Yes @Malone friend purchased a junior season ticket to give him an opportunity for himself and son to watch the spurs match instead of chancing general sale.
@DJWYC14 thanks again for the posts but it would be great go know at some stage why and who shut down the free open discussions on the change in rules half way through the process. I'm not sure that kind of censorship sits right in a supporters owned club.
One of the questions on the Facebook poll is quite interesting:
'Do you feel that the allocation structure was adhered to (eg, season ticket holders buying one ticket in phase one were not allowed to purchase is phases two and three'
I missed out on getting tickets from Wycombe this morning, but having benefited from my share of allocation structures in the past (e.g my first ever away game was Huddersfield Town when we only had 100 odd tickets because of it being the first game in the ground), it was probably due!
As a trust member, I do hope the trust review the position in terms of general sale / 4 per sale & any issues with distributing in phase 3, next time we are in this position (hopefully Saturday night).
@Malone I believe we have approx 1700 STH's so sometimes they'd be in the majority but often not. More to the point, over the course of a season there are more than 1700 non STH's that attend at least some games at AP.
From the Custom Charter 2016 (the current version I believe):
Cup Competitions
Where high demand is expected for a cup match, tickets will be offered to fans based on a priority scheme
which will operate as follows:
i. Season Ticket Holders* for the current season
ii. Half Season Ticket Holders or other Season Ticket concessions holders
iii. Those who, as determined by bookings on the WWFC ticket database, have attended the highest number of home matches for the current season – the number will be determined depending on the fixture.
iv. General Sale
Why weren't those who bought tickets to home games (really should be away games too IMO) included in the priority windows?
@ReadingMarginalista said:
From the Custom Charter 2016 (the current version I believe):
Cup Competitions
Where high demand is expected for a cup match, tickets will be offered to fans based on a priority scheme
which will operate as follows:
i. Season Ticket Holders* for the current season
ii. Half Season Ticket Holders or other Season Ticket concessions holders
iii. Those who, as determined by bookings on the WWFC ticket database, have attended the highest number of home matches for the current season – the number will be determined depending on the fixture.
iv. General Sale
Why weren't those who bought tickets to home games (really should be away games too IMO) included in the priority windows?
Away games is hard to do as so many pay on the gate.
A friend of mine has a membership with spurs.....so I had the decision to make last week either try and get tickets in spurs end or risk it and wait for general sale this morning. I only was eligible for gen sale so thank goodness I went for the spurs option. Managed to get a home ticket - Hate to be in the wrong end but I'm close enough to u lot to quietly hum the chairboy songs.
'The plan has delivered the forecasted ticket sales'
What the hell is that supposed to mean. The tickets sold out. They were always going to sell out. Any policy would have resulted in them selling out. This policy has resulted in a need to release a statement about the issues in selling those tickets.
Still interested in finding out who gave the communication blackout instruction @DJWYC14 . Your help was very much appreciated until that point.
No sour grapes from me, I would have liked to go, I don't go often, I don't have a ticket, fair enough, I have no right to one. Inevitably if you have demand for say 8000 and 4000 tickets some people are going to be disappointed.
I totally get the logic of season ticket holders and share scheme investors getting first dibs. That seems entirely fair to me. I don't quite understand why they get two tickets though. I am sure there is a sensible explanation, just cant quite think what it is (I get they may sit with someone at the game, but surely that person if he goes regularly is either a STH himself or should get a ticket under "regular attender, second priority" process. ) Could someone gently explain what I am missing.
@DevC said:
No sour grapes from me, I would have liked to go, I don't go often, I don't have a ticket, fair enough, I have no right to one. Inevitably if you have demand for say 8000 and 4000 tickets some people are going to be disappointed.
I totally get the logic of season ticket holders and share scheme investors getting first dibs. That seems entirely fair to me. I don't quite understand why they get two tickets though. I am sure there is a sensible explanation, just cant quite think what it is (I get they may sit with someone at the game, but surely that person if he goes regularly is either a STH himself or should get a ticket under "regular attender, second priority" process. ) Could someone gently explain what I am missing.
None of my friends who regularly attend would, as being a season ticket holder, I buy all the tickets generally/ they just buy them on the day without any details handed over
Sorry don't understand. You buy tickets and they give you the cash for them? If so I understand the problem now. Why do you do it this way, may I ask, is it cheaper or somehow easier?
Actually I think there is a wider problem here, I don't recall always being asked for a post ocde or other identification when I buy a ticket on the day, so not sure the club would know about even the few games I do go to.
At least they've finally confessed to an error - that's something at least. Every organisation is liable to a balls up and it can be forgiven if it's learned from.
And a website crash under ticket selling pressure is hardly news - frustrating as it is.
As a STH I don't think I should be able to get more than one ticket, so I agree with Dev on that.
For me it should've been:
A: 1 each for STH's, share or 500 club (regardless of how many the individual does)
B: 1 each to anyone signing up for those schemes after the draw
C: 1 each to people who've been to a certain number of home games (the away thing seems too random to work out) Scramble
Agree with both @arnos_grove and @sandsexile I think a Blues card or something similar means anyone who is a member can purchase tickets prior to general sale. Allows the club to track how many games people attend.
They were certain with what was said. It was clarified and clarified in various questions on here. It was certain.
The smug bit about their forecast being correct is sketchy too. Were there really 473 left today? If so how did they go so super quickly?
Lots of doubts over the whole thing.
They did their best with the right intentions. It was always going to be hard to keep everyone happy. Made a small error, apologised and explained. Have also promised to take feedback ahead of similar games in future.
And tried to organise a live TV feed to the ground but weren't permitted.
Hmm now I'm not gonna sit here and start calling for peoples' heads, but I really don't think the whole situation was good enough. Even the 'apology'.
I may have missed something but all I'm seeing is very much a 'sorry if perhaps things were miscommunicated a tad at some stage', rather than a 'we completely backtracked on the announcement which we emailed supporters at the very start of the process, decided to change the rules, and as a result reduced the number of general sale tickets by over 500'.
I also have some reservations re: how general sales today were handled, leading to a lot of disappointment, and perhaps resentment towards the club in the future, from several hundred supporters who won't feel they were given much of a chance in this morning's lottery.
My business handles this sort of thing on a daily basis, and I appreciate WW only has cause to worry about oversubscription of tickets once in a blue moon. Of course we should be happy that we are in a position where lots of people want to see us play in such a big and exciting game, but with the infrastructure the club has, it was nothing short of ridiculous to be able to handle three 'concurrent' sales streams.
If you really want to accept phone calls, online orders and deal with physical sales, you really have to split the allocation between the three properly. Say for example, the night before, ok, we've put 150 tickets online, 100 for phone customers, and 200 for physical sales.
I went down to the ground this morning to see how they handled things. Yes, I already have my tickets, for myself and everyone coming with me.
10AM: Ticket windows didn't open, ticket link not added online, phones still on hold
10:05AM: ONE ticket window open, 'error' with online sales not functioning
10:10AM: Second ticket window open, still no online sales
10:15AM: Online link appears, tickets sell out online within 3 minutes
10:20AM: Soon as the online link disappeared, people at ground are told game is sold out.
I think it is quite obvious that online sales at the level we're talking (c. 400 tickets) would sell out instantly. And I appreciate some online sales are needed to give people who may otherwise not make it a chance at least. But I'm almost certain they just put the whole allocation online, by some miracle there was an error in the system and the first 20 people in the physical queue had managed to buy their tickets by the time the link went live.
The whole thing was very amateurish. By not separating the allocations there were farcical scenes down at AP - tickets having to be handed BACK as they'd already been sold online, and one person on the phone half way through giving over card details when he was told the game was sold out and hung up on!
If the club did not have the resources to manage things smoothly, it would have made much more sense to just put half online, half in person, and forget the phone calls entirely. At least people would have known where they stood.
That is my rant, and that is without even going into the 'priority' structure.
Let's just say I don't think it was fair on a large number of fans.
Comments
Poll to feedback on Spurs tickets:
https://apps.facebook.com/my-polls/form/fa-cup-vs-tottenham-ticket-allocation?from=admin_wall
This feedback will be picked up in the Fans Council. Not sure if you need a Facebook account to participate?
Also feel free to send any thoughts / comments to [email protected]
Yes @Malone friend purchased a junior season ticket to give him an opportunity for himself and son to watch the spurs match instead of chancing general sale.
@Wycombe85 , it''ll be Bradford away, as i think you know deep down ;-)
@arnos_grove , spot on pal. People who turn up in a thread to moan about how dull it is, really are peculiar specimens.
@DJWYC14 thanks again for the posts but it would be great go know at some stage why and who shut down the free open discussions on the change in rules half way through the process. I'm not sure that kind of censorship sits right in a supporters owned club.
One of the questions on the Facebook poll is quite interesting:
'Do you feel that the allocation structure was adhered to (eg, season ticket holders buying one ticket in phase one were not allowed to purchase is phases two and three'
I missed out on getting tickets from Wycombe this morning, but having benefited from my share of allocation structures in the past (e.g my first ever away game was Huddersfield Town when we only had 100 odd tickets because of it being the first game in the ground), it was probably due!
As a trust member, I do hope the trust review the position in terms of general sale / 4 per sale & any issues with distributing in phase 3, next time we are in this position (hopefully Saturday night).
@Malone I believe we have approx 1700 STH's so sometimes they'd be in the majority but often not. More to the point, over the course of a season there are more than 1700 non STH's that attend at least some games at AP.
From the Custom Charter 2016 (the current version I believe):
Cup Competitions
Where high demand is expected for a cup match, tickets will be offered to fans based on a priority scheme
which will operate as follows:
i. Season Ticket Holders* for the current season
ii. Half Season Ticket Holders or other Season Ticket concessions holders
iii. Those who, as determined by bookings on the WWFC ticket database, have attended the highest number of home matches for the current season – the number will be determined depending on the fixture.
iv. General Sale
Why weren't those who bought tickets to home games (really should be away games too IMO) included in the priority windows?
@OakwoodExile Yes I have and have enjoyed it.
Away games is hard to do as so many pay on the gate.
Worth keeping all stubs for this very reason @Username
I heard of people using the same stubs to get around 45 tickets for that Northampton game a couple of seasons ago. Disgraceful scenes
Others producing dog eared photos of themselves at games from the O'Neill era as proof of attendance. Shocking stuff
A fair few of the away games I've been to haven't given stubs! Just hand money over on the turnstile
A friend of mine has a membership with spurs.....so I had the decision to make last week either try and get tickets in spurs end or risk it and wait for general sale this morning. I only was eligible for gen sale so thank goodness I went for the spurs option. Managed to get a home ticket - Hate to be in the wrong end but I'm close enough to u lot to quietly hum the chairboy songs.
@Southcoastblue The Scotty Kashket song probably works best whistled quietly. Get practising...
Club statement http://www.wycombewanderers.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/club-addresses-spurs-ticketing-issues-3537456.aspx
'The plan has delivered the forecasted ticket sales'
What the hell is that supposed to mean. The tickets sold out. They were always going to sell out. Any policy would have resulted in them selling out. This policy has resulted in a need to release a statement about the issues in selling those tickets.
Still interested in finding out who gave the communication blackout instruction @DJWYC14 . Your help was very much appreciated until that point.
No sour grapes from me, I would have liked to go, I don't go often, I don't have a ticket, fair enough, I have no right to one. Inevitably if you have demand for say 8000 and 4000 tickets some people are going to be disappointed.
I totally get the logic of season ticket holders and share scheme investors getting first dibs. That seems entirely fair to me. I don't quite understand why they get two tickets though. I am sure there is a sensible explanation, just cant quite think what it is (I get they may sit with someone at the game, but surely that person if he goes regularly is either a STH himself or should get a ticket under "regular attender, second priority" process. ) Could someone gently explain what I am missing.
Was going to come back with your complete lack of emotion as the missing piece but here is the real answer as I see it.
Some think the club should have got more tickets to be at 15% As per rules. Don't see that myself but...
And
The now acknowledged as wrong initial allocation instruction that made people make plans and gain expectations that then changed.
Tickets are sold now but I'm not sure the most deserving people got them. That may not matter
None of my friends who regularly attend would, as being a season ticket holder, I buy all the tickets generally/ they just buy them on the day without any details handed over
Sorry don't understand. You buy tickets and they give you the cash for them? If so I understand the problem now. Why do you do it this way, may I ask, is it cheaper or somehow easier?
Actually I think there is a wider problem here, I don't recall always being asked for a post ocde or other identification when I buy a ticket on the day, so not sure the club would know about even the few games I do go to.
@Right_in_the_Middle - who do you consider the "most deserving"?
@TTID If I am in block 45 am I likely to be right by the Spurs fans?
At least they've finally confessed to an error - that's something at least. Every organisation is liable to a balls up and it can be forgiven if it's learned from.
And a website crash under ticket selling pressure is hardly news - frustrating as it is.
As a STH I don't think I should be able to get more than one ticket, so I agree with Dev on that.
For me it should've been:
A: 1 each for STH's, share or 500 club (regardless of how many the individual does)
Scramble
B: 1 each to anyone signing up for those schemes after the draw
C: 1 each to people who've been to a certain number of home games (the away thing seems too random to work out)
Yes mate. Spurs are up to block 44 usually.
Agree with both @arnos_grove and @sandsexile I think a Blues card or something similar means anyone who is a member can purchase tickets prior to general sale. Allows the club to track how many games people attend.
"Miscommunication" is a bit watered down!
They were certain with what was said. It was clarified and clarified in various questions on here. It was certain.
The smug bit about their forecast being correct is sketchy too. Were there really 473 left today? If so how did they go so super quickly?
Lots of doubts over the whole thing.
Roll on saturday
They did their best with the right intentions. It was always going to be hard to keep everyone happy. Made a small error, apologised and explained. Have also promised to take feedback ahead of similar games in future.
And tried to organise a live TV feed to the ground but weren't permitted.
Can't really argue with that.
Hmm now I'm not gonna sit here and start calling for peoples' heads, but I really don't think the whole situation was good enough. Even the 'apology'.
I may have missed something but all I'm seeing is very much a 'sorry if perhaps things were miscommunicated a tad at some stage', rather than a 'we completely backtracked on the announcement which we emailed supporters at the very start of the process, decided to change the rules, and as a result reduced the number of general sale tickets by over 500'.
I also have some reservations re: how general sales today were handled, leading to a lot of disappointment, and perhaps resentment towards the club in the future, from several hundred supporters who won't feel they were given much of a chance in this morning's lottery.
My business handles this sort of thing on a daily basis, and I appreciate WW only has cause to worry about oversubscription of tickets once in a blue moon. Of course we should be happy that we are in a position where lots of people want to see us play in such a big and exciting game, but with the infrastructure the club has, it was nothing short of ridiculous to be able to handle three 'concurrent' sales streams.
If you really want to accept phone calls, online orders and deal with physical sales, you really have to split the allocation between the three properly. Say for example, the night before, ok, we've put 150 tickets online, 100 for phone customers, and 200 for physical sales.
I went down to the ground this morning to see how they handled things. Yes, I already have my tickets, for myself and everyone coming with me.
10AM: Ticket windows didn't open, ticket link not added online, phones still on hold
10:05AM: ONE ticket window open, 'error' with online sales not functioning
10:10AM: Second ticket window open, still no online sales
10:15AM: Online link appears, tickets sell out online within 3 minutes
10:20AM: Soon as the online link disappeared, people at ground are told game is sold out.
I think it is quite obvious that online sales at the level we're talking (c. 400 tickets) would sell out instantly. And I appreciate some online sales are needed to give people who may otherwise not make it a chance at least. But I'm almost certain they just put the whole allocation online, by some miracle there was an error in the system and the first 20 people in the physical queue had managed to buy their tickets by the time the link went live.
The whole thing was very amateurish. By not separating the allocations there were farcical scenes down at AP - tickets having to be handed BACK as they'd already been sold online, and one person on the phone half way through giving over card details when he was told the game was sold out and hung up on!
If the club did not have the resources to manage things smoothly, it would have made much more sense to just put half online, half in person, and forget the phone calls entirely. At least people would have known where they stood.
That is my rant, and that is without even going into the 'priority' structure.
Let's just say I don't think it was fair on a large number of fans.