Playoff tickets, First Leg

[Bladeloyal]

Are these now on sale to anyone?

Yes

 

[S64 Blade]

Ok, so how many of the other 91 league clubs have you ever tried to get a play off ticket for that gives you the knowledge of how their tickets are allocated, to whom and at what rate? I'll have a guess at none.

You don’t have to have physically have done something to have a reasonable understanding of it. I’ve never been a member of the Nazi party, but I know they were utter bastards.

We know that Forest put all their available tickets on sale; starting with season ticket holders and going to general sale and they sold out. Wednesday even managed to put them on sale with minimal complication and sold out.

 

[Booker4]

Considering our crowds this season and the very good pricing for this game, do people not think that without the fiasco this week we wouldn't have easily sold out.

I appreciate there are some comments which make you feel like some are cutting their nose off to spite their face but clearly some have been massively inconvenienced.

It's been a shitshow by the club.

Is it not possible that the club are not to blame though? If SAG are able to stipulate that they do not want the Forest fans on the bottom tier because of a risk of them going onto the pitch we may not have much of a say in it or they may say it's the Club's risk if anything goes wrong and that could mean we invalidate an agreement or insurance? I'm also guessing that the nature of this game as a one off and therefore not in a calendar means we cannot draw on the required number of police who would stand at the front of the BL lower because there just isn't enough time to re-deploy that number of coppers at short notice, same with big cup games.

Some have said why have we given them 3,100, my guess is that if we'd given them 2,000 in the BL upper then we'd have lost hundreds or more for segregation purposes, so it was easier to give them the full upper tier.

Also there's the rivalry between the two clubs on a game of this magnitude I wouldn't be surprised if that's a factor also.

 

[Booker4]

It is disappointing Davalon! It's as though the prince is quite happy to upset the punters to keep the cost of stewards or police down.
No way could 2000+ florist fans not be controlled by the proper stewarding .
There were enough to keep control at the Fulham game ! That plus maybe a few more would have been sufficient .
If this yank takes over maybe he will be interested in sorting problems like this.
As I said in a previous post the lack of communication between management and fans is dire ! It has to change and maybe a change of ownership will do this! Americans if nothing else usually maximise profit streams as long as they don't push tickets sky high.
Growing the fan base and keeping them onside is the way to go.

Fulham away on a game that matters for nothing to them, other than a bit of a party, is very different to a game v Forest who everyone knows there is needle between the two clubs, and it's a game of huge importance to both. Fulham fans are not exactly known for causing trouble either!

 

[Cheesebored]

We know that Forest put all their available tickets on sale; starting with season ticket holders and going to general sale and they sold out. Wednesday even managed to put them on sale with minimal complication and sold out.

There's already a link somewhere on here from the Forest forum showing their fans mumping about the way their tickets are allocated. I wouldn't know about Wednesdays ticketing policy.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Is it not possible that the club are not to blame though? If SAG are able to stipulate that they do not want the Forest fans on the bottom tier because of a risk of them going onto the pitch we may not have much of a say in it or they may say it's the Club's risk if anything goes wrong and that could mean we invalidate an agreement or insurance? I'm also guessing that the nature of this game as a one off and therefore not in a calendar means we cannot draw on the required number of police who would stand at the front of the BL lower because there just isn't enough time to re-deploy that number of coppers at short notice, same with big cup games.

Some have said why have we given them 3,100, my guess is that if we'd given them 2,000 in the BL upper then we'd have lost hundreds or more for segregation purposes, so it was easier to give them the full upper tier.

Also there's the rivalry between the two clubs on a game of this magnitude I wouldn't be surprised if that's a factor also.

Their segregation at the Shitty ground isn't that impressive though.

 

[jt64]

I’ve always found phoning or going into the ticket office and explaining the circumstances around why you’d like to buy a ticket for someone without a purchase history that they’re usually accommodating. But yes, attending cup games is the best way to build up a few points on a customer number. My view is they should increase the loyalty points available for cup games to incentivise those ‘Kops not open’ moaners to get down

This. Don't necessarily agree about increasing points, cup games already offer great points:cost value so I wouldn't necessarily agree with increasing points for that, I've in the past bought a cup ticket where I couldn't make the game. But yeah, if you decide your first game is just coincidentally going to be a playoff semi final against a rival who has sold out their allocation, it is not unreasonable in the slightest for the computer to say no, or for SUFC to put this limitation in (we will after all likely have at least 50k accounts who will be eligible to buy a ticket), but call the ticket office.

Heck, we're not the only club to do something similar. When doing random grounds to try to clear the 92, Burton's ticketing website simply refused to sell me a ticket with no reason given (we were, ironically, away to Forest on that day, hence I had a free afternoon). Call them up, they say "to prevent Wolves fans getting in the home end, where do you live, Stockport, sold". It is not rocket science.

 

[bladesmanluke]

These rules are the reason we didn't sell out every game in the Premier league and these rules are the reason that 10 to 15 years down the line, our fan base will be smaller than it is today.

 

[Booker4]

These rules are the reason we didn't sell out every game in the Premier league and these rules are the reason that 10 to 15 years down the line, our fan base will be smaller than it is today.

If we can ever establish ourselves in the PL then we'll increase the Kop, maybe the South Stand and we'll never ever be in a position where segregation is much of an issue. As it stands though we end up in this situation when the ground is full/nearly full.

 

[Sheffsteel]

These rules are the reason we didn't sell out every game in the Premier league and these rules are the reason that 10 to 15 years down the line, our fan base will be smaller than it is today.

A few times at the start our PL season I wanted to buy extra tickets for friends who had never seen us play...
The ticket office told me....they needed to sign up to a membership.
Told my friends....who refused...arguing they only initially intend to attend 1 match....so why pay for a membership.

I checked the Leicester City ticketing system that season and there were some interesting differences.
1: They made their home ticket available 1 month before the match....where as we started selling just 1 or 2 weeks before a match.
2: Season ticket holders were allowed to buy extra tickets using their card.....explaining that selling on to touts or crowd trouble from the person assigned to your ticket could result in you losing your season ticket. Where as for us it was compulsory to register additional fans and join a membership scheme.

It's common sense really.
Look at how other clubs deal with our situation....then maybe we can learn from how they have developed and fine tuned their ticket system.

 

[jt64]

These rules are the reason we didn't sell out every game in the Premier league

I can guarantee you that nobody who wanted a ticket for a Premier League game would have been unable to get one with the slightest effort.

 

[Barry Butlin]

The thing is though we are one of the few clubs where a season ticket holder can't just buy extra tickets. Now this is the case if we get to Wembley we're not gonna shift that many. I've got family in London and I would buy half a dozen if I could. The ticket policy is a shambles.

 

[Sheffsteel]

I can guarantee you that nobody who wanted a ticket for a Premier League game would have been unable to get one with the slightest effort.

That's the issue though.....my friend casually supports Man Utd and the other doesn't even like football but both agreed to come to see us play in the Premier League. In the 70's and 80's there were several 1000's of these types of supporters who would turn up for the big games.
They would wait to see what the weather was like.....if they were bored with nothing to do....then they'd decide to go to the football match.

So agree.....proper Blades fans will accept the minimal effort and buy tickets....proper Blades supporters aren't effected that much.
It's the non Blades fans and casuals who we miss out on.....however it's this group who eventually might become Blades.
So as stated earlier.....we're restricting the potential to grow our fan base.

 

[Tuns25]

The thing is though we are one of the few clubs where a season ticket holder can't just buy extra tickets. Now this is the case if we get to Wembley we're not gonna shift that many. I've got family in London and I would buy half a dozen if I could. The ticket policy is a shambles.

No way of selling tickets satisfies everyone but christ we make a balls of it. The mindset should be about growing the club, welcoming new fans, getting bums on seats, simplifying the buying process not just catering (badly) to the Blades bubble represented on here.

If we made it Wembley tickets will be an over complicated farce. Fans won't be be able to sit together as we'll enforce multiple loyalty point bands for days on end, extended family and casual fans will find it impossible to buy tickets or sit with friends or organise travel on time. Then there'll be the inevitable piss take that we couldn't sell out. Been happening for years not sure we'll ever learn.

 

[CrookesBlade]

Fairly standard amongst other clubs for big games when the away allocation sells out that prior purchase history is needed. Quite a few times I've had a look at trying to bag a ticket in the home end when we've sold out for away games and its asked for this.

Obviously if a pocket of Forest fans got on the kop people would be going mental asking how did the club allow this to happen.

 

[JJBlade]

…And this fact reveals yet another peculiarity with how tickets are sold at the Lane.

There were various times yesterday when the Kop, South Stand and John Street were showing as sold out, and the number of available seats was down at 350 or so.

Then lo and behold, when the ticket office is about to close for the evening, some more blocks of seats are ‘unlocked’ online, availability appears all around the ground and the number of empty seats goes up again.

In the meantime, though, fans who may have preferred to go on the Kop, South Stand or John Street had all day been funnelled into the Lane lower tier as the supposed only option. Bizarre.

What normal organisation wouldn’t just make every single possible seat available for purchase from day 1 of selling?

I suspect that there are still more blocks waiting to be unlocked at the south side of the Kop, so the chances are there will be empty seats in that area tomorrow.

Yes, it's pathetic
The only place you could get a ticket yesterday was the Lane End

This morning you can get one almost anywhere

They have absolutely no idea or respect for the plans people have to make to go to a football match.
Work, travel, family,

How can potential new fans buy a ticket when the system doesn't allow people with no previous buying history to buy a ticket.

How is this going to pan out in the future with the next generation never having been allowed to buy a ticket

What less frequent fan is going to buy a single ticket, and sit on his/her own.

What potential new fan, more than likely to be a youngster is going to buy a single ticket and sit on their own.

Every single aspect of shifting tickets at this club is pathetic

 

[Bladeloyal]

No way of selling tickets satisfies everyone but christ we make a balls of it. The mindset should be about growing the club, welcoming new fans, getting bums on seats, simplifying the buying process not just catering (badly) to the Blades bubble represented on here.

If we made it Wembley tickets will be an over complicated farce. Fans won't be be able to sit together as we'll enforce multiple loyalty point bands for days on end, extended family and casual fans will find it impossible to buy tickets or sit with friends or organise travel on time. Then there'll be the inevitable piss take that we couldn't sell out. Been happening for years not sure we'll ever learn.

Last time we went we took close on 40 k (hull game )

 

[JJBlade]

Is it not possible that the club are not to blame though? If SAG are able to stipulate that they do not want the Forest fans on the bottom tier because of a risk of them going onto the pitch we may not have much of a say in it or they may say it's the Club's risk if anything goes wrong and that could mean we invalidate an agreement or insurance? I'm also guessing that the nature of this game as a one off and therefore not in a calendar means we cannot draw on the required number of police who would stand at the front of the BL lower because there just isn't enough time to re-deploy that number of coppers at short notice, same with big cup games.

Some have said why have we given them 3,100, my guess is that if we'd given them 2,000 in the BL upper then we'd have lost hundreds or more for segregation purposes, so it was easier to give them the full upper tier.

Also there's the rivalry between the two clubs on a game of this magnitude I wouldn't be surprised if that's a factor also.

The most likely fans to be on the pitch would be ours

Imagine a game where we are 1-0 up in the 94th minute, and we get a precious second goal.

There will be more than a random overexcited kid invading the pitch, there will be hundreds

Pitch invasions are not usually pitch invasions anyway, they are usually three or four overexcited kids jumping over the fence, showing off for a few seconds and then jumping back over the fence again before they get caught by the hapless steward.

It might be against the law, but it is pretty harmless

 

[bartman]

Yes, it's pathetic
The only place you could get a ticket yesterday was the Lane End

This morning you can get one almost anywhere

They have absolutely no idea or respect for the plans people have to make to go to a football match.
Work, travel, family,

How can potential new fans buy a ticket when the system doesn't allow people with no previous buying history to buy a ticket.

How is this going to pan out in the future with the next generation never having been allowed to buy a ticket

What less frequent fan is going to buy a single ticket, and sit on his/her own.

What potential new fan, more than likely to be a youngster is going to buy a single ticket and sit on their own.

Every single aspect of shifting tickets at this club is pathetic

You able able to get a ticket provided you have got a purchase history. I.e. been to one game at BDTBL since loyalty points began( 15 years ?0. This is for the biggest game of the season and at £20 per adult. And yet some are blaming the club for this not being a sell out (yet)

There have been 23 other home league games ( including big games) where 'new' fans could have attended.( including families with kids). No membership required, you just have to register the details of the new fan with the club and buy a ticket in their name. You don't even have to provide ID. The next generation are catered for. The club have prioritised fans who have purchased tickets in the last 15 years or so and their names and addresses are on our database. Is that wrong?

Why batches of tickets are back on the system? fans returning tickets? Players not taking up tickets ? restricted view seats ? We don't know but the club won't have deliberately held them back

What I would like to have seen is from yesterday, season ticket holders could buy an additional 2 seats for non registered fans. To purchase the tickets they would be in the season ticket holders name and the new fan's name so if there is any trouble both are responsible and could be banned

 

[Mojo]

…And this fact reveals yet another peculiarity with how tickets are sold at the Lane.

There were various times yesterday when the Kop, South Stand and John Street were showing as sold out, and the number of available seats was down at 350 or so.

Then lo and behold, when the ticket office is about to close for the evening, some more blocks of seats are ‘unlocked’ online, availability appears all around the ground and the number of empty seats goes up again.

In the meantime, though, fans who may have preferred to go on the Kop, South Stand or John Street had all day been funnelled into the Lane lower tier as the supposed only option. Bizarre.

What normal organisation wouldn’t just make every single possible seat available for purchase from day 1 of selling?

I suspect that there are still more blocks waiting to be unlocked at the south side of the Kop, so the chances are there will be empty seats in that area tomorrow.

I think the problem is if someone selects a seat, the system reserves it for them for 30 mins until they pay. So it can show some seats as unavailable when they haven't actually sold yet

 

[Jinxy1966]

Originally put this in the “Our House” thread with its link to the tunes of Madness. Thought we could maybe arrange a gathering in the car park this afternoon to demand answers using this as our anthem. Unfortunately I can’t join in cos I have to keep my shoes on cos I’ve got a verruca.

An earthquake is erupting
Down on Shoreham Street
The Blades are going mental
Cos we can’t buy our own seat

I’ve had to move my arse to the Lower Tier
Now I can’t sit with my mate Pete
Think we ought to get our shoes off
In the car park on Cherry Street

Who did this ?
Where’s Bettis ?
Let’s ask the Priiiiiince !

 

[Inter_blade83]

Is it not possible that the club are not to blame though? If SAG are able to stipulate that they do not want the Forest fans on the bottom tier because of a risk of them going onto the pitch we may not have much of a say in it or they may say it's the Club's risk if anything goes wrong and that could mean we invalidate an agreement or insurance? I'm also guessing that the nature of this game as a one off and therefore not in a calendar means we cannot draw on the required number of police who would stand at the front of the BL lower because there just isn't enough time to re-deploy that number of coppers at short notice, same with big cup games.

Some have said why have we given them 3,100, my guess is that if we'd given them 2,000 in the BL upper then we'd have lost hundreds or more for segregation purposes, so it was easier to give them the full upper tier.

Also there's the rivalry between the two clubs on a game of this magnitude I wouldn't be surprised if that's a factor also.

We've already lost 1,500 in the upper tier because of this

 

[metalblade]

…And this fact reveals yet another peculiarity with how tickets are sold at the Lane.

There were various times yesterday when the Kop, South Stand and John Street were showing as sold out, and the number of available seats was down at 350 or so.

Then lo and behold, when the ticket office is about to close for the evening, some more blocks of seats are ‘unlocked’ online, availability appears all around the ground and the number of empty seats goes up again.

In the meantime, though, fans who may have preferred to go on the Kop, South Stand or John Street had all day been funnelled into the Lane lower tier as the supposed only option. Bizarre.

What normal organisation wouldn’t just make every single possible seat available for purchase from day 1 of selling?

I suspect that there are still more blocks waiting to be unlocked at the south side of the Kop, so the chances are there will be empty seats in that area tomorrow.

Quite simple why they hold back two blocks of seats on the BLLT it is to direct people to buy up the restricted view seats on the kop and John st corner, when take up dries up then they unlock the two blocks of unrestricted view seat on BLLT. Call me cynical but it does fit the narrative.

 

[dn5 shaun]

W

Ok, so how many of the other 91 league clubs have you ever tried to get a play off ticket for that gives you the knowledge of how their tickets are allocated, to whom and at what rate? I'll have a guess at none.

What's it fucking matter how many other site's he's been, the whole episode of these tickets is embarrassing and I'll back him up in saying no other club makes it as hard to get tickets as United and no I haven't been on other club sites just fucking do one arsehole

 

[Moan? Nope-I saw Longhorn]

Ok, so how many of the other 91 league clubs have you ever tried to get a play off ticket for that gives you the knowledge of how their tickets are allocated, to whom and at what rate? I'll have a guess at none.

I can confirm that Slumderland had a ‘purchase history’ / on the database’ requirement for their home PO semi - fortunately I met said criteria having bought a ticket earlier in the season when they battered the same opponents 5 -0

 

[bartman]

just fucking do one arsehole

Play the post, not the poster...why the insult when they have a different opinion to yours ?

 

[Cheesebored]

W

What's it fucking matter how many other site's he's been, the whole episode of these tickets is embarrassing and I'll back him up in saying no other club makes it as hard to get tickets as United and no I haven't been on other club sites just fucking do one arsehole

It matters because like you he's having a pop at the club with fuck all to back it up. "Just fucking do one arsehole", is that the best you've got? Your family must be mightily proud.

 

[Davalon]

Is it not possible that the club are not to blame though? If SAG are able to stipulate that they do not want the Forest fans on the bottom tier because of a risk of them going onto the pitch we may not have much of a say in it or they may say it's the Club's risk if anything goes wrong and that could mean we invalidate an agreement or insurance? I'm also guessing that the nature of this game as a one off and therefore not in a calendar means we cannot draw on the required number of police who would stand at the front of the BL lower because there just isn't enough time to re-deploy that number of coppers at short notice, same with big cup games.

Some have said why have we given them 3,100, my guess is that if we'd given them 2,000 in the BL upper then we'd have lost hundreds or more for segregation purposes, so it was easier to give them the full upper tier.

Also there's the rivalry between the two clubs on a game of this magnitude I wouldn't be surprised if that's a factor also.

Could easily have put 2,000 in the bottom tier with front and sides netted off with around 900 seats spare.

Pretty sure if it was SAG/SYP driven then we'd have been told straight away.

Also too much of a coincidence the specific number of tickets Forest were given (10% of full working capacity).

 

[Barry Butlin]

Last time we went we took close on 40 k (hull game )

Last play off final v Huddersfield we took 28K

 

[bartman]

Last play off final v Huddersfield we took 28K

I am pretty sure that is the final when ST holders could buy an extra ticket for family members who weren't registered on our system