bobbydazzla

UP THE ARSE

Wise men say only fools nonce kids

Our Granda’s & Great Granda’s gave up their lives for this

Outbreak of ebola virus incoming at Darsley Park and the entire first team all absolutely riddled with it in 3.....2......1.......

One of my first ever games was Dec 93, Leeds under the lights on a weeknight a few days before Xmas. Away fans were in the Strawbery corner. Was lively, to say the least. Parents had zero interest in football so I couldn’t go to matches until I was old enough to tag along with a mate and this was one of my early forays. Absolutely mega for a young teen stood in the Milburn / Gallowgate paddock watching all the radgies. An experience more addictive than tooting crack rocks.

Exactly, I was a teen in the 90's and locked out unless my mates sister didn't use her ticket, which wasn't very often. It's better now than it was then, but back then it was totally gutting to never have a chance of buying a match ticket under my own steam. I think what's really frustrating for members is that we're not asking for anything to be taken away from people who have ST's. We're just asking for a route to get us closer to what an ST gives access to and a level of earned priority over the punters who have minimal interest in going to matches other than applying for the odd game here and there. So the "where were you when we were shit" sneering attitude from some (not all) ST's just seems spiteful and is fuelling an "us and them" divide.

That's exactly what we said. We mentioned that there was empty seats clearly visible on telly on Weds night, which was frustrating to see, but there definitely wasn't hundreds of them. And also that you can't have an average of 1,900 not turning up each game but still have DJ Onedek announcing 52,000 were in attendance. Just for clarity, the 1900 was put up on screen but it was after the presentation at table level that the discussion about it took place.

There was a lot of nodding from the NUFC hosts about members accumulating "loyalty" points for their level of account activity (applying for ballots probably) and also the prospect of windows for buying memberships. So I'd say those were two suggestions they were hoping to hear. And it was agreed in my small group that stopping emailable tickets would pretty much end touting instantly. The cynic in me says these meetings are purely a tick-box exercise in an attempt to justify changes that have already been decided upon. What frustrated me the most was that NUFC staff don't seem to want to look at best in class solutions and try to emulate or exceed, they want to look at worst in class and try and be better than that. And rather than embracing changes that might benefit tens of thousands, they prefer to focus on how those changes might annoy or disadvantage a tiny minority. Too much focus on the symptoms and not enough thinking about the cause. It felt similar to them spaffing on about all the anti touting systems they have in place, whilst they continue to leave the front door wide open for touts by offering unlimited memberships all season long. It was still a better event than I thought it would be so credit to NUFC for that, but I did have low expectations on my way up there.

Nah, the 1,900 number was queried on my table because it seemed wrong and we were told that it only includes a person with a ticket who doesn't actually go into the ground

Aye, a 14 year old in 2021 is now late teens and able to go to games on their own, but game by game tickets are expensive and mainly balloted, if they get a ticket they’ll have to sit alone or at best in a pair, they can’t get an ST, they can’t go away and they’ve got a very slim chance of a Wembley trip if we get there

One other thing to add… This is just my observation based on where I was sat, but for me it further demonstrated there’s a clear “us and them” split across the fanbase with ST’s seemingly quite happy with their lot and showing very little interest or sympathy for members who are all lumped into one massive group have no way close the gap between having no recognition for member “loyalty” and having an ST. Comments such as “you should have bought an ST when we were shit” and “you’ll stop going to games if we’re shit again” without any appreciation that many members have been going to games for decades and there’s a wide variety of reasons why we might not have been the owner of an ST in Oct 2021.

I’ve sat in every part of stadium apart from Milburn L7 over the last few seasons and what you’ve just described is a perfect summary of the vast majority of the ground

It was all about home ticketing, there was no discussion about atmosphere

There wasn’t anything discussed tonight that we haven’t done to death on here. Ideas mentioned were: Some form of member point accumulation (number of ballot applications probably) to give people who attempt to go to the most games priority over people who have little history (e.g neutral tourists). It could be used when setting ticket buying criteria for very high demand matches. Members who’ve got a ticket but can’t go to a game have to officially transfer tickets to each other like ST’s do. Would mean the box office could flag and investigate accounts that buy tickets but always forward them on. Membership purchase windows. June to Aug and then Dec / Jan. Don’t buy one then, you can’t buy tickets. Digital, emailable tickets have opened the floodgates for touts. There appears to be no appetite for going back to a physical card. Dual factor ID at point of purchase was suggested for ticket purchases. Transparency about member numbers and member tickets available via each route per game was a key request. On average there’s 1900 people per game who have a ticket (ST or Member) but don’t turn up to the match. Which seems very high to me. And I can’t believe the club can bang on in a presentation about how they’re doing all they can to identify and block tout accounts, whilst at the same time offering unlimited, unvetted membership. So a tout can just sign back up immediately if blocked. It’s so naive from NUFC that I can’t comprehend how they could be that daft. Like most of these events, it scratched the surface but you’ve got 100 people sitting randomly at tables so there’s not much structure and too many competing views for anything productive to be achieved.

We live in a world where fuckwits believe the earth is flat

Already gutted that we've lost this one and continued our shite away form and it's not even Friday yet. Kill iz.

Council bosses have denied any "secrets or secrecy" over the prospect of Newcastle United building a new stadium on Grade II listed green space next to its current home, or moving Leazers Terrace brick by brick https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0y3yjrp2ko

Just walked past him in the wild wearing his civvies. Such a handsome stylish hunk of a man. In case anyone else ever sees him in public, here is some advice I found invaluable:

Been thinking about this ticketing workshop the neet and likely themes… Transparency on available ticket numbers (ballot vs general sale) Ballot success rates Ticket pricing and recent price increases Future of season tickets. Will they return, and how? What’s being done about bots & touts (and how we compare to other clubs) Pros/cons of the current system Ticket site reliability at 10am on sale days NUFC changing ticket buying process without any communication about it (Barca, Benfica) How can they ensure genuine NUFC fans are getting tickets. Can they use account history to prevent away fans / neutral tourists / touts, especially for the biggest games (Makems, Barca, Liverpool etc.) Getting more affordable tickets into the hands of the next generation (under 25's) Ability to transfer tickets like ST holders can I haven’t thought about what might come up in relation to existing ST's or away tickets, as they don't apply to me. I rarely mass debate in a room with members of the public and I’m a bit nervy, so I’ve got the afternoon off graft and am aiming for a minimum of 7-8 pints of dutch courage.

I know, it’s not as binary as I claimed. I was just being a sensationalist dick on purpose. I agree we were poor tonight compared to how I know this team can play, but we won in the CL so that’s to be celebrated. Whereas CL 23/24 we played well in games, but struggled to convert that into points other than beating PSG. Just got to hope Eddie and the lads find their groove soon because currently we look like we’ve been huffing glue before kick off.

I swear down some people would rather we played well and lost than played wank and won

This is like waking up next to a stinker from West Mickley after a night in Dontino’s. Job done, but neither of you took any genuine pleasure from it and you know you need a complete overhaul of your basic skills if want to get back to tapping the honey with the money from Corbridge.