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

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LoughboroBlade said:
What bit about Bettis’s comments here aren’t being honest?

www.google.co.uk

Sheffield United: No more season tickets available to watch Blades in Premier League as chief executive admits club have been "overwhelmed" by response

Stephen Bettis, Sheffield United’s chief executive, admits the club have been “overwhelmed” by the demand for Premier League season tickets, after unveiling United’s revamped membership scheme.
www.google.co.uk www.google.co.uk
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Clearly the reason is nothing to do with the PL, do you know any reason why they don’t issue ST figure sales to back up their press release. That figure isn’t going to change.
 

Danny04 said:
Strange, when I read your reply the first time it was only half as long and didn't include the point you seem keen for a response to!
My point is that Deadbat met the ticket office manager, to discuss his ticket. Anyone would think they wheeled in one of the girls in charge the betting kiosk at the weekend to discuss it, the way some people have responded.
The boss of the ticket office is perfectly capable and able to discuss matters of tickets. That's their job. Do you think Bettis and McCarthy were sat in the back room, doing nothing?
There are six weeks until the start of the season and a hell of a lot of work is underway to get the ground up to scratch, sign players behind the scenes etc. Please don't interpret this post as 'they had better things to be doing than consulting fans' etc, but that's what the staff in, and heads of, respective departments are there for. Can you imagine Ed Woodward dealing with something like this personally at Old Trafford? I can't.
I also sympathise with the club a little, too. The original letter could perhaps have made it more clear, but it stated in black and white that seats in the TC Stand were still available, at the time. Some good ones were held back for this very eventuality, I know that for a fact.

A simple call to the ticket office would have sealed two of them, which others obviously did while this thread was being created. Just my two'penneth Woodwardfan since you asked, fellow Blade :D 👍
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It's not that simple for some though...I know a family of 8 who simply can't get anywhere near as good seats now.

To say good seats were held back is inaccurate. Most of the seats left were right to the side or single seats...if you had more than 2 seats together you probably have to move right to the side or the corner stand. Not just for one season.

''A simple call to the ticket office would have sealed two of them, which others obviously did while this thread was being created. Just my two'penneth''

I have had personal correspondence on different social media from around 30 fans affected who all are as angry or angrier than I was. Do you not think the way the club handled this deserved airing on the main fans forum so people can learn from this?

If Bettis or McCarthy could not put on a meeting and give up a hour for 100-150 fans who many have had these tickets for 40 years+ to tell them why in person and discuss what options we had then I think its a poor do. The supporters are the life blood of the club. We are not Manchester United and it is not long ago we were watching us play Port Vale with 8,000 other hardy souls. We are portrayed as a family club where everyone works together but this episode has left a sour taste in how it has been handled. I've got to accept it but I do wonder Danny04 if you had received the letter how you would have felt honestly.


Are you implying I should have just dealt with this quietly and not put on here? Just interested.
 
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Deadbat said:
No she meant extended out at the back...like Liverpool did...so making it bigger with more rows....She said the Kop was almost impossible to do in the near future as it would have to be rebuilt completely.

Guessing that would take 4 or 5 months+ to rebuild. Going to be a problem for the club as unless we go crap again and crowds dip (defeat the object of doing it) then unsure how they can redo the Kop without upsetting say 7 or 8,000 fans. Where would these go/be put for 3 months? Would we have to play our games elsewhere for a period? It is a problem that I am not sure how they can overcome especially if we are successful. It's why some teams just move grounds but then Spurs etc have found it is wrought with problems. Controversial opinion but I'd take 2 months (say 3 orc4 home game) of playing at gulp....Elland Road in a few years if we were still in the Prem...if it allowed us to do the Kop properly.
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Can't imagine us ever playing at Elland Road, I think Oakwell would be more likely, I know it has a smaller attendance but if we continue to sell a similar amount of season tickets, it'd hold all ST holders just about.

With a bit of good planning it'd be minimally disruptive.
 
Deadbat said:
It's not that simple for some though...I know a family of 8 who simply can't get anywhere near as good seats now.

To say good seats were held back is inaccurate. Most of the seats left were right to the side or single seats...if you had more than 2 seats together you probably have to move right to the side or the corner stand. Not just for one season.

''A simple call to the ticket office would have sealed two of them, which others obviously did while this thread was being created. Just my two'penneth''

I have had personal correspondence on different social media from around 30 fans affected who all are as angry or angrier than I was. Do you not think the way the club handled this deserved airing on the main fans forum so people can learn from this?

If Bettis or McCarthy could not put on a meeting and give up a hour for 100-150 fans who many have had these tickets for 40 years+ to tell them why in person and discuss what options we had then I think its a poor do. The supporters are the life blood of the club. We are not Manchester United and it is not long ago we were watching us play Port Vale with 8,000 other hardy souls. We are portrayed as a family club where everyone works together but this episode has left a sour taste in how it has been handled. I've got to accept it but I do wonder Danny04 if you had received the letter how you would have felt honestly.


Are you implying I should have just dealt with this quietly and not put on here? Just interested.
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Good seats were held back, but probably went by the time you went to the Lane.
If I'd have received the letter, as I said, my first call would have been to the ticket office to take them up on their offer of seats in the stand I had paid for and wanted to remain in.
The club aren't Manchester United, but the days of 8,000 at Port Vale (I remember it well, or as well as is possible) are over, hopefully forever. United are now a Premier League club and as you saw yourself, a lot of work is going on, overseen by DMc and SB.
As for the last point, I'm not implying anything; I was asked my point by another poster. Plenty of people on this thread have supported you, and I'm sure lessons will be learned, but I can see both sides of it. I hope whichever way you go, though, works for you and your uncle. 👍
 
Danny04 said:
Strange, when I read your reply the first time it was only half as long and didn't include the point you seem keen for a response to!
My point is that Deadbat met the ticket office manager, to discuss his ticket. Anyone would think they wheeled in one of the girls in charge the betting kiosk at the weekend to discuss it, the way some people have responded.
The boss of the ticket office is perfectly capable and able to discuss matters of tickets. That's their job. Do you think Bettis and McCarthy were sat in the back room, doing nothing?
There are six weeks until the start of the season and a hell of a lot of work is underway to get the ground up to scratch, sign players behind the scenes etc. Please don't interpret this post as 'they had better things to be doing than consulting fans' etc, but that's what the staff in, and heads of, respective departments are there for. Can you imagine Ed Woodward dealing with something like this personally at Old Trafford? I can't.
I also sympathise with the club a little, too. The original letter could perhaps have made it more clear, but it stated in black and white that seats in the TC Stand were still available, at the time. Some good ones were held back for this very eventuality, I know that for a fact. A simple call to the ticket office would have sealed two of them, which others obviously did while this thread was being created. Just my two'penneth Woodwardfan since you asked, fellow Blade :D 👍
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Your 'two'penneth' was unnecessarily aggressive I felt.

I think you misread my initial post to some degree. You posted abo6ut the ticket managers salary, I was on about those of the next two to be there at a further meeting at Deadbat's request. I had agreed with DB that others should have been there last time. Talking of Billy Sharp and all was a cheap shot.

As for the kindly 'fellow Blade' , are you a Blade? Pleased for you if you are a United journalist and a Fan but it must be difficult at times. On this occasion your empathy seems for the club more than the fans.
 
Woodwardfan said:
Yes
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Thought you meant initially, who brought it up? (For whatever reason?)
Hey ho. The analogy still stands. The person most directly qualified to speak about tickets was assigned to speak about tickets.
What would you do in this exact situation, if you were in charge?
 
Danny04 said:
Thought you meant initially, who brought it up? (For whatever reason?)
Hey ho. The analogy still stands. The person most directly qualified to speak about tickets was assigned to speak about tickets.
What would you do in this exact situation, if you were in charge?
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Don't be daft Danny - I wrote a full script which wound you up. All the pointers are in there and my earlier posts on the thread.

Are you a Blade then??
 
Deadbat said:
No she meant extended out at the back...like Liverpool did...so making it bigger with more rows....She said the Kop was almost impossible to do in the near future as it would have to be rebuilt completely.

Guessing that would take 4 or 5 months+ to rebuild. Going to be a problem for the club as unless we go crap again and crowds dip (defeat the object of doing it) then unsure how they can redo the Kop without upsetting say 7 or 8,000 fans. Where would these go/be put for 3 months? Would we have to play our games elsewhere for a period? It is a problem that I am not sure how they can overcome especially if we are successful. It's why some teams just move grounds but then Spurs etc have found it is wrought with problems. Controversial opinion but I'd take 2 months (say 3 orc4 home game) of playing at gulp....Elland Road in a few years if we were still in the Prem...if it allowed us to do the Kop properly.
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I'm even more confused now than i was before by Lisa's 💋 comments about extra seats,Kops already got plans in for an extra 3k seats at the back,but my preference is for the Kop to be rebuilt, i wonder if the powers are thinking the same.

PS Lisa is manager of Superstore and stuff,i got Lisa on my mind 💋
 
Welcome to the Premier League. It’s all about catering to the global audience, don’t need fans in the ground as they can just turn up the mics.

As for the OP, if another season is to be retained in the Prem then the ground will get further upgrades, get yersen in as first refusal for if/when new areas get developed.
I appreciate being moved is a pisser but in the short time frame the club was limited to what it could do.
 
Danny04 said:
Good seats were held back, but probably went by the time you went to the Lane.
If I'd have received the letter, as I said, my first call would have been to the ticket office to take them up on their offer of seats in the stand I had paid for and wanted to remain in.
The club aren't Manchester United, but the days of 8,000 at Port Vale (I remember it well, or as well as is possible) are over, hopefully forever. United are now a Premier League club and as you saw yourself, a lot of work is going on, overseen by DMc and SB.
As for the last point, I'm not implying anything; I was asked my point by another poster. Plenty of people on this thread have supported you, and I'm sure lessons will be learned, but I can see both sides of it. I hope whichever way you go, though, works for you and your uncle. 👍
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Good seats were held back in the South Stand? That is not what the ticket office manager said. So someone is not telling the truth. She said there were no seats anywhere near the back/middle of the South Stand as they were all season ticket holders of long standing...She showed me the map of the stand and every seat had gone in the middle to back section and were existing season ticket holders.

You are implying I did not act quick enough if what you say is true (telling me that there were seats and the ticket office manager is not telling the truth)

I emailed and rang the next day after I received the letter and at no point did she or McCarthy say we have saved seats in the South Stand of a similiar quality in terms of central/back of the stand. The letter even states these seats are not as suitable/sufficient compared to what we had and hence why they put us all in the corner.

Of course if they had been offered some seats of comparable quality I would have taken them.

In terms of seeing both sides my issue is not they had to move us but how they have done it and the way we were given information and told what was happening. A meeting on person for us all would have saved 100 or so fans having private appointments with the club after expressing their anger. The meeting was good on Friday but it should not have come to me and many others having to initiate that really. They will have had far more staff time taken up as a result of how they chose to communicate it.

I want to move on now. I will still have my meeting with messrs Bettis and McCarthy as they owe that to us/me but we can't change what has happened merely learn from it.
 

Deadbat said:
Good seats were held back in the South Stand? That is not what the ticket office manager said. So someone is not telling the truth. She said there were no seats anywhere near the back/middle of the South Stand as they were all season ticket holders of long standing...She showed me the map of the stand and every seat had gone in the middle to back section and were existing season ticket holders.

You are implying I did not act quick enough if what you say is true (telling me that there were seats and the ticket office manager is not telling the truth)

I emailed and rang the next day after I received the letter and at no point did she or McCarthy say we have saved seats in the South Stand of a similiar quality in terms of central/back of the stand. The letter even states these seats are not as suitable/sufficient compared to what we had and hence why they put us all in the corner.

Of course if they had been offered some seats of comparable quality I would have taken them.

In terms of seeing both sides my issue is not they had to move us but how they have done it and the way we were given information and told what was happening. A meeting on person for us all would have saved 100 or so fans having private appointments with the club after expressing their anger. The meeting was good on Friday but it should not have come to me and many others having to initiate that really. They will have had far more staff time taken up as a result of how they chose to communicate it.

I want to move on now. I will still have my meeting with messrs Bettis and McCarthy as they owe that to us/me but we can't change what has happened merely learn from it.
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You say you like to watch from the side. Have you considered asking for 2 seats in John Street? Access is as good if not better than South Stand. Personally SS is my least favourite choice, and I have sat in all seats except Pukka Pie stand. Westfield and BLUT are very steep.
 
The club dropped a bollock with how they originally handled this issue, but fair play to them for apologising, providing new seats in the South Stand and taking those effected round the ground to the seats etc.

I'm not sure what a meeting with Bettis and/or McCarthy will achieve, the seats are gone and we all know the reason why, all they can do is reiterate what the ticket office staff have already said and apologise once again.
 
Deadbat said:
In terms of seeing both sides my issue is not they had to move us but how they have done it and the way we were given information and told what was happening. A meeting on person for us all would have saved 100 or so fans having private appointments with the club after expressing their anger. The meeting was good on Friday but it should not have come to me and many others having to initiate that really. They will have had far more staff time taken up as a result of how they chose to communicate it.
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Personally I think private appointments were the way to go, imagine 100 fans all looking at new seats and 100 fans all wanting the same seat. How would that work? It also wouldn't be fair if some fans weren't available on the day of a group meeting.
 
Deadbat said:
Good seats were held back in the South Stand? That is not what the ticket office manager said. So someone is not telling the truth. She said there were no seats anywhere near the back/middle of the South Stand as they were all season ticket holders of long standing...She showed me the map of the stand and every seat had gone in the middle to back section and were existing season ticket holders.

You are implying I did not act quick enough if what you say is true (telling me that there were seats and the ticket office manager is not telling the truth)

I emailed and rang the next day after I received the letter and at no point did she or McCarthy say we have saved seats in the South Stand of a similiar quality in terms of central/back of the stand. The letter even states these seats are not as suitable/sufficient compared to what we had and hence why they put us all in the corner.

Of course if they had been offered some seats of comparable quality I would have taken them.

In terms of seeing both sides my issue is not they had to move us but how they have done it and the way we were given information and told what was happening. A meeting on person for us all would have saved 100 or so fans having private appointments with the club after expressing their anger. The meeting was good on Friday but it should not have come to me and many others having to initiate that really. They will have had far more staff time taken up as a result of how they chose to communicate it.

I want to move on now. I will still have my meeting with messrs Bettis and McCarthy as they owe that to us/me but we can't change what has happened merely learn from it.
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Danny04 . Simple.

If you believe you know the circumstances of the problem, can you tell me the date the club were made aware that the press box would need extending please? Maybe then add when the information was available to ask about. Did the club anticipate the requirements when promotion was becoming more and more possible? Is this a new requirement or a bog standard, long standing requirement?

The letters were sent out very late in the piece.
 
Woodwardfan said:
Danny04 . Simple.

If you believe you know the circumstances of the problem, can you tell me the date the club were made aware that the press box would need extending please? Maybe then add when the information was available to ask about. Did the club anticipate the requirements when promotion was becoming more and more possible? Is this a new requirement or a bog standard, long standing requirement?

The letters were sent out very late in the piece.
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‘The circumstances of the problem’ are widely known; PL requires a bigger press box, so some fans have been moved. As you dodged my previous two questions, can you tell me what gives you the right to expect an answer from me, please?
 
Danny04 said:
‘The circumstances of the problem’ are widely known; PL requires a bigger press box, so some fans have been moved. As you dodged my previous two questions, can you tell me what gives you the right to expect an answer from me, please?
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Woodwardfan said:
Whoever is responsible for this section of SUFC deserves exposure.

Weve been promoted for some weeks now and the club knew we had every chance throughout last season. They should have been preparing for the Premier League for a few months unless this is a brand new requirement for P.L. clubs.

If it has been a long standing requirement then the club has let you down badly, and plenty of others too. As YES Blade says above, you should now be placed in a better position than brand new season ticket holders, Obviously the well organised way would have been to anticipate the new requirement and approach you and the others before season tickets for new holders went on general sale and then there would have been good choices to make. In terms of goodwill that would have turned a difficult situation into a positive act.

For the club to simply drop you a letter at this late stage and not to do it verbally is negligent and insulting towards your loyalty as a fan. To offer minimal compensation is thoughtless and unnecessarily mean now that we are in the money as a club.

Should you not get any satisfaction tomorrow then I suggest the little man has a voice in this modern world where petitions demand attention in Parliament so an easily arranged S24SU petition on here to McCabe and the Prince will carry some clout, believe me it will. Even if you get satisfaction personally there are so many other fans affected. I will sign it readily. I'll frame it in fact!
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Woodwardfan said:
Deadbat. You clearly don't need coaching on how to handle the forthcoming meeting with those responsible for this mess but I'll suggest a script which I would use!!

When you meet the ones responsible for your initial letter just ask them a simple question - " What would your reaction have been on receiving the message if you had paid for and occupied the same seats for so many years?" Then ask whether they both discussed the framing of the letter , the timing of the letter and the opportunity to offer some recompense to alleviate obvious disappointment and indeed anger. Then ask what their salaries are and whether they have had training in customer needs, the importance of the customer, how to handle difficult circumstances for loyal customers, how to handle disputes and how to communicate bad news. Then ask what date they became aware the press box needed expanding ( and why not before). Then ask why they delayed until all the best seats had gone. Finally ask whether the Board have been made aware of the customer reaction on our forum and in the ticket office where the poor lady has been left to repeatedly apologise for her boss's handling of the challenge which was unavoidable but obvious from the date Leeds lost at home to Wigan!

How poor that one of the top 2 didn't make sure they met you personally. They know your contribution on here and your importance as a communicator and analyst for thousands of fans. They know about this thread and yet they avoided you.

Stick to the script and record/remember the detail of their answers just like you do in your match reports; however you manage that I do not know.!!

Well done Deadbat, a worthwhile thread which will ensure a more sensitive and caring approach by the club on future occasions. Without the thread individual customers would have been fobbed off without a thought.

Does it matter in the whole scheme of things? Well this is post 188, yes it does.
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OK your previous questions answered above.

Over to you. Then enough's enough I suggest.
 
Danny04 said:
‘The circumstances of the problem’ are widely known; PL requires a bigger press box, so some fans have been moved. As you dodged my previous two questions, can you tell me what gives you the right to expect an answer from me, please?
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georgebernardshaw said:
Please, oh please, make it stop now..
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It’s a shark attack!
 
YES Blade said:
Personally I think private appointments were the way to go, imagine 100 fans all looking at new seats and 100 fans all wanting the same seat. How would that work? It also wouldn't be fair if some fans weren't available on the day of a group meeting.
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Agree with this and disagree with Deadbat.
I wouldn’t have liked the club inviting 100 people down for 1 big meeting. It would have been a farce.
Also having a meeting is personal to that person and they should be allowed to voice their concerns in private, not 1 big meeting.

The best thing the club can do is give the effected fans priority on swapping seats. I’ve sat in every area of the ground and think the Westfield Corner is a better view and better facilities then the South stand, it’s just the steep steps that could be an issue.

Although I appreciate having a particular seat for years can become a strong attachment, everyone is different.
 
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Danny04 said:
And about being a Blade?
Giving another poster a script and demanding he sticks to it. Incredible.
:shark:
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Danny,are you sure you should be doing this, career- wise? Look at your 'like fan club '.- gbs, Sean and Shocking ffs.!!

Sheffield Star employee?! Levels of behaviour!


Maybe answer the question fellow Blade (perhaps fellow Blade, where were you born and where did you live?)
 
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Danny04 said:
Who do you work for?
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ShockingBadBuy said:
Danny04 is ok by me. Not sure what the problem is here (?)
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She edited the original post to get three "sharks"into the mix and have a further pop at Danny. Whose questions were reasonable. (Views his own it says, nothing to do with his job)But, you can't question the Statement King. And not playing the poster only works one way it seems.

Get the sherry bottle emptied Woody, and then get to bed.
 

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