uncles) seats do not exist anymore. They have had to get rid of them to extend the press box at the back of the stand due to the demands of the premier league. I am guessing this will affect probably 100 or so seats, as there is a row behind me nearer the press box (very back row) and also maybe 50 seats on that one and 50 on ours.

They have said they have had to re-locate me. They have not rang me, asked to speak about what my options are. They have sent me a letter saying we have been moved to the Upper Tier in the Westfield Stand in the corner. They claim these are excellent seats and have moved all our section together to keep with the community spirit.

The letter then goes on to offer me recompsense in terms of the difference between the two prices and a voucher for £50 for the shop (what my 75 year old Uncle would want from the Shop I am not sure!). As an aside my uncle has recently been diagnosed with cancer and is battling that - so no idea in terms of additional steps he has to climb to get in the Westfield corner

To say I am angry is an understatment. In affect I have lost great seats I have had for a long time and will never have them again. I meet other people in that stand pre game and half time and I would not be able to do that anymore. Yes, I understand the situation but to me they have not even tried to have any dialogue with us - just sent a letter as if to say tough get on with it.

They have said I can discuss other seats available but have said there is basically nothing suitable in the stand we were in (in affect they have sold them all - the better seats) so we are left with vastly inferior seats in another stand - so no longer side on view which is what I like - it's not about the money really - although simply knocking off the small price difference - they said they will pay this back in due course - is not really enough compensation.

I am not going to go all silly and talk about trades description act etc but this is frankly appalling customer service. At best they should have contated us and asked us to go and discuss us with the ticket office manager or someone at the club and allowed us to look at other seats - they have simply bunged us somewhere else. They say we can discuss seats but there will be sod all left now.

I have attached the letter but wonder what other peoples thoughts would be a) if it happened to them b) what they would do about it

End of rant. Sorry know most people may think its a small thing and say at least you are still going but I wonder how others would feel if they were moved seats and stands. It has annoyed me - takes us all this time to get back to the top flight; I buy my seats/season tickets and then basically what I believe I have bought has now radically changed.
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You would have thought that with the chance of promotion (at stages of last season, as well as this) the operations side of the club would have considered the implications. If it was all a surprise then they clearly aren't that forward thinking. The club could have then held back 100 or so decent seats in the South Stand from sale, as there is no way a new season ticket holder should get privilege over existing seat holders in that stand. Granted they may not be all together, but they must know from surnames and the family & friends set up on the ticket holders accounts the likely groupings and therefore pockets of seats together that will be required.

Suspect I am in fantasy land with this thinking though. Feel for you mate. there is a lot the club get right and many areas have improved dramatically in recent years, but this is very poor.
 
If someone from the club who operates on a press/PR/community level reads this forum, I really hope they take note and approach the severely affected lifelong fans about how this can be resolved. It's no way treat fans without considering how changes affect them
 

Thatsfootie said:
This is my first post ever but I feel it necessary to give my point of view as one of the displaced fans having received the letter from Mr Bettis.
I am in my mid-seventies and have supported the club as best I can since the 1950s. I am in poor health and find the climb to my lost seat at the very back of the South Stand an increasing test as it is. I have recently lost a large part of one lung from pneumonia and am told I will require dialysis before I get much older. I also unfortunately suffer from PTSD all my life and this causes anxiety which is often severe. Despite these setbacks, I have held down a professional career until I was forced into premature retirement.
I have no family and, often, my eagerly anticipated fortnightly outing to BDBL is the only social interaction I have for days on end.
I shall miss my old seat and friends but my main concerns are, firstly, that I am not sure how I will negotiate the stairs to the Westfield Upper seat I have been allocated. I already have a long walk from and to the top of Sharrow Lane where I usually park. Second concern is my wish to be given priority to return to a suitable seat in South Stand when one becomes available.
Rather than apportion blame as to how and why this problem arose I feel compromise is the best solution for both parties. I have no need of sympathy, a voucher to spend in the club shop or even an adjustment to what I have already paid.
I would, however, prefer, after all these years, to retire gracefully from supporting my team at a time and in a way which suits me and not the club or Sky, other media or anyone else.
I am quite certain there will be many others affected in equal or even worse circumstances than Deadbat and myself. What a sad ending to many happy memories!
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Would a possible solution for you, to move to the John Street stand, the access to the stand is at street level, and there would not be as many steps to negotiate to get to your seat.

We can ill afford to lose loyal supporters like your good self, and I hope a solution can be found.
 
Marty_Mcfly said:
If someone from the club who operates on a press/PR/community level reads this forum, I really hope they take note and approach the severely affected lifelong fans about how this can be resolved. It's no way treat fans without considering how changes affect them
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But what if the issue is the affected fans don’t want to move? Then nothing will be sufficient.
Some people who have sat in a certain seats for many years don’t want change.. full stop. How would you help those people?

I’ve sat right at the back the South stand (against Leicester in the cup) and sat in the corner stand when we were in league 1.
In general terms both have excellent views and concourse facilities. Would say the corner stand is possibly slightly better and it’s newer.
The main difference is that the corner stand has a steeper rake with more steps and steeper steps.

I think the letter is probably the best policy..actively inviting open dialogue would be a fiasco.
No doubts those with special circumstances will rightly contact the club who I suspect will try to find suitable seats.
As already stated if steep steps are a problem then I’m sure John Street will be offered as an alternative.
 
Tunstall Fred said:
Would a possible solution for you, to move to the John Street stand, the access to the stand is at street level, and there would not be as many steps to negotiate to get to your seat.
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Yeah... I'd be asking in what way are the spare tickets in John Street in a "not desirable" place.
 
Linz said:
Yeah... I'd be asking in what way are the spare tickets in John Street in a "not desirable" place.
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I’d have thought bottom right hand corner (as you look at the pitch) watching the stewards talk about what they are having for their tea?
 
I guess there are two elements to this:

1. The forced change of seats

2. The way the change has been dealt with and the compensation offered.

On 1, there's little the club could have done. The extra press facilities are mandated by the Premier League. Yes, the club perhaps should have anticipated this and either told you sooner that your seats would have to change, or may be reserved a group of "good" seats for those that were to be affected. I'm going to give the club the benefit of the doubt and assume it was an oversight because let's face it, we were all pretty surprised by our rapid ascent.

On 2, it's digging themselves out time. For whatever reason, the situation has happened and the club can't reverse it. If it were me I'd be offering a major discount on hospitality seats as an alternative or a massive compensation payment and first choice on any other available seats around the stadium (though I gather there aren't many). At the very least I'd be giving £100 back, free hospitality package at one home match and a massive apology and full explanation as to why the scenario wasn't anticipated from Steve Bettis himself.

You can't get your seats back, the club can't fix that, but they can try to mend the emotional impact.
 
Time for a statement from the club!!

They'll know about this thread by now. Fan noise.

Not just about Deadbat , there are dozens more.
 
This is on Facebook. Hope it helps.

A big thank you to Carrie Simpson Head of Ticketing at SUFC. Our seats had to be moved as part of the extension and upgrade to the Media & Broadcasting facilities at Bramall Lane. I received a letter yesterday saying we'd be moving to the Westfield Corner and after a trip down to the ticket office this morning, we've managed to sort out seats not that far from where we were sat previously. The staff were excellent and very helpful. They had deliberately not sold unrenewed season ticket seats on the South Stand and held them back for this very situation. We even got a cheeky mini tour of the dugouts, tunnel, dressing room and met the kit man.

As a side note, there's a lot of work going on at the Lane, the stadium is being hard wired for VAR & TV broadcasting, the club has to upgrade virtually all the facilities, workmen everywhere and the pitch looked like my front garden.
 
Thatsfootie said:
This is my first post ever but I feel it necessary to give my point of view as one of the displaced fans having received the letter from Mr Bettis.
I am in my mid-seventies and have supported the club as best I can since the 1950s. I am in poor health and find the climb to my lost seat at the very back of the South Stand an increasing test as it is. I have recently lost a large part of one lung from pneumonia and am told I will require dialysis before I get much older. I also unfortunately suffer from PTSD all my life and this causes anxiety which is often severe. Despite these setbacks, I have held down a professional career until I was forced into premature retirement.
I have no family and, often, my eagerly anticipated fortnightly outing to BDBL is the only social interaction I have for days on end.
I shall miss my old seat and friends but my main concerns are, firstly, that I am not sure how I will negotiate the stairs to the Westfield Upper seat I have been allocated. I already have a long walk from and to the top of Sharrow Lane where I usually park. Second concern is my wish to be given priority to return to a suitable seat in South Stand when one becomes available.
Rather than apportion blame as to how and why this problem arose I feel compromise is the best solution for both parties. I have no need of sympathy, a voucher to spend in the club shop or even an adjustment to what I have already paid.
I would, however, prefer, after all these years, to retire gracefully from supporting my team at a time and in a way which suits me and not the club or Sky, other media or anyone else.
I am quite certain there will be many others affected in equal or even worse circumstances than Deadbat and myself. What a sad ending to many happy memories!
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Was your letter the same as Deadbat's, Thatsfootie, which explicitly says that seats are available elsewhere in the South Stand? Several supporters affected by the move have been in contact with the club, directly, and been moved elsewhere in the SS, without moving to the Westfield Upper. Doing likewise may be fruitful for you, before the remaining seats are snapped up.
 
Difficult one Deadbat and I do sympathise….Westfield Corner seats are not vastly inferior however, best view in the ground by a country mile. Appreciate that is little comfort but you might actually like it when you get there...
 
Linz said:
Why doesn't the letter say that then?
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Perhaps there aren't enough seats in the South to relocate everyone, so they couldn't promise to. The letter does explicitly say that there are TC Stand seats available, though
 
When I tried to get a season ticket for my son in the South stand I was told nothing at all available, he ended up on kop on his own and all his mates on ss. This was his first year without a season ticket because of going to uni. Was hoping to swap if went back on sale but looks like he will be Billy no mates
 

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