[Albion] Carabao Cup Fourth Round: Charlton - 3rd allocation of tickets

[Crouch End Seagull]

Also add in the tickets could and should have gone on sale a week earlier. Of all the 3rd round matches our tickets were the last on sale.

Agree. Not sure if it was an issue really but surely the hierarchy system of season ticket holders, myalbion members, purchase history etc can occasionally be abandoned and tickets can just go on sale and therefore just sent out faster.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Basically what FIFA & UEFA use for tournaments now. You have an app, get allocated tickets but they don’t appear until you are near the gate then you get them over Bluetooth.

But wouldn’t work at scale due to the cost of the infrastructure for all 92 clubs to have it, fans wouldn’t have it etc

I can only imagine the NSC meltdown when people are told they have to download an app. Some on here would have you believe the requirement to own a mobile phone is the most heinous discrimination of the past century..

 

[studio150]

While it took me an hour queuing to pick up ticket, the queue was good natured. I just wonder what the feeling would have been if it had been pouring down.

Next up, my Southampton has already arrived, Everton is an eticket, and Middlesbro may well only turn up after we are out of the FA Cup.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Can people sell gig tickets multiple times ? I’m still trying to understand why people think football is different in some way.

I guess you can fraudulently sell print-at-home gig ticket numerous times over the net…. but you’d be stupidly trusting to buy such a ticket because 1) If the promoter gets wind of it the ticket will be cancelled 2) Only the first person using the ticket will get in.

But I agree, trying to understand why people think football is different in some way.

 

[drew]

Agree. Not sure if it was an issue really but surely the hierarchy system of season ticket holders, myalbion members, purchase history etc can occasionally be abandoned and tickets can just go on sale and therefore just sent out faster.

The club had a limited allocation to start with so why should those in the top tier risk missing out? As Bozza said, the club could have included the word sorry in the statement but other than that, what else could be done. The thing that buggered this all up was a postal strike.

The best option will be when everything is digital. Hopefully away tickets in the Prem will soon be that and that system should trickle down.

 

[drew]

Basically what FIFA & UEFA use for tournaments now. You have an app, get allocated tickets but they don’t appear until you are near the gate then you get them over Bluetooth.

But wouldn’t work at scale due to the cost of the infrastructure for all 92 clubs to have it, fans wouldn’t have it etc

Was the Visa free access to Qatar also on the app and there were numerous reports of that failing at the point of entry!!

 

[Springal]

Was the Visa free access to Qatar also on the app and there were numerous reports of that failing at the point of entry!!

No different app. And the only people I know that struggled either made a mistake on their application or didn’t do it in time before travel but sure there could be some outliers

They didn’t even use them when landing in Qatar as it was all automated passport gates, but needed to be valid to board

 

[drew]

I’m not an expert but I’m aware of how easy it is to use the same legitimate ticket on multiple devices owned by the same person. For example, one may own their current IPhone 13 but have older devices sitting in a draw. Same Apple ID etc. Can load the same ticket on each device that all perfectly legit.

I don’t think there’s any technology preventing this, unless you somehow get a ticket to read the device’s unique ID itself, but surely that’s too evasive and breaks laws? Also creates problems for legitimate ticket owners if they book tickets in advance and get a new device, gift a ticket as a present and so on.

You’d assume of course only the first one scanned will give access at the turnstiles. Others will then just chance their arm if a steward will let them in anyway or if the systems used at the turnstiles didn’t recognise the first ticket has already been scanned. The issue here isn’t just people trying to duplicate tickets, but also the risk of duplicates likely not working and causing crowding and aggro at the turnstiles.

Surely though, if a legitimate ticket holder has scanned a ticket and then subsequent duplicates attempt entry, the club will know that the original purchaser of the ticket will have duplicated it or allowed it to be duplicated and he or she could be dealt with.

Alternatively, if the legitimate ticket holder tries to scan after a duplicate has already been through the turnstile then it is also clear the legitimate holder has duplicated that ticket and can be dealt with.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I’m not an expert but I’m aware of how easy it is to use the same legitimate ticket on multiple devices owned by the same person. For example, one may own their current IPhone 13 but have older devices sitting in a draw. Same Apple ID etc. Can load the same ticket on each device that all perfectly legit.

I don’t think there’s any technology preventing this, unless you somehow get a ticket to read the device’s unique ID itself, but surely that’s too evasive and breaks laws? Also creates problems for legitimate ticket owners if they book tickets in advance and get a new device, gift a ticket as a present and so on.

You’d assume of course only the first one scanned will give access at the turnstiles. Others will then just chance their arm if a steward will let them in anyway or if the systems used at the turnstiles didn’t recognise the first ticket has already been scanned. The issue here isn’t just people trying to duplicate tickets, but also the risk of duplicates likely not working and causing crowding and aggro at the turnstiles.

Reading your post a couple of times I think you are contradicting yourself. It isn’t easy to use the same legitimate ticket on multiple devices. Only one will work therefore the others are not legitimate. You can’t accidentally try to use multiple tickets. Anybody who does that is trying to con the system and the answer should be to withdraw their access to buying tickets. Problem solved.

 

[Bodian]

Surely though, if a legitimate ticket holder has scanned a ticket and then subsequent duplicates attempt entry, the club will know that the original purchaser of the ticket will have duplicated it or allowed it to be duplicated and he or she could be dealt with.

Alternatively, if the legitimate ticket holder tries to scan after a duplicate has already been through the turnstile then it is also clear the legitimate holder has duplicated that ticket and can be dealt with.

And also - why would someone create a duplicate, if it means that there's a likelihood that they themselves won't get in, because the person with the duplicate already has?

 

[Luke93]

Surely though, if a legitimate ticket holder has scanned a ticket and then subsequent duplicates attempt entry, the club will know that the original purchaser of the ticket will have duplicated it or allowed it to be duplicated and he or she could be dealt with.

Alternatively, if the legitimate ticket holder tries to scan after a duplicate has already been through the turnstile then it is also clear the legitimate holder has duplicated that ticket and can be dealt with.

They may well know. If the systems at the away ground log such information.

But my point is this won’t stop idiots trying and causing issues.

 

[timbha]

It might have been suggested already but surely there is a great opportunity here for the club to have a conversation with the fans (FAB?) to explain its actions, listen to the experiences and views of fans, and at the very least understand the anxiety and problems on both sides.

Something a lot deeper to follow up the fairly bland club statement.

In the circumstances the club probably did very well to get 95+% fans in the stadium before ko, BUT we need to be reassured that those circumstances won’t happen again.

 

[rippleman]

Agree with this 100%

For his faults (and one of them is never admitting he / the club is in the wrong) Barber is a great CEO - and Paul C does a great job on the media side but I'm not sure who wrote this statement - as you say very clumsily written (rushed maybe?)

As you say, the word sorry is missing from it - a business can be sorry for events it didn't have control over (whether they did have control is another question)

Poor.

A "great CEO" would recognise and accept that every organisation can and will make mistakes. A "great CEO" would recognise that sometimes so many "customers" have been adversely impacted by a mistake that to retain the goodwill of those "customers" an apology is necessary.

"Sorry" may well be the hardest word but it has to be in the vocabulary of every "great CEO".

 

[e77]

The club let the problem develop and didn't act early enough, didn't do what they said they would do on the night and that statement isn't good enough by a long chalk.

However there would have to had reached an agreement with Charlton before putting tickets on sale and the postal strike wasn't their fault. They could also have done the easy thing and not asked for more tickets after the initial allocation, but then there would have been an outcry on here. As for apps or e-tickets, Charlton aren't geared up for that.

The club do have question to answer but there are mitigating circumstances.

 

[Lawros Lip]

For what it’s worth my ticket, purchased in November, arrived today franked from Gatwick on 20th of December. Suggests it was stuck somewhere, after posting before being sent out for delivery, probably due to the industrial action.

 

[SeagullsoverLondon]

I would just like to add that my experience was not too bad, despite some idiots of the Blue and White persuasion in the queues and also in the stadium, the Charlton stewards were very helpful and kind to me and my children. Whatever happened between the management of the tickets between the two clubs, I think the stewards did a good job under difficult circumstances from what I could see

 

[Jeremiah]

Did the Albion give the option of collecting your Charlton ticket from the Amex before they posted them out ?

 

[nicko31]

Oh tics just arrived, postmarked 20/12 Gatwick.

 

[Webbo]

Charlton fan here.
I am sorry to read about the ticketing shenanigans.
I think it was a combination of circumstances.
Initially I could only buy next to the Directors box in the lower west. Then I was able to change it (in person in advance at the ground) when the obvious decision was made to open the Curbishley stand. This was also combined with the will we/won’t we give extra seats for the Brighton fans, a very rare occurrence at the Valley due to practical ‘separation’ issues.
All this combined with the recent diminution of our organisation to tin pot (that is a generous view) overseen by incompetents.
Then there was the postal strike and weather and however Brighton decide to distribute their allocation. Personally I don’t know how smartphone malarkey works, or even print at home.
So last night was a mish mash of circumstances that made the experience less than ideal for the Brighton fans who for the main part seemed pretty stoical, even after the game and the shock result your fans as usual had enough about them to be pretty gracious.
I hope we play another game sometime in the future under better circumstances.

 

[The-Libertine]

Charlton fan here.
I am sorry to read about the ticketing shenanigans.
I think it was a combination of circumstances.
Initially I could only buy next to the Directors box in the lower west. Then I was able to change it (in person in advance at the ground) when the obvious decision was made to open the Curbishley stand. This was also combined with the will we/won’t we give extra seats for the Brighton fans, a very rare occurrence at the Valley due to practical ‘separation’ issues.
All this combined with the recent diminution of our organisation to tin pot (that is a generous view) overseen by incompetents.
Then there was the postal strike and weather and however Brighton decide to distribute their allocation. Personally I don’t know how smartphone malarkey works, or even print at home.
So last night was a mish mash of circumstances that made the experience less than ideal for the Brighton fans who for the main part seemed pretty stoical, even after the game and the shock result your fans as usual had enough about them to be pretty gracious.
I hope we play another game sometime in the future under better circumstances.

Personally, I will always remember the large number of Charlton fans that turned up to support Brighton at the ‘Fans United’ game in 1997. If we have to lose, then I would rather it was Charlton than anyone else. Good luck in the rest of the competition.