[Albion] Europa League Round of 16 tickets on sale

drew said:

And how would you change it? The system is not perfect but from what we can tell it's one of the better ones. It is possible to work your way up through the tiers but generally it seems those that complain don't want to put the effort in but expect to have access to the best games. That said, I believe many of the top games still go down through many tiers before being sold out.

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drew said:

And how would you change it? The system is not perfect but from what we can tell it's one of the better ones. It is possible to work your way up through the tiers but generally it seems those that complain don't want to put the effort in but expect to have access to the best games. That said, I believe many of the top games still go down through many tiers before being sold out.

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Bozza said:

The "closed shop" thing is demonstrably false.

There are plenty of people who have worked their way up and now have the pick of tickets. It takes a commitment of both time and money, often putting in the hard yards of going to the less glamorous games, then picking up "big game" tickets when your first get a tier 2/3 sniff and continuing to build from there.

And the steps the club introduced to make it difficult/risky to pass on away tickets was also a great help as most won't take the chance of passing on tickets to boost their own points position.

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Tooting Gull said:

A very easy change here - and we're talking about Albion Plus specifically because all STHs were effectively guaranteed a ticket - would have been to have better and more cut offs, eg 200, 100, 0. Easy and fairer because a lot of fans are between 1 and 188 points.

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Simster said:

I don't want to derail this thread so I'll answer your question and then I'm out (as there are better threads for this discussion).

Personally, I'd make it several ballots. Let's assume we have an allocation of 3,000 somewhere, I'd do something like this:

1,000 open to a ballot for people with points that cuts off the 3,000 highest points scorers
Two days later:
1,000 open to a ballot for people with points that cuts off the 6,000 highest points scorers
Two days later:
1,000 open to everyone else

So if you feature in the top 3,000 points scorers, you get 3 chances as there are 3 ballots to which you are entered.
If you feature in the top 6,000 points scorers, you get 2 chances as there are 2 ballots to which you are entered.

The benefit of this as I see it is that those further down the pecking order still get a small chance of a ticket, while the regulars still get a much higher chance than most (albeit not guaranteed). It fixes the problem of it being a closed shop. Ultimately we're all fans. It doesn't feel right to me that just because you're wealthy enough to be able to go to all games and happen to be "current" at what is the most successful time in the club's history, that you should be absolutely guaranteed a ticket every time you want one, while others who did the hard yards over several lean years but don't go every week anymore are just ignored.

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Bozza said:

The "closed shop" thing is demonstrably false.

There are plenty of people who have worked their way up and now have the pick of tickets. It takes a commitment of both time and money, often putting in the hard yards of going to the less glamorous games, then picking up "big game" tickets when your first get a tier 2/3 sniff and continuing to build from there.

And the steps the club introduced to make it difficult/risky to pass on away tickets was also a great help as most won't take the chance of passing on tickets to boost their own points position.

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drew said:

I see you've cut and run but just in case, as others have said, it isn't a closed shop and that is the flaw in your proposal.

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Simster said:

I don't want to derail this thread so I'll answer your question and then I'm out (as there are better threads for this discussion).

Personally, I'd make it several ballots. Let's assume we have an allocation of 3,000 somewhere, I'd do something like this:

1,000 open to a ballot for people with points that cuts off the 3,000 highest points scorers
Two days later:
1,000 open to a ballot for people with points that cuts off the 6,000 highest points scorers
Two days later:
1,000 open to everyone else

So if you feature in the top 3,000 points scorers, you get 3 chances as there are 3 ballots to which you are entered.
If you feature in the top 6,000 points scorers, you get 2 chances as there are 2 ballots to which you are entered.

The benefit of this as I see it is that those further down the pecking order still get a small chance of a ticket, while the regulars still get a much higher chance than most (albeit not guaranteed). It fixes the problem of it being a closed shop. Ultimately we're all fans. It doesn't feel right to me that just because you're wealthy enough to be able to go to all games and happen to be "current" at what is the most successful time in the club's history, that you should be absolutely guaranteed a ticket every time you want one, while others who did the hard yards over several lean years but don't go every week anymore are just ignored.

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Simster said:

If you want to argue the "closed shop thing is demonstrably false", then that's up to you, but I'm not convinced at all. Let's just agree that it's not entirely sealed, but the seepage takes at least two full seasons.

There are people who have followed this club, been STHs at 3 different grounds prior to the Amex and have now given up being one at the Amex owing to ill health. It can't be right that they have no chance of a Dublin ticket if we somehow got there.


Even if it isn't a closed shop but merely a shop with rubber seals that take 2 years to penetrate, that is absolutely not a flaw in my proposal. Unless you care to explain it to me?

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Beach Hut said:

I think that is clearly an agenda to suit just you, season ticket points is the correct way to reward loyalty

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drew said:

Well if you chose not to go or are unable to go, why is it right you should have priority over those that do.

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Simster said:

I do of course see it differently from a modern day STH, because that's not me. I go from time to time. I'd go every week and be a STH if any of my immediate family was remotely interested, but they're not.

Regardless, I don't really think you're in any position to lecture others about agendas over ticket availability. Some of us remember you whining like a bitch because you didn't get a West Ham away ticket back in the day. It was embarrassing.

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Simster said:

I don't want to derail this thread so I'll answer your question and then I'm out (as there are better threads for this discussion).

Personally, I'd make it several ballots. Let's assume we have an allocation of 3,000 somewhere, I'd do something like this:

1,000 open to a ballot for people with points that cuts off the 3,000 highest points scorers
Two days later:
1,000 open to a ballot for people with points that cuts off the 6,000 highest points scorers
Two days later:
1,000 open to everyone else

So if you feature in the top 3,000 points scorers, you get 3 chances as there are 3 ballots to which you are entered.
If you feature in the top 6,000 points scorers, you get 2 chances as there are 2 ballots to which you are entered.

The benefit of this as I see it is that those further down the pecking order still get a small chance of a ticket, while the regulars still get a much higher chance than most (albeit not guaranteed). It fixes the problem of it being a closed shop. Ultimately we're all fans. It doesn't feel right to me that just because you're wealthy enough to be able to go to all games and happen to be "current" at what is the most successful time in the club's history, that you should be absolutely guaranteed a ticket every time you want one, while others who did the hard yards over several lean years but don't go every week anymore are just ignored.

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Beach Hut said:

That resulted ultimately in changing that pathetic AMS scheme into a system that rewarded those that go.

It wasn't embarrassing, the system changed ultimately to reward those that attend on a regular basis, what's not to like apart from it does't meet you criteria

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Simster said:

I don't want to derail this thread so I'll answer your question and then I'm out (as there are better threads for this discussion).

Personally, I'd make it several ballots. Let's assume we have an allocation of 3,000 somewhere, I'd do something like this:

1,000 open to a ballot for people with points that cuts off the 3,000 highest points scorers
Two days later:
1,000 open to a ballot for people with points that cuts off the 6,000 highest points scorers
Two days later:
1,000 open to everyone else

So if you feature in the top 3,000 points scorers, you get 3 chances as there are 3 ballots to which you are entered.
If you feature in the top 6,000 points scorers, you get 2 chances as there are 2 ballots to which you are entered.

The benefit of this as I see it is that those further down the pecking order still get a small chance of a ticket, while the regulars still get a much higher chance than most (albeit not guaranteed). It fixes the problem of it being a closed shop. Ultimately we're all fans. It doesn't feel right to me that just because you're wealthy enough to be able to go to all games and happen to be "current" at what is the most successful time in the club's history, that you should be absolutely guaranteed a ticket every time you want one, while others who did the hard yards over several lean years but don't go every week anymore are just ignored.

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Simster said:

No, the change wasn't embarrassing. Your conduct was embarrassing.

I've already given the reasons why I don't like the current system. It disregards everybody who isn't a current STH; that's those who are unable to be a STH or get to many games for whatever reason. I'm not even saying that current regular attendees shouldn't get preferential treatment. They should. I just believe there needs to be a balance that doesn't disaffect those who don't fall into that category.

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drew said:

I assumed Simster was referring to the scheme in general rather than just the europa sale.

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