Memberships (2024/25)

[Sima]

The club are not interested in members that go to every game as those are the ones that don't spend any money in the club shop, nor do they buy 3x Chicken Chunks, Chips and a Drink for their kids at HT.

 

If they think they would continue to have the same atmosphere in the ground if it was filled with tourists, they're off their fucking rocker.

 

 

Edited February 14 by Sima

[Groundhog63]

2 minutes ago, Sima said:

The club are not interested in members that go to every game as those are the ones that don't spend any money in the club shop, nor do they buy 3x Chicken Chunks, Chips and a Drink for their kids at HT.

 

If they think they would continue to have the same atmosphere in the ground if it was filled with tourists, they're off their fucking rocker.

 

 

 

 

Timely reminder that the lack of atmosphere is down, soley, to the 35k ST holders. 

 

Best atmospheres over the last few years, imho, PSG, Arse, Leicester, West Ham. Not one of those games riddled with "tourists" 

[bobbydazzla]

14 minutes ago, Sima said:

The club are not interested in members that go to every game as those are the ones that don't spend any money in the club shop, nor do they buy 3x Chicken Chunks, Chips and a Drink for their kids at HT.

 

If they think they would continue to have the same atmosphere in the ground if it was filled with tourists, they're off their fucking rocker.

 

 

 

 

They've got 30,000 ST's who get cheaper tickets than members and also don't spend any money on anything but peeve. Maybe their end game is remove all ST's and make every game available to any punter who fancies it.

That'd put the cat amongst the pigeons....

 

First they came for the Mags members, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Mags member.

Then they came for the Mags+ members, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Mags+ member.

Then they came for the Corporate Box tickets for Wembley, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not in a Corporate Box.

Then they came for me and my Season Ticket —and there was no one left to speak for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14 by bobbydazzla

[Sima]

4 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

 

Timely reminder that the lack of atmosphere is down, soley, to the 35k ST holders. 

 

Best atmospheres over the last few years, imho, PSG, Arse, Leicester, West Ham. Not one of those games riddled with "tourists" 

 

I'll take the first 3 but West Ham?  Last Season?  The atmosphere was fucking horrific at 1-3.

[Groundhog63]

2 minutes ago, Sima said:

 

I'll take the first 3 but West Ham?  Last Season?  The atmosphere was fucking horrific at 1-3.

 

West Ham, March 2014. Barnes double livened it up. I added that game because

a)  we were lucky enough to be at it and 

b) as you say. The 35k ST holders were flat af until we started the comeback. Pretty much standard. 

 

[Geogaddi]

15 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

I'd like NUFC to explain why they can't / won't implement a scheme like Chelsea, or Spurs

A group of members meets the club and actually show them those schemes and say "talk us through why we can't have something like that please"

 

What is their logic to have one set of fans (ST's) holding all the aces and the members getting nothing in return for making the effort to attend games.

Many members attend all 19 games exactly like ST holders do, the only difference is that they pay for their 19 tickets up-front (often paying less than members) and have the same seat every time

 

It makes no sense to me to have the current bare bones scheme. They would get some much more positivity by putting in place something like Chelsea's, it's such an easy PR win for the club

If there's reasons why they can't do it, then it'd be nice to know what those reasons are

 

 

 

 

It's a tricky one but how do they do it ? You can't just expect a season ticket holder whose been going 10, 20, 30 , 40 years, all of a sudden to be getting told they no longer get priority over a member who has never had a season ticket and now wants to go to more games because we are a good team. 

[bobbydazzla]

22 minutes ago, Geogaddi said:

It's a tricky one but how do they do it ? You can't just expect a season ticket holder whose been going 10, 20, 30 , 40 years, all of a sudden to be getting told they no longer get priority over a member who has never had a season ticket and now wants to go to more games because we are a good team. 

 

Have you had a look at the Chelsea scheme ? 

 

In simple terms; Members build points by going to games. The less attractive or further away the game, the more points they get.

 

When it comes to Cup Finals, Away Games, Season Ticket waiting list, there's a minimum number of points required. So a member that goes to loads of games, gets priority over members who don't.

But they won't get priority over someone with an ST who's been going to all league and cup games.

 

Currently, our scheme means it doesn't matter if a member went to 19 league games and all cup games, they're at the same level of priority as someone on the opposite end of the scale who might have paid a £40 fee, clicked on a ballot entry once and has never set foot inside SJP.

 

The Chelsea scheme for members is the same methodology as our scheme for ST's: People who go to the most games, getting recognition and priority over ones who don't. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14 by bobbydazzla

[SteV]

5 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

 

Have you had a look at the Chelsea scheme ? 

 

In simple terms; Members build points by going to games. The less attractive or further away the game, the more points they get.

 

When it comes to Cup Finals, Away Games, Season Ticket waiting list, there's a minimum number of points required. So a member that goes to loads of games, gets priority over members who don't.

But they won't get priority over someone with an ST who's been going to all league and cup games.

 

Currently, our scheme means it doesn't matter if a member went to 19 league games and all cup games, they're at the same level of priority as someone on the opposite end of the scale who might have paid a £40 fee, clicked on a ballot entry once and has never set foot inside SJP.

 

The Chelsea scheme for members is the same methodology as our scheme for ST's: People who go to the most games, getting priority over ones who don't. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The question I’d have is how do you start it off? 
 

I’m guessing it’s something like ‘these members have been to X home games so that makes them eligible for this away game’?

 

The complaints you’ll get with that, is people saying ‘well I can’t get to home games, cos I can’t win a ballot’.

 

You and others will point out (with plenty of justification) that you have to invest the time in the resale to get the home tickets.

 

But you’re just going to end up with the same complaints that we had pre-ballot, where people say ‘I’m not free at X time to join a queue, so what am I supposed to do?’.

[LFEE]

Without knowing much about Chelsea’s ST/Membership scheme @bobbydazzla it was notable when Talksport did a discussion on secondary tickets etc Chelsea fans weren’t happy with their ticket schemes and policies. 
 

Let’s wait to see what happens when all the tickets are sold before we judge Cup Final distribution. The fact that it’s the Corporate lot making all the noise about being shafted somewhat goes against the narrative that the club are just looking after its most wealthiest supporters.

 

To answer @Interpolic fair question I’d suggest the 1k membership tickets have gone to the Clubs Sponsors (along with some of the Corporate tickets which has been a confirmed with them direct) In 2023 the club had hardly any sponsorship but then we went through a period of seemingly announcing a new one every month. All of these will expect tickets for games especially major ones like a cup finals. Even the staff running the club will of doubled since that first final so their allocation would’ve went up also. Add also that this years overall allocation is around 2-3K smaller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14 by LFEE

[bobbydazzla]

6 minutes ago, SteV said:

The question I’d have is how do you start it off? 
 

I’m guessing it’s something like ‘these members have been to X home games so that makes them eligible for this away game’?

 

The complaints you’ll get with that, is people saying ‘well I can’t get to home games, cos I can’t win a ballot’.

 

You and others will point out (with plenty of justification) that you have to invest the time in the resale to get the home tickets.

 

But you’re just going to end up with the same complaints that we had pre-ballot, where people say ‘I’m not free at X time to join a queue, so what am I supposed to do?’.

 

Aye, but you could make that same argument in any number of circumstances.

 

"I have a Season Ticket but my job and family commitments means I can't go to many away games. Why should people who can invest their time and money to go to every away game have priority over me for Makems away, or a cup final ?"

 

If someone was proposing that argument, most people would quite rightly tell them to get to fuck.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14 by bobbydazzla

[SteV]

Just now, bobbydazzla said:

 

If someone was proposing that argument, most people would quite rightly tell them to get to fuck.

They listened to that argument enough to bring the ballots in…

[bobbydazzla]

Which ballots ? As I'm completely locked out of Away games I don't pay that much attention to them

 

Isn't Away games done on points accumulated, then if it drops below a certain level ST holders with no / low points can apply and attempt to build their points ?

 

Or are you on about Home ballots ? 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14 by bobbydazzla

[SteV]

14 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

Which ballots ? As I'm completely locked out of Away games I don't pay that much attention to them

 

Isn't Away games done on points accumulated, then if it drops below a certain level ST holders with no / low points can apply and attempt to build their points ?

 

Or are you on about Home ballots ? 

 

 

 

Well both home and away ballots really.

 

Alright, the away ballots are only for ST holders with fewer points.

 

But my main point is the whole argument for bringing in home ballots was people complaining that they couldn’t be available at a certain time when the sale went live, and the club decided that was fair enough and introduced the ballots. 
 

You’d get the similar type arguments if they introduced something like what it seems Chelsea do, ‘I can’t get into home games cos I haven’t got the time for resale, so I can’t get any points’.

 

I’ll point out that I’m not advocating this argument, just saying that the club have listened to it already.

 

Having said all that, I agree there needs to be some form of tiered membership, however that comes about. And given it’ll be impossible to come up with a ‘fair’ system for everyone, maybe they do need to just decide on a method and upset some people.

[patrone]

We've had memeberships as long as they have been available, and its only the last two seasons that I feel pissed off with the way the club treats us.

 

Bringing in the ballots on the "advice" of a minority, removing the option of cup scheme without any notice, and when you complain it just gets batted aside.

 

I cant see me bothering in future, unfortunately

 

 

Edited February 14 by patrone

[Wallsendmag]

2 hours ago, LFEE said:

Without knowing much about Chelsea’s ST/Membership scheme @bobbydazzla it was notable when Talksport did a discussion on secondary tickets etc Chelsea fans weren’t happy with their ticket schemes and policies. 
 

Let’s wait to see what happens when all the tickets are sold before we judge Cup Final distribution. The fact that it’s the Corporate lot making all the noise about being shafted somewhat goes against the narrative that the club are just looking after its most wealthiest supporters.

 

To answer @Interpolic fair question I’d suggest the 1k membership tickets have gone to the Clubs Sponsors (along with some of the Corporate tickets which has been a confirmed with them direct) In 2023 the club had hardly any sponsorship but then we went through a period of seemingly announcing a new one every month. All of these will expect tickets for games especially major ones like a cup finals. Even the staff running the club will of doubled since that first final so their allocation would’ve went up also. Add also that this years overall allocation is around 2-3K smaller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chelsea fans complaints centre around the following things;

 

They belive that their owner who has a stake in some American ticketing resale site is skimming tickets to flog across the pond at a huge mark up.

 

Secondly they're hampered by having a small stadium. 40k capacity. They reckon there's as few as 3k tickets going on sale for general admission areas these days.

 

This brings me to point 3. They've removed a lot of GA areas and replaced them with corporate seats in both the East and west stands, meaning there's even fewer seats available to normal supporters.

 

When you look at their actual membership scheme it's a pretty fair one. Members being recognised and rewarded for their loyalty in exactly the same way as their ST holders. The problem they have is that since their new owners came in it's become more difficult than ever to access tickets.

 

An interesting point that also should be made is that Chelsea floated the idea of switching to a ballot style system last year like what we have and they had so much resistance from the supporters that they didn't go ahead with it. People preferring to take their chances on muliltiple devices at 10am as we used to.

 

@SteVwas asking when could they implement changes. I'd say this summer. In no way am I suggesting removing any loyalty points from ST holders but at least allow members to start earning them themselves. Make a % of away tickets available to members as well. It's hardly a radical thing to do. Most other clubs do it.

 

Another thing worth pointing out is that we are the only club who's loyalty points scheme goes back to the 1990s. Most other clubs operate a 3 year rolling scheme, Chelsea actually reset theirs every summer.

 

Something needs to happen because a very large % of the fanbase is being badly short changed and excluded as things stand. I know of loads of people who bought memberships a couple of seasons back who don't have them any more because they felt it was a waste of time and money.

 

 

Edited February 14 by Wallsendmag

[Bellis80]

The membership scheme is tiered. It’s just tiered with season ticket holders and those with loyalty points at the top of it so people don’t like it.

[SteV]

4 minutes ago, Bellis80 said:

The membership scheme is tiered. It’s just tiered with season ticket holders and those with loyalty points at the top of it so people don’t like it.

Well alright then, it needs further tiers underneath that.

[bobbydazzla]

27 minutes ago, Bellis80 said:

The membership scheme is tiered. It’s just tiered with season ticket holders and those with loyalty points at the top of it so people don’t like it.

What people don’t like is that it’s absolutely impossible to get out of the bottom tier of membership. There is no way to do it.  
 

And the bottom tier of membership offers nothing apart from the ability to buy a ticket and some retail discounts that no one cares about 

 

 

Edited February 14 by bobbydazzla

[Wallsendmag]

34 minutes ago, Bellis80 said:

The membership scheme is tiered. It’s just tiered with season ticket holders and those with loyalty points at the top of it so people don’t like it.

 

Not sure you're grasping the concept of tiered membership here, certainly in football terms.

[Geogaddi]

How would a tiered membership even work ? Everyone would want to be in the top tier for obvious reasons so then it would still be a case of entering a ballot to get to a match which then got you into the top tier . Those that didn't get in would then complain and say it's unfair .

[mattypnufc]

1 minute ago, Geogaddi said:

How would a tiered membership even work ? Everyone would want to be in the top tier for obvious reasons so then it would still be a case of entering a ballot to get to a match which then got you into the top tier . Those that didn't get in would then complain and say it's unfair .

I think it would just be based on how many games you've went to....that would be my guess? 

[bobbydazzla]

11 minutes ago, Geogaddi said:

How would a tiered membership even work ? Everyone would want to be in the top tier for obvious reasons so then it would still be a case of entering a ballot to get to a match which then got you into the top tier . Those that didn't get in would then complain and say it's unfair .

 

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/loyalty-points

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/chelsea-official-memberships

Our away games have tiers and whilst it’s not perfect and is open to being abused, at least in the main it rewards and prioritises people who are putting in the miles to follow us home & away, rather than putting every single one of the 30,000 ST holders into a solitary group 

 

 

Edited February 14 by bobbydazzla

[Wallsendmag]

15 minutes ago, Geogaddi said:

How would a tiered membership even work ? Everyone would want to be in the top tier for obvious reasons so then it would still be a case of entering a ballot to get to a match which then got you into the top tier . Those that didn't get in would then complain and say it's unfair .

 

Of course everyone wants to be in the higher tiers but you'd have to earn the right to get there by attending games both home and away. The more games you attend the more points you accumulate.

 

I would include home games in that as well, so season ticket holders for example would immediately get a 19 point start every season and a member who went to 12 home games over the season for example would be awarded 12 points (plus any aways). Maybe offer 2 or 3 points for away games and keep back a % of tickets for members.

 

At the end of the season, say there's 500 STs up for grabs through people not renewing the club could look at the points of the top 500 members, work out the threshold, and say members on X amount of points can apply for a season ticket.

 

It's not exactly radical thinking. It's just what our competitors are doing.

 

If they want to build the fanbase, which was one of the things the new owners committed to, you can't operate a closed shop ticketing policy.

[Geogaddi]

1 hour ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Of course everyone wants to be in the higher tiers but you'd have to earn the right to get there by attending games both home and away. The more games you attend the more points you accumulate.

 

I would include home games in that as well, so season ticket holders for example would immediately get a 19 point start every season and a member who went to 12 home games over the season for example would be awarded 12 points (plus any aways). Maybe offer 2 or 3 points for away games and keep back a % of tickets for members.

 

At the end of the season, say there's 500 STs up for grabs through people not renewing the club could look at the points of the top 500 members, work out the threshold, and say members on X amount of points can apply for a season ticket.

 

It's not exactly radical thinking. It's just what our competitors are doing.

 

If they want to build the fanbase, which was one of the things the new owners committed to, you can't operate a closed shop ticketing policy.

It would still be massively dependant on a ballot though as demand from members to even attend the games would be huge , you would have to put them all in a ballot to decide who actually got to attend and then the lucky ones would be allowed to build up points and the rest would be no better off than they are now .

[mattypnufc]

1 minute ago, Geogaddi said:

It would still be massively dependant on a ballot though as demand from members to even attend the games would be huge , you would have to put them all in a ballot to decide who actually got to attend and then the lucky ones would be allowed to build up points and the rest would be no better off than they are now .

Or the ones who spend hours on the site actively trying to get tickets after being unsuccessful in a ballot, aka some kind of basic reward for trying their hardest to attend.  I've been successful once this season in the ballot, yet been to every single game, by no means a simple 'Apply for ballot' and forget about it. Sometimes its been hours worth of trying over the course of a few weeks when I've been looking on resale.

 

I'm not saying this is me being better or more deserving than anybody else, but the fuck on (or so some people have said) all ST holders have had queuing and then adding tickets to baskets for the cup final.  Try that 2/3 times per month for the full season.  For at least 19 games.  And then the cups.  And all of last season.  The CL games too. Thats more dedication and fucking about that someone applying for a ballot and then going 'meh - didn't get one', hence the discussion around a tiering system.