Memberships (2024/25)

[TBG]

7

[Gallowgate Toon]

Silverstone left Arsenal in January 2022 

[Stifler]

15 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

The two systems are virtually identical and I’m reasonably confident they’re also unique compared to rest of league

 

Silverstone has been at both clubs

 

You do the math 

 

 

 

They aren’t. West Ham is similar.

I think it’s a league wide thing, that’s why it takes fucking she’s to get into the stadium, especially on Saturday 3pm’s, because it’s trying to get everyone at every stadium in.

[bobbydazzla]

1 minute ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Silverstone left Arsenal in January 2022 

 

Aye, it's just pure coincidence that we now have exactly the same ticketing system as the Arse

 

Just because he left doesn't mean his commercial plans automatically get chucked in the bin

 

[patrone]

Well he's due to be at the fan event so yous can ask him directly ?

[bobbydazzla]

8 minutes ago, Stifler said:

They aren’t. West Ham is similar.

I think it’s a league wide thing, that’s why it takes fucking she’s to get into the stadium, especially on Saturday 3pm’s, because it’s trying to get everyone at every stadium in.

 

No it's not. I can go on West Ham's website now buy a ticket and choose where I want to sit

 

We're on about ticket buying, not digital tickets

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by bobbydazzla

[Superior Acuña]

On 08/11/2023 at 05:29, ponsaelius said:

Yes I agree with that. I can see the arguments both ways. Games have been coming right down to very low points totals compared to recent seasons (where the totals needed had previously gone daft) so it's obviously worked as intended, but equally plenty lads who have gone to away games for years informally have now been locked out. 

 

I don't know what the solution is. Personally I hate e-tickets but a digital away ticket system would open up the possibility for a limited number of times per season (3-5?) where the name on the ticket can be formally changed before the game (and nobody gets the point). This significantly reduces the potential for empty seats, stops loyalty point hoarding, but allows a degree of reasonable flexibility and doesn't completely shut out the spares market and exiles who don't have STs. I think that is a reasonable middle ground.

 

 

 

 

Yeah I think this is the way to go, and realistic. There'll obviously be the argument that it's still unfair to be able to get tickets through who you know, but the club already accepts that as okay and official for home games, which are also hard to get tickets for now -  so there should be nothing stopping the club.

[bobbydazzla]

4 minutes ago, patrone said:

Well he's due to be at the fan event so yous can ask him directly ?

 

I'm away on 22nd. Otherwise I would have turned up and offered him outside for a straightener, no holds barred                  

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by bobbydazzla

[jack j]

3 minutes ago, Superior Acuña said:

 

Yeah I think this is the way to go, and realistic. There'll obviously be the argument that it's still unfair to be able to get tickets through who you know, but the club already accepts that as okay and official for home games, which are also hard to get tickets for now -  so there should be nothing stopping the club.

Agree someone get to this fan event and get this across to them. I've just applied and realised its the same day as my wife's birthday ffs

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by jack j

[Gallowgate Toon]

36 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

 

Aye, it's just pure coincidence that we now have exactly the same ticketing system as the Arse

 

Just because he left doesn't mean his commercial plans automatically get chucked in the bin

 

Arsenal's Director of Ticketing was there the entire time that Silverstone was bar a few months, we don't use the same ticketing technologies, Silverstone's replacement started in late 2021 and he was likely doing fuck all for the last few months of his tenure. Also, balloting in some form is common across 'big clubs'.

 

Arsenal have a fairly massive business & tech team with suppliers at their beck-and-call - their commercial strategy won't be on the whim of one man, especially one who left a long time ago.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Gallowgate Toon

[patrone]

22 minutes ago, jack j said:

Agree someone get to this fan event and get this across to them. I've just applied and realised its the same day as my wife's birthday ffs

 

 

 

 

I have applied but I doubt I will be there

 

"There will be up to 200 in-person places available and up to 1,000 places to join the event online.

If this event is oversubscribed, we will allocate attendance via a ballot system."

 

Yippee yet another ballot 

[bobbydazzla]

18 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Arsenal's Director of Ticketing was there the entire time that Silverstone was bar a few months, we don't use the same ticketing technologies, Silverstone's replacement started in late 2021 and he was likely doing fuck all for the last few months of his tenure. 

 

Arsenal have a fairly massive business & tech team with suppliers at their beck-and-call - their commercial strategy won't be on the whim of one man, especially one who left a long time ago.

So your view is that it’s coincidence that the only two teams that do ballots and random seat allocations are the two teams that are connected by Silverstone ?

 

An alternative is that SeatGeek are behind it and work with both clubs
 

But it would also require the Ticketing / Commercial / Supporter Experience leaders at each club to sign off on SeatGeek’s radical proposals

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by bobbydazzla

[Gallowgate Toon]

7 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

So your view is that it’s coincidence that the only two teams that do ballots and random seat allocations are the two teams that are connected by Silverstone ?

 

The other alternative is that SeatGeek are behind it and work with both clubs
 

But it would also require the Ticketing / Commercial / Supporter Experience leaders at each club to sign off on SeatGeek’s radical proposals

 

 

Balloting isn't uncommon and Ticketmaster is Arsenal's ticketing provider, not SeatGeek. 

 

My view is that it's a wider strategic decision across multiple people at clubs, potentially triggered by ticketing tech offering new systems. Not driven by one all-powerful individual. I seriously doubt Silverstone or Eales spend much time on ticketing at all, tbh - I imagine a bigger problem is that they're not across it enough and delegate to others who are poor at managing the operational impacts of decisions. The NUFC commercial team are back-and-forth to SA a lot.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Gallowgate Toon

[Sima]

17 minutes ago, patrone said:

 

I have applied but I doubt I will be there

 

"There will be up to 200 in-person places available and up to 1,000 places to join the event online.

If this event is oversubscribed, we will allocate attendance via a ballot system."

 

Yippee yet another ballot 

 

 

 

Parody at this point.

[gdm]

I didn’t even get an email about the fan event 

[patrone]

2 minutes ago, gdm said:

I didn’t even get an email about the fan event 

 

I never even thought about that, I cant see the "event" on the website, so is it like a targeted email to some members?

 

No idea really.

[TBG]

This event?

 

Still shows available for me

 

[wormy]

4 minutes ago, TBG said:

This event?

 

Still shows available for me

 

 

See you there. Can't wait. 

[patrone]

7 minutes ago, TBG said:

This event?

 

Still shows available for me

 

no

 

the Fan event on November the 22nd

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by patrone

[OCOCOL]

1 hour ago, jack j said:

Agree someone get to this fan event and get this across to them. I've just applied and realised its the same day as my wife's birthday ffs

 

 

 

 

Take her you get a free drink

[bobbydazzla]

1 hour ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Balloting isn't uncommon and Ticketmaster is Arsenal's ticketing provider, not SeatGeek. 

 

My view is that it's a wider strategic decision across multiple people at clubs, potentially triggered by ticketing tech offering new systems. Not driven by one all-powerful individual. I seriously doubt Silverstone or Eales spend much time on ticketing at all, tbh - I imagine a bigger problem is that they're not across it enough and delegate to others who are poor at managing the operational impacts of decisions. The NUFC commercial team are back-and-forth to SA a lot.

 

 

 

 

Aye, I don't think Silverstone is some psychotic Ticketing Overlord with an evil masterplan. But I do think it's too much of a coincidence that we have the same system as Arsenal.

 

Arsenal have a very well resourced commercial operation. Supposedly NUFC have a person running ticketing who is a Marketing Manager from the Ashley era and not a ticketing specialist.

So lets assume Arsenal won't have been looking to NUFC for inspiration.

 

When people were moaning to the club last season about 10am queue being unfair and the club decided to get rid of it, it's not too far fetched to think Silverstone used his Arsenal knowledge or contacts to quickly replicate the system they were introducing. 

 

Ticketing is a small part of Silverstone's remit, they're making loads of extra lowey from selling unlimited memberships, ticket prices have been ramped up and the ground is still full every game. Kerching.

What's not to like about that if you're the Commercial Director. Definitely a good news story to share with the top brass when he's in Saudi talking about the big money commercial deals.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by bobbydazzla

[Gallowgate Toon]

Just now, bobbydazzla said:

 

Aye, I don't think Silverstone is some psychotic Ticketing Overlord with an evil masterplan. But I do think it's too much of a coincidence that we have the same system as Arsenal.

 

Arsenal have a very well resourced commercial operation. Supposedly NUFC have a person running ticketing who is a former Marketing Manager from the Ashley era and not a specialist in ticketing.

So lets assume Arsenal won't have been looking to NUFC for inspiration.

 

When people were moaning to the club last season about 10am queue being unfair and the club decided to get rid of it, it's not too far fetched to think Silverstone used his Arsenal experience or contacts to quickly replicate the system they were introducing. 

 

Ticketing is a small part of Silverstone's remit, they're making loads of lowey from selling unlimited memberships, ticket prices have been ramped up and the ground is full every game. Kerching. What's not to like about that if you're the Commercial Director.

Definitely a good news story to share with the top brass when he's in Saudi talking about the big money commercial deals.

 

 

I don't work in ticketing but I've sat in on meetings that have involved ticketing discussions including commercial people at clubs and not one of them has really given a fuck about it outside of hospitality expansion. Quite a few clubs have Directors of Ticketing/equivalent for this reason who look at issues both commercially and operationally. The commercial teams are all about, probably rightly by how they're paid, sponsorship & partnership opportunities at scale and selling LED minutes.

 

Our board are smart and they'll see the net result. A small-ish buffer to the bottom line isn't worth it if they've got to expand supporter services due to disgruntled fans and handling reputational damage.

 

I think it's definitely possible that he got info from former colleagues because the NUFC team is still canny light from what I can tell, I just don't think the ballot thing would've happened directly under him at Arsenal. To my knowledge, ticketing systems are usually worked on in-season for preparation for the next, so I think this work would've happened during 22/23. Random allocations is probably a feature ticketing providers are actively upselling - e.g. I believe Leeds had ballots and random seating last season (perhaps for only certain category fixtures) but not sure if they continued it. 

 

I expect next summer will see big changes if pressure keeps up but it'll be small updates in the interim.

[bobbydazzla]

10 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

I don't work in ticketing but I've sat in on meetings that have involved ticketing discussions including commercial people at clubs and not one of them has really given a fuck about it outside of hospitality expansion. Quite a few clubs have Directors of Ticketing/equivalent for this reason who look at issues both commercially and operationally. The commercial teams are all about, probably rightly by how they're paid, sponsorship & partnership opportunities at scale and selling LED minutes.

 

Our board are smart and they'll see the net result. A small-ish buffer to the bottom line isn't worth it if they've got to expand supporter services due to disgruntled fans and handling reputational damage.

 

I think it's definitely possible that he got info from former colleagues because the NUFC team is still canny light from what I can tell, I just don't think the ballot thing would've happened directly under him at Arsenal. To my knowledge, ticketing systems are usually worked on in-season for preparation for the next, so I think this work would've happened during 22/23. Random allocations is probably a feature ticketing providers are actively upselling - e.g. I believe Leeds had ballots and random seating last season (perhaps for only certain category fixtures) but not sure if they continued it. 

 

I expect next summer will see big changes if pressure keeps up but it'll be small updates in the interim.

 

Yeah, the slapdash way our ticketing process was rolled out suggests it wasn't thoroughly planned in-season and then launched in the summer, like any well thought out process would be

And why I suspect it was a copy n paste from what Arsenal had been planning

 

And if more clubs move to allocated seating driven by the ticketing providers I think that'll be a depressing situation for football grounds. You'd hope the FSA would step in, although not sure what clout they actually have

 

I do think it's really important that pressure is maintained on the club via Supporter Services. The number of people who are pissed off currently must vastly outweigh the numbers who were complaining about the old system

 

 

 

 

[Doctor Zaius]

 

 

Aye brilliant ?

[patrone]

That website has listed our tickets since last season at least, as well as many other clubs.

 

You'd think if they wanted it stopped it would have been by now ?‍♂️