Match Atmosphere

[Danh1]

I’ve defo noticed ticket sharing is more rife like, I went to Villa and Forest on other people’s tickets and the ST holders didn’t bat an eyelid

 

Mind I didn’t think Forest was that great as a whole, felt like only part of the away end was singing most of the time. Was class after the goals mind, and where I was there was loads of regular travellers. 

[OCOCOL]

I know anecdotally of one lad who’s ticket (that he got from a ST holder) was stopped at forest - the club official gave him a ticket as he was related to the ST holder so had the same surname and a plausible reason why the named person couldn’t go. The lad has lots of points so could have got a ticket himself and had gone last minute as he lives in midlands and got the ticket off the holders mate. They were told it would be reported to club and the holder would probably still lose all his points. 

[TheDimpleboy]

39 minutes ago, Danh1 said:

I’ve defo noticed ticket sharing is more rife like, I went to Villa and Forest on other people’s tickets and the ST holders didn’t bat an eyelid

 

Mind I didn’t think Forest was that great as a whole, felt like only part of the away end was singing most of the time. Was class after the goals mind, and where I was there was loads of regular travellers. 

 

Funny you should say that, seemed quiet on telly compared to villa/Fulham 

[Dr.Spaceman]

How was he caught @OCOCOL? Surely they're only checking a very small number of tickets, he must have been incredibly unlucky.

 

 

Edited February 13 by Dr.Spaceman

[jack j]

15 minutes ago, OCOCOL said:

I know anecdotally of one lad who’s ticket (that he got from a ST holder) was stopped at forest - the club official gave him a ticket as he was related to the ST holder so had the same surname and a plausible reason why the named person couldn’t go. The lad has lots of points so could have got a ticket himself and had gone last minute as he lives in midlands and got the ticket off the holders mate. They were told it would be reported to club and the holder would probably still lose all his points. 

Ouch. Ridiculous that like. No mercy from the fuckers

[Wallsendmag]

3 hours ago, SteV said:

I think more people are just prepared to take the risk, knowing checks are not happening at every game, and even if they are, the odds are still in your favour.

 

I wouldn’t say it’s back to being “rife” mind. The points that games are selling out on are still nowhere near what they were last season.

 

From what I'm hearing this is exactly it. The risk of getting caught is very low and even if your ticket doesn't work it's just a case of sitting in the nearest pub whilst the match on which people are happy to do. If you don't turn up to collect your ticket and the club flag it up you can just say your car broke down or something came up at the last minute and you couldn't go.

 

For games like Blackburn for example, a 7,500 allocation means that you are extremely unlucky to get picked out whereas the likes of Luton away with only 1,100 meant people were less likely to risk it. All about weighing up the odds really, and if they're in your favour people more likely to risk it. Certainly Blackburn and Man Utd in the cup appear to be the 2 games where ticket sharing is happening the most.

[LFEE]

4 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

From what I'm hearing this is exactly it. The risk of getting caught is very low and even if your ticket doesn't work it's just a case of sitting in the nearest pub whilst the match on which people are happy to do. If you don't turn up to collect your ticket and the club flag it up you can just say your car broke down or something came up at the last minute and you couldn't go.

 

For games like Blackburn for example, a 7,500 allocation means that you are extremely unlucky to get picked out whereas the likes of Luton away with only 1,100 meant people were less likely to risk it. All about weighing up the odds really, and if they're in your favour people more likely to risk it. Certainly Blackburn and Man Utd in the cup appear to be the 2 games where ticket sharing is happening the most.

How can you claim your car broke down if you’ve attempted to get in and the club has a record of that via the turnstile interaction?

[Slim]

2 hours ago, LFEE said:

How can you claim your car broke down if you’ve attempted to get in and the club has a record of that via the turnstile interaction?

 

[Wallsendmag]

2 hours ago, LFEE said:

How can you claim your car broke down if you’ve attempted to get in and the club has a record of that via the turnstile interaction?

 

Do NUFC actually get a record off the home club that the ticket has been attempted to be scanned? 

 

I've heard they don't off someone who was refused entry at a match earlier in the season (Sheff Utd). They ended up missing the match but the original ticket holder was never contacted.

[SteV]

2 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Do NUFC actually get a record off the home club that the ticket has been attempted to be scanned? 

 

I've heard they don't off someone who was refused entry at a match earlier in the season (Sheff Utd). They ended up missing the match but the original ticket holder was never contacted.

I think anecdotally, people have heard both versions.

 

To me it would seem a fairly pointless exercise if they don’t, however you could argue it was all about just creating that deterrent and fear factor.

 

You’d also be a tad miffed it you’d lost all your points and it turned out that if the person who was trying to get in hadn’t gone to the box office (in what was presumably a fairly pointless exercise), you’d have been alright.

 

So if I had to guess I’d say they do get that info, but I’m not basing that on any actual evidence.

 

 

[GeordieDazzler]

 

Didn’t realise palace had banned them from doing displays. 

Glad to see someone taking a stand against the blight on our game that is pre game laser shows. 

 

[Danh1]

21 minutes ago, GeordieDazzler said:

 

Didn’t realise palace had banned them from doing displays. 

Glad to see someone taking a stand against the blight on our game that is pre game laser shows. 

 

Aye I agree with them. Those light shows are cringeworthy as fuck.

[jack j]

Not as cringeworthy as them palace "ultras" though

Which says a lot cos the light shows are shite as well

[NUFC91]

On 13/02/2024 at 13:59, SteV said:

I think anecdotally, people have heard both versions.

 

To me it would seem a fairly pointless exercise if they don’t, however you could argue it was all about just creating that deterrent and fear factor.

 

You’d also be a tad miffed it you’d lost all your points and it turned out that if the person who was trying to get in hadn’t gone to the box office (in what was presumably a fairly pointless exercise), you’d have been alright.

 

So if I had to guess I’d say they do get that info, but I’m not basing that on any actual evidence.

 

 

 

I wonder how they actually choose which tickets they send to local ticket office though. Because obviously corporate tickets arent named and against club so that takes out a percentage of tickets so presume just random allocation of seson ticket holders.

 

My issue on this system though is if your ticket bounces 20 mins before kick off by the time you go to the local ticket office to collect your ticket your definetly going to miss kickoff. I'd not be happy if i had to faff on doing that.

 

There must be easier way to do it?

 

 

Edited February 15 by NUFC91

[SteV]

4 minutes ago, NUFC91 said:

 

I wonder how they actually choose which tickets they send to local ticket office though. Because obviously corporate tickets arent named and against club so that takes out a percentage of tickets so presume just random allocation of seson ticket holders.

 

My issue on this system though is if your ticket bounces 20 mins before kick off by the time you go to the local ticket office to collect your ticket your definetly going to miss kickoff. I'd not be happy if i had to faff on doing that.

 

There must be easier way to do it?

 

 

 

They won’t confirm this (obviously) but it’s fairly clear that there’s been an effort to target people who run buses and people that travel with them.

 

Some people would say that’s probably fair enough as that’s where a lot of the ‘passing on’ of tickets was taking place.

 

I agree, as I think the majority of fans do, that the way this is currently implemented isn’t really very sensible. People may agree with the overall principle of what they’re trying to achieve, but as you say, it’s potentially a massive pain in the arse if you are picked.

 

Brighton do something where you get notified 48hrs ahead that you will have to pick your ticket up (with ID) at a designated location, in the couple of hours before ko.

 

Maybe that’s more sensible, although I then don’t know what approach you take towards people who don’t turn up?

 

I think eventually some kind of limited away ticket transfer system will get put in place, which may help, but even then you’ve still got to have some form of checking in place otherwise it’s a waste of time.

[HaydnNUFC]

Any form of 'checking in' or involving ID in some way I find vehemently draconian. Passing tickets on to family members or mates when you can't go is surely just a part of football fan culture? Understand this may be coming from an incredibly selfish POV, like.

[Doctor Zaius]

The whole checking tickets thing is absolutely pathetic from the club, period. Absolute nonsense and they can get to fuck. 

[jack j]

14 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

Any form of 'checking in' or involving ID in some way I find vehemently draconian. Passing tickets on to family members or mates when you can't go is surely just a part of football fan culture?

Course it is

Never get the chance to take my youngun anymore cos of these shite rules.

[NUFC91]

Aye living in the south last 10 years i have met some quality lads travelling to away games. One in particular went to 18 away games in the last championship season but now struggling to get any tickets because joe bloggs feels unhappy he can't get a ticket at spurs for his insta post on how amazing their ground is. Like he said at the time it was financially between buying a season ticket or away games which he choose.

[SteV]

1 hour ago, HaydnNUFC said:

Any form of 'checking in' or involving ID in some way I find vehemently draconian. Passing tickets on to family members or mates when you can't go is surely just a part of football fan culture? Understand this may be coming from an incredibly selfish POV, like.

Of course, but it was clearly reaching a point last season where the number of points that EVERY game was selling out on was getting ridiculous.

 

You basically had to have 50+ points or know ‘someone’ to stand any chance whatsoever of getting to an away game.

 

Not saying I agree with what they’ve come up with, but I understand why they felt they had to do something.

 

As I say I think some kind of transferability will help to a degree, but if they knock checking on the head completely, we’ll be straight back to where we were last season.

 

 

Edited February 15 by SteV

[Dan Gleebals]

I am not a season ticket holder and nor do I live in Newcastle.  However, I know lots of people who are. 

I must have bought well over 150 away tickets though friends, for myself and friends who prefer away games.  Tickets were always at face value, and we never sold a single ticket on for profit - we gave them away if we could not go.  So for me, the old system worked fine, if it was not abused, which clearly it can be.  Yes my firends now have shit loads of loyalty points and can always get tickets, but I do not see any harm in that - they could just as easily go to away games, and often do.  And no, I did not get a final ticket - through him.   

[Scoot]

1 hour ago, HaydnNUFC said:

Any form of 'checking in' or involving ID in some way I find vehemently draconian. Passing tickets on to family members or mates when you can't go is surely just a part of football fan culture? Understand this may be coming from an incredibly selfish POV, like.

 

I agree about passing on tickets if you can't go but it was completely obvious people were just buying tickets to sell on to get the loyalty point for every single away game with absolutely no intention of going whatsoever. That's what I don't agree with. 

 

That's just hoarding loyalty points and looking after yourself.

[Wallsendmag]

40 minutes ago, SteV said:

Of course, but it was clearly reaching a point last season where the number of points that EVERY game was selling out on was getting ridiculous.

 

You basically had to have 50+ points or know ‘someone’ to stand any chance whatsoever of getting to an away game.

 

Not saying I agree with what they’ve come up with, but I understand why they felt they had to do something.

 

As I say I think some kind of transferability will help to a degree, but if they knock checking on the head completely, we’ll be straight back to where we were last season.

 

 

 

 

It only became a problem because a lot of people suddenly decided they fancied away games now we had a good team and they were more likely to see a win. People never complained about being unable to obtain away tickets when we were shite!

 

I'd rather have kept it the same and allowed the lads and lasses who'd been filling away ends all over the Country when we've been worse than shite to enjoy the better times as it's them who deserve it, not the JCLs.

 

Away games have always been more Ad hoc. 70s and 80s it would often be decided in a pub on theFriday night and groups of lads would pile into Transit vans the next day to wherever we were playing.

 

Then the 90s came and games became all ticket so ways were found around that by ticket sharing, a mate sorting you, or a mate of a mate etc. It's basically what our away support has been built on.

 

Just a real shame that so many people, people who made our away support famous throughout the county and further afield for their noise and passion, now aren't allowed to go.

[SteV]

15 minutes ago, Dan Gleebals said:

I am not a season ticket holder and nor do I live in Newcastle.  However, I know lots of people who are. 

I must have bought well over 150 away tickets though friends, for myself and friends who prefer away games.  Tickets were always at face value, and we never sold a single ticket on for profit - we gave them away if we could not go.  So for me, the old system worked fine, if it was not abused, which clearly it can be.  Yes my firends now have shit loads of loyalty points and can always get tickets, but I do not see any harm in that - they could just as easily go to away games, and often do.  And no, I did not get a final ticket - through him.   

I agree in that it was rarely abused in terms of direct touting (probably did go on a little bit, but certainly not to the point where it was a major issue).

 

But they had they had to open up a door to youngsters to accumulate their own points somehow.

 

People complained recently (rightly or wrongly) about the away following at the mackems being made up of ‘oldies’. 
 

If we didn’t do something to start getting youngsters to accrue points, that would only get worse.

[ponsaelius]

I'm definitely of the view that there is a happy medium to strike. I say that as somebody who once had a ST with 50ish points, and has since been to many aways relying on others for tickets. 

 

The points system last year had effectively become an arms race, as if you didn't get one for every game you fell behind others who did. So people with high points totals would buy them even if they had no intention of going, safe in the knowledge you'd always be able to pass it on with such huge demand. In addition to this while above face value touting has never really happened in my experience, bus+ticket deals that are commonplace are effectively a backdoor form of touting and hoovered up a huge amount of tickets. Again those supplying their STs to buses were always happy to do so to keep getting loyalty points rolling in and maintain status quo and permanent access when they did want to go.

 

The club probably were right to crack this situation as it was becoming a closed shop and had effectively taken sales control away from the club. The measures have drastically lowered the points threshold which is a good thing for those seeking to build points on their own tickets.

 

The flip side of this is there are a lot of fans who have gone to away games for years on other people's tickets who are marginalised and unless have very trusting friends are now completely unable to go. Some of these people have done more miles than most and now miss out on the good times.

 

The compromise is clearly there to be struck where deterrent remains, but there is increased flexibility for ticket transfers to known individuals over the course of the season. I would support awarding no points in these cases, so there is no incentive for people to do it just for the point but also no way to queue jump points accumulation for the individuals receiving them. IMO this is likely to result in a pretty fair equilibrium while also preventing the unsightly situation of empty seats in the away end when there's something like a last minute rail strike.

 

 

Edited February 15 by ponsaelius