Interpolic

Arteta making friends again. Would love to make him geet upset again on Saturday.

And a tory who doesn't give a fuck about the north til it might benefit him. Super original.

The last time I thought we'd lose a game was Villa, so we'll see. Would be happy enough with a good showing that doesn't end up like the xGA nightmare at Anfield. Something to boost the confidence a bit rather than the other way around.

Yeah tbf I disliked how they did it the previous season more. Just cutting off memberships with no warning, when in previous seasons I could have bought the membership with the first ticket I was after. Meant I couldn't buy a ticket using the proper method all season. If they did limit it again but were more transparent about numbers then it'd probably be total carnage trying to get one. On balance I think they'll keep it as it is now, but it's not too good a situation. It'll bring in more revenue but it dilutes the value of it.

Well I should start by saying that I've actually quite liked the process this season But I think that's due to my own quite unique personal circumstances. I was in London for 15 years and not going to many home games. Back up now and I've been successful in about half of the ballots so better than most, and I have found it really easy to get tickets in the resale. And I've really liked sitting all over the ground in areas I hadn't been in much, but I know that's unusual. Like I say though I think I'm a bit out of sync with others with the above, so I wouldn't have went in saying it was all hunky dory. Personally what I'd have suggested are (these are with the assumption that the ballot stays and specific seat selection is not possible): - allow people to apply for more than one category, if they wish to - facilitate some sort of preference centre for members, so they can say on their account their preference is "East Stand > Gallowgate" etc - members are also given a score for number of consecutive ballots they've been unsuccessful on. Once this gets to a certain number (say 5?), they are guaranteed a ticket the next time they apply - this score resets to 0 any time they're successful. Members should be able to see their score in their account, full transparency - the ballot is drawn sequentially taking into account the above "rules". So guaranteed tickets are dished out first, with the member's preferences taken into account - if a member has specified east stand and they are drawn when there are east stand tickets available they'll get one there, if not it moves to Gallowgate etc - I personally think the resale is fine as it is and rewards persistence much like the queue used to, but they need to stop releasing all these Youth tickets if possible cos it's frustrating AF - just total transparency re numbers. When you're applying for categories then you should know the number of tickets available for each - some consideration re limiting memberships, it seems they're just trying to rake in as much cash as possible with this and it lessens the value of the membership I'm a data analyst and much of the above could be done with some pretty basic data analytics modelling I reckon but if their systems are super limited then maybe it's not possible. But I do think stuff needs to happen to stop these mad situations where people have a 0/15 record or whatever, which is always possible when it's completely random. None of the above tackles the match atmosphere issue as much as allowing selection of specific seats would, so if they can find a way to make that work with a ballot then that would potentially be best. I can see why that could be really quite difficult though.

Well that's what I'm saying - I don't think a STH should be allowed to buy extra tickets. I would imagine most members are the same since they're not daft and know it's a numbers game. It's already pretty bloody difficult to get a ticket and what you suggest would make it even harder. The thing about people applying for more tickets than they may have done otherwise is a fair point I guess but when the ballot success rate is apparently 30-40% I don't think this is having as big an impact as opening it up to 30-odd thousand season ticket holders would. Also I appreciate what you're saying about what you've heard about member behaviour but it's all anecdotal. It's based on people in or around your circle and not necessarily reflective of the 80k members or whatever it is. Everyone makes their own assumptions about other people's behaviour and their motives, myself included.

They'll be thinking of the next bullshit rule they can get passed to pull the ladder up some more, as is their style. Decades of being allowed to do whatever the fuck they want and they're absolutely bewildered when there's any pushback

Eh I don't understand? If there are 35k season ticket holders and a few thousand decide they want an extra ticket each game then that dramatically decreases a member's chance of getting a ticket. Unless you're saying the ones being brought along will generally be members, in which case I don't think it's fair if it's a "it's who you know" situation either. If a member gets a ticket and wants to sit near a season ticket holder and that seat's free then cool, if the club can facilitate it somehow then great. But I really think STHs should be allowed to control their own ticket only, especially when the chasm between demand and supply is so extreme. And I think most members would feel the same way, which is the main reason we were saying a workshop about predominantly members issues should have been mostly composed of members.

Honestly just do whatever suits them cunts the least now. I wasn't too arsed about this but the absolute arrogance dripping from those comments has sent me over the edge

OK I'm a bit rattled now what a cunt.

Yeah fair enough, we're touching on another point here as well that relates to wider ticketing matters. Without transparency re numbers from the club there is only anecdotal evidence, which is unreliable and can lead to warped perspectives as you say. Applies to home tickets, away tickets, cup final tickets, and even how they're selecting the composition of these workshops. The club should be more forthcoming with this stuff imo as it's not helping. Numbers and how people are selected, for everything - think this would solve a lot of issues before there's a chance for resentment to build. Unless there is some unfairness going on that they don't want to admit to (surprising levels of away tickets given to corporate for example) and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason they're so coy. If they're not willing to share the info then people will arrive at their own conclusions.

There were only 120 attendees though, if there weren't enough members among the 4k to ensure they were the vast majority then I'd be surprised.

It's not that it's STHs vs members - it's that there are a finite number of tickets available. If STHs were still allowed to buy extra tickets there would be an even smaller amount of tickets available to members. Like I say, more than fine that some STHs were there but this conversation arose when Haydn said 80% of his table were STHs, with a lot of the discussion around matters that mainly affected STHs. Tbf that summary from NUST suggests their conversation was pretty member-centric but obviously we're getting the accounts of different people sat at different tables here. I don't think it's right if at an event that was primarily supposed to improve the experience of members there was over-representation of season ticket holders (if there was). People will generally argue for changes that align with their own interests, and any movement back towards the old system would make the experience worse for members. That's just the reality of the situation when there is a finite (and relatively small) amount of non-season ticket seats available.

These are the notes on the NUST website, about the workshop: Ballot Working Group Supporter Event - Summary NUST had multiple board members in attendance both in person and online. The key takeaways based on feedback from the club and attendees were: Transparency is key. Members would like to see the number of seats available in each section, success rates, number of entries for each ballot, total number of members etc. Members would like the ability to choose where they sit both for their access needs and to be able to sit with family/friends. This was particularly relevant for ambulant disabled fans and for those with young children where the parent has a season ticket and the child does not. There were discussions on rewarding members for loyalty/purchase history in the same way that away game attendance is rewarded. This could be done through a weighted ballot or a tiered membership system. There were discussions on preference of previous 10am member sale system versus the ballot with a suggestion raised around having a hybrid system in the future ie. ballot for certain percentage of tickets followed by general sale for remaining tickets and possible resale close to kick off for last minute returns. Frustrations were raised about the current resale process. There were suggestions that those unsuccessful in the ballot could be randomly allocated to a waiting list for returned tickets. Members would like notification if unsuccessful in a ballot to reduce anxiety on ballot draw day. The club fed back that their system can’t currently automate this, but it is the most requested feature from all the clubs who use the same provider so may be a future development. There was discussion around the possibility of club-controlled weighting of ballot results based on an individual’s success rate. So, for example, if successful in one ballot you would move to the bottom of the list or become ineligible for the next ballot. Conversely, there could be positive weighting of those who have been unsuccessful for a number of ballots. The ability to enter a ballot by price cap instead of seat category or the ability to enter more than one seat category was requested. The club said this was a possibility but would lead to another step in the ballot process with time constraints if you were successful in the ballot and then needed to log in and select your seat within a set timeframe. There was suggestion from the floor for a system to guarantee at least one game per season for members. Tables discussed unlimited memberships – many members felt they should be limited going forward. § Ideas on the introduction of an NUFC App for all functions in one place eg. Account, Ticket Sales, Ballot Entry etc. Ideas on how to prevent touts/bots/away fans from purchasing tickets. The club reiterated that they have bought third party tickets from resellers in recent months and all have been fake. They have put in increased measures to prevent bots and the challenge is to stay ahead of the game. Members who also attend Newcastle United Women’s games requested a better system for purchasing NUW home tickets. The club will be holding a workshop in March focusing on match day atmosphere. NUST look forward to working with the club to ensure the opinions presented by supporters at this workshop are listened to and acted upon to improve the experience of Newcastle United members. It was great to meet everyone we had the pleasure of chatting to.

A small proportion perhaps, any more than that - No. This was supposed to be about members who don't have season tickets, and how to serve them better. It's pretty tone-deaf to be moaning about not being able to get extra tickets as a season ticket holder, when demand far outstrips supply and members have to feed off scraps as it is. I know it was taken away but it's obvious why it was.

Willock's still mint, he's just not playing with the unbridled joy and freedom you only get from having Steve Bruce as your manager. Smartarse comments aside, he must have been playing further forward. His all-round play last season was great but he should score more.

Hate the idea personally. Not knowing whether you've got a ticket til the day itself is absolutely crap, wherever you're travelling from. Appreciate the touting point but it's an even worse experience for fans imo, at least atm I have some degree of control over whether I go and can usually plan ahead of it a fair bit. Edit - also it could never work. Would presumably lead to more empty seats due to late ballot winners who can no longer go but have no way of resolving the issue.

Ah yeah, like I say cheers for the write-up and looks like some good discussion happened. Hopefully some of the more sensible ideas are implemented where possible.

Cheers, just sounds really flawed then tbh. A workshop about member ballots where much of the discussion is about shifting the needle even further towards season ticket holders who already have a (subsidised, effectively) ticket for every match

Was it not a big theme because the place was filled with season ticket holders? Probably doesn't even register as a priority for the majority of members I'd assume.

Yeah, this sounds absolutely mental Do season ticket holders just think they need to stick their oar into everything? And why did the club select them? This issue has fuck-all to do with them Just read @HaydnNUFC's write-up, cheers for that. Looks like some useful discussion was had but some awful ideas in there as well. Releasing resale tickets the morning of the match? So daft. There also just seems to be a general lack of knowledge among fans about how easy it is to get resale tickets if you're persistent enough, but maybe that's why it's so easy I dunno.

Think if we just ban all of them, that's safest.

kin ell, worra creep.

Who told you?

Must be the nonciest first post we've ever had, well done.