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

[Guy Fawkes]

This perfect world you speak of where stewards are easy to employ, train, are perfectly skilled in customer service, etc, etc and can deal with this extraordinary situation where the customer has paid a max of £15, and many just £1.

Stewards and police I spoke to were very helpful. I queued 30 mins and got in without hassle.

Is it really that complex to think of having a separate queue, clear of the ticket office for those with tickets already? and only allow them toward the turnstyles when they opened?

How hard would it have been to have the queue in the road going to the right for ticket reprints, and a queue in the road going to the left for those with tickets, especially before the turnstiles opened?

 

[Webbo]

We (at Charlton) have cut costs to the bone, actually the bone marrow. The Chief Operations Officer is roundly regarded as a wrong ‘un, and the main guy who oversees the practicality of matches was off sick. He isn’t a young guy ( but a top bloke) who had already retired but was begged to return to help out at matches by the aforementioned COO.
Indeed the guy who was off sick was instrumental in creating the situation where Brighton got double the usual away allocation by liaising with the police and so on and figuring out the physical practicalities but is not in charge of ticket sales.
Indeed when after expenses, and the 50/50 split, and the VAT you have to pay, the financial gain for Charlton was marginal (yes, even for us) however those interested in the culture of football, and the promise of a nice game against Premiership opposition were less concerned about the money, but wanted to ensure the match was a bit of an event.
I wish it has all gone smoothly, and I suspect the biggest fly in the ointment of all this was the postal strike.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Nothing I've posted on here this afternoon has had anything to do with the Charlton game. I'm just observing that ticket resales are actually allowed, with some conditions.

Got it. It has become quite a difficult discussion to follow (for me anyway !) as people are talking about lots of different things at once. A bit like being in a crowded pub with loud music at Christmas
My particular random strand of thinking was in reply to points being made a lot of pages ago about the technology. I think I will get another drink..

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Got it. It has become quite a difficult discussion to follow (for me anyway !) as people are talking about lots of different things at once. A bit like being in a crowded pub with loud music at Christmas
My particular random strand of thinking was in reply to points being made a lot of pages ago about the technology. I think I will get another drink..

I think I was replying to a strand of the same conversation, in comparing the resale of football tickets to gig tickets.
My understanding is that as long as the sale is via an authorised seller/market and is at face value or less, it is legal.
I'm not aware of any particular restrictions on away tickets, but obviously it's a bit niche for clubs to bother with. I can think of plenty of technically straightforward ways to do it. Part of the reason they don't is probably that mostly they've been happy enough to let the few people effected pass unused tickets on when they're not able to go.
And again, none of this is relevant to the Charlton game, so I'll check out now.

 

[Arkwright]

I haven't read all the recent posts about the ticket collection issues but my take on some things from that fiasco.

The Charlton stewards were absolutely hopeless, there was no organisation or segregation of those with tickets and those queuing to collect theirs, meaning a lot of fans could have been served quicker if those without tickets were able to reach the windows. The ticketing staff kept calling for the next person to help reissue tickets for them, but often they'd be left waiting as those waiting for replacements weren't going to the windows (this was around 6pm) probably as they didn't know that they could get served and more than likely those waiting were too far back as those nearer the front had tickets (pretty much everyone was in 1 queue) The space by the ticket office became a bottleneck which no one really able to move anywhere

Also, the Brighton Staff in the ticket office were trying really hard to get the Chartlon staff to open the away end early, which which would have helped massively as those with tickets would have been able to get out of the way of those queuing, making it easier for those waiting (our ticket staff and our fans waiting to get theirs) makes me wonder if it was Chartlon saving cash by not starting their staff working until around 6, then they needed their breifing, etc which made it 6.15 before the gates finally opened

Charlton had know for a long time how many we were taking to the game, and yet they seemed very unprepared and caught out massively by the numbers

Those complaining about a lack of print at home tickets which may have prevented this seem to be forgetting that this was an away game, and that it's more likely that it was never an option as Charlton were unable to supply, prorpcess these types of tickets so hardly the Albions falt this wasn't used

Are you Paul Barber?
You can't just blame Charlton, we also knew of the potential mess and did bugger all to address it.

 

[drew]

Are you Paul Barber?
You can't just blame Charlton, we also knew of the potential mess and did bugger all to address it.

That's not true though is it. We had staff there trying to help.

 

[Arkwright]

That's not true though is it. We had staff there trying to help.

In all honesty while being moved around the queue from one side of the road to the other and losing our places in the process all I saw was Charlton stewards and police.
First I saw of a club representative was when we finally got to the gate. When we got an envelope with the wrong tickets. Even then they sent us to the wrong stand.
Can't people see the club cocked up and treated us like idiots. Poor display all round.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Are you Paul Barber?
You can't just blame Charlton, we also knew of the potential mess and did bugger all to address it.

I can only go by what i saw on the night, i was in the ground by about 6:20
The Brighton staff i saw there were all mainly in the ticket office (one left the ticket office and was trying to get the gates opened earlier so our fans waiting to be served could reach the ticket office windows more easily)
I didn't see any Charlton staff in the ticket office unless they were wearing clothing with an albion badge
Is it normal for an away team to steward a game rather than a home team? presumably this is what you expect as you are apportioning blame on our club for failing to manage the queues, allowing the opening of the gates early, etc
How did we ever manage when games were pay on the gate and not ticket in advance? Should the fans waiting to get in have gotten angry at the club too, back in the day?

If Barber and co did nothing, then i'd have expected Charlton staff in the ticket office (as happens at other away games of ours that i've been to) and would there have been that many in that ticket office trying to help the fans with their ticketing issues? and would they have got in quicker without our clubs staff trying to help out in that ticket office?

We requested that Charlton reprint tickets and then eight of our staff, who’d travelled up to the Valley, sorted and issued these

The recent post on this thread giving the Charlton perspective adds a bit more information from their side of things, how the guy who would have overseen the practicality of the match was off sick, how they cut costs (inc stewarding) as low as possible, so by reading that, i doubt they would have provided many (or any) staff to cover the ticket office and get all those tickets reissued (no mean feat) Our club stepped in and provided staff to try to meet this demand

This was also something out of our control, and an unprecedented situation for the home club.

So they hadn't encountered this situation before at Charlton, and therefore the response wouldn't be flawless and smooth. My comments about ending up with confused queuing, and fans in the way blocking access to the ticket office so those waiting couldn't be served quickly whilst waiting for the turnstiles to open (which, if Charlton hadn't cut costs to the bone, may have meant they would have had their staff in place early enough to be able to open earlier, and as there were very large numbers of Brighton fans expected, they could have anticipated this and employed their staff a little earlier than normal), making it easier and quicker all round. You could add the layout they have there, with the ticket office right by the main entrance way for a couple of thousand trying to access the South Stand, restricting access (most grounds have ticket offices located away from the turnstiles)

We fully appreciate there were long waits to collect duplicate tickets, as a result of circumstances which were completely out of our control; The mail strike and current chronic backlog of post meant almost one thousand fans had not received their tickets in time for the match - despite being dispatched in what usually would be more than ample time.

Are you suggesting that the club should have know which 1000 out of the 6300 or so tickets that were sent out wouldn't arrive in time?

There also seems to be a presumption that the club could just easily have printed up a load of Charlton tickets at the Amex, but did they even print the ones sent out? or did Charlton send them to the Albion to post (or they sent them out directly to our fans?) and if all the tickets had been posted in good time, would they really have had around a 1000 spare in case reissues / reprints were needed?

The main cause for all this was the postal strikes and the back log this created

 

[Guinness Boy]

We (at Charlton) have cut costs to the bone, actually the bone marrow. The Chief Operations Officer is roundly regarded as a wrong ‘un, and the main guy who oversees the practicality of matches was off sick. He isn’t a young guy ( but a top bloke) who had already retired but was begged to return to help out at matches by the aforementioned COO.
Indeed the guy who was off sick was instrumental in creating the situation where Brighton got double the usual away allocation by liaising with the police and so on and figuring out the physical practicalities but is not in charge of ticket sales.
Indeed when after expenses, and the 50/50 split, and the VAT you have to pay, the financial gain for Charlton was marginal (yes, even for us) however those interested in the culture of football, and the promise of a nice game against Premiership opposition were less concerned about the money, but wanted to ensure the match was a bit of an event.
I wish it has all gone smoothly, and I suspect the biggest fly in the ointment of all this was the postal strike.

No doubt at all that the actual issue that caused people not to have tickets in time was caused by the strike.

The response to it was appalling from both clubs

 

[BNthree]

The 3rd tier tickets I bought for friends got delivered today. Unbelievable.

 

[butchy]

The 3rd tier tickets I bought for friends got delivered today. Unbelievable.

I bought mine in the first 5 mins of them going on sale and they still haven’t turned up! Farcical

 

[Guinness Boy]

I bought mine in the first 5 mins of them going on sale and they still haven’t turned up! Farcical

Yep, mine are still MIA. I bought on day 1.

Makes me worry about Palace tickets TBH. I think the club should be putting "collect from the Amex" back up plans into action now. A two hour long queue of Brighton outside Smellhurst is a recipe for mass disorder.

 

[sully]

No sign of ours yet.

 

[Horses Arse]

It’s just another kick in the Bollox for the real die hard fans of this club that fought so hard . Typical Barber bullshit happy to blame everyone bar himself or the club . Needs to tread carefully there will come a time when we are relegated playing Barnsley at home on a cold Tuesday night in Jan with them begging fans to turn up . Then the club will get a big wake up call on how they are treating us.
More interested in building some bullshit tunnel vision and rip fans off for top dollar than look after fans . Would loved to of seen Barber out there tonight to see what a clusterfuck that was

He won't give a shit, will be off somewhere else pissing off supporters of another club. Still, because he writes long emails reinforcing his belief that he can do no wrong he'll be defended by many.

 

[Horses Arse]

I know some don't believe it, but there are a lot of good people at the club who work hard to try and ensure things go well for Albion fans. I count Paul Barber amongst that number.

But, for the love of god, recognise that some people haven't had a great evening and empathise with that.

Barber is never wrong. Never. A major flaw

 

[patchamalbion]

Still haven’t got my ticket…..

 

[studio150]

Still waiting.

Now assuming zero chance of the Middlesbrough ticket turning up, but at least the queue shouldn't be too long.

 

[timbha]

Still haven’t got my ticket…..

Highlights how inefficient the RM is

 

[heavysoul]

Unbelievable some still haven't received Charlton tickets!!

A Christmas card post marked 12th December and posted 1st class to us from the Midlands arrived today!!

I've decided I'm not going to buy any birthday or Christmas cards next year ... will keep a running total of how much I would have spent on cards and stamps ... round it up a bit come the end of the year ... and send the cash off to a worthwhile local charity!

 

[Springal]

Still haven’t got my ticket…..

They’re to busy being social workers