Interpolic

Hopefully he's seen sense and we're going down the redevelopment route

As a member, there are definitely cup games I'd have considered giving a miss if I realised I'd be thrown in the no-chance pot with people who've applied for one ballot. Wimbledon, Bromley etc. Wonder if this will have an effect on attendances going forward, although it seems the vast majority of STHs will be on the cup scheme and a lot of people take their kids to cup games, so perhaps not.

Yeah I realise that they can't satisfy everyone when demand exceeds supply, but for them to go from giving members what I would call a pretty modest gesture of 1k tickets to 0 tickets is quite a shift and imo should be explained.

Found this from around the time of the Carabao Cup final 2 years ago. 3% of tickets were allocated to members, so probably only about 1k but I recall an almighty fuss about it from STHs. I also remember a narrative from the club that they wanted to achieve a decent cross-section of support being able to attend, including some members. If that 3% has dropped (which it seems it inevitably has, probably to 0%) then the whingeing of STHs was taken on board and fuck members. I'm also almost certain that members were divided more fairly into pots than anyone who applied for a ballot for one game and nowt else as well. Why the change in approach? Why the disparity with other clubs' cup final ticketing policies? Why is the whole thing such a closed shop? Why was there such a lack of transparency for 2 whole years that buying cup tickets as a member would give you fuck-all chance of a cup final ticket, instead of a remote one?

There's an extra step to this now, which is the members' general sale. That's generally your best bet of getting tickets. I've not missed a game I could get to this season, other than the Arsenal semi because the club fucked up. The likes of bobbydazzla getting to every game as a member, that's no accident. It's effort and time and hassle and additional cost vs what season ticket holders have to do. For someone to do that and be put in the same no-chance pot as someone who has applied for one ballot is a total insult.

I went to quite a lot of aways in the 2010s in particular when I was living in London, and never had a clue who the ticket came from. There'll be loads who went to far more than me with nothing to show for it and no way of ever getting back in.

They should be transparent about it at least. I've gone to every cup game except Arsenal when the club fucked the ticketing up, with the hope that it might give me a minimal chance of a ticket in this situation. But the club won't even give active members that.

Almost 100% sure members were treated a hell of a lot better than this last time. Many cases of season ticket holders missing out in favour of members, which doesn't seem possible at all this time. There had been less home ties to use to stagger the pots, worth considering. Some season ticket holders kicked off about the fact they could lose out to members last time so it seems to me that has been taken on board.

Absolutely spot on. Appalling treatment of members who attend lots of games. Cannot believe it's this bad.

I guess it depends on the fanbase and their prior circumstances. Highbury and WHL were shitholes so they needed to move or redevelop. Arsenal are already exploring moving from the Emirates.

Thanks for asking the question respectfully vs One is a proper football ground and on a good day when the crowd is up for it, it can still give you the chills. The other one has been made for a bit of football, a bit of NFL, a few gigs. The new one looks like a spaceship/shopping mall hybrid and the atmosphere/experience is by all accounts very artificial despite us being told for a decade before it would be the one that bucked the trend. I don't care about extra room in the concourse or micro breweries or other gimmicks, I'm there to see the match in a way that is somewhat comparable to how I always have. Nobody's ever answered my question about a new ground that's been built in the UK that generates a decent atmosphere, I assume that's because it doesn't exist. But no I have no sense for valuing what we'd be giving up and for this.

I've said many times on here - I don't want to leave SJP, it's a proper football ground and I've yet to see a new build in this country that isn't completely naff in comparison. I don't aspire to be Spurs. I accept progress may be a bit slower taking this route. I do not accept that we actually need to do this to compete. I do not accept we should make a forever decision based on PSR rules which may end up being relatively short-lived.

wtf?

I am of the opposing view and I'm not lacking any sense, cheers.