[Albion] ESU and WSU open for Coventry game

[ccfc1987]

Well this game is causing chaos in both the home and the away end!

Our fans demanding new priority schemes so season ticket holders don't snap up all tickets...

Your fans not buying the seats on sale even though they want to go...

Just as a comment on our fans - i wouldn't necessarily believe all the talk about how bad we are! There are a minority (as with all clubs) who managed to get smoke bombs into MK ground and get on the pitch when we scored, but 99% of us are your normal family friendly bunch. There is very rarely any trouble with opposing fans what so ever.

Hopefully your guys sort out opening a tier as it would be a shame for people not to get a ticket and there be unnecessary empty seats. Not fussed ccfc aren't getting more just seems a waste as we could fill an extra stand if you needed/wanted us too!

Lets just hope the games half as interesting as the ticket sales!

 

[Mo Gosfield]

This. you want to see the game or you don't. Anyone who has bought a ticket already for the Albion or who has a STH mate can easily get a ticket for £18 inc travel. A quarter final place at stake against a storied lower league club with a chip on it's shoulder that will definitely give it a go backed by 4500 fans what's not to like?

Around 5-600 tickets left, including group availability (not all singles) just buy a ticket if you want to go.

The counter argument is found amongst those who normally sit Lower Tier and would like a different perspective. I sit WSL and my block sold out before I had a chance to purchase my normal seat. I would like to try an Upper Tier. I don't particularly want Lower and/or in a corner. Its my choice/preference and I am taking a risk that the club open up another option. If they don't and I have held on for too long, then thats my problem. I am at Stoke and I shall be in my usual seat for Swansea, normal service resumed.

 

[Bozza]

I get it that the strategy might be the wrong one or have unforeseen circumstances, or that the marketing might be ineffective or that the ticket site is a bit flaky. All valid reasons. And all debated on here . Fair enough.
But the idea that the club are keen to have a low attendance is ridiculous. And "Barber" (ie: the club) can't on one hand be obsessed with maximising profit (for some games) but not for others. Also ridiculous.

Agreed. The club will have no interest in attempting to keep ticket sales low. Any suggestion of that is nonsense.

 

[shingle]

This is like some kind of illness.

Why TF am I continually refreshing the ticket page, I don't even want to sit in the upper tiers, I bought my NS ticket when they first went on sale.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

He actively now wants a lower attendance because (some think) he made a mistake not opening all the ground at once. ? ?

Yes. That is how it appears.

All the e-mails sent to me over the last few days about there being tickets remaining, and the buzz around our attempt to reach the last 8 for the first time since 1986, must have got lost in the post...

 

[shingle]

616 seats left in lower tiers by the way

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Two issues if/when they do.

Loads of people moaning they have crap seats and want to sit with mates/family, please move my ticket to the newly available Upper.

Also, if about 500 are sold in whichever Upper, will it have been 'prudent'?

Glad it ain't my decision to make.

The club announced from the start that no seat moves would be possible.

 

[chaileyjem]

Yes. That is how it appears.

All the e-mails sent to me over the last few days about there being tickets remaining, and the buzz around our attempt to reach the last 8 for the first time since 1986, must have got lost in the post...

Yep but your point isn't that the marketing is ineffective , its that the club are deliberately trying to keep ticket sales low. The former, yep maybe. The latter - come off it.

 

[Simontheseagull]

The counter argument is found amongst those who normally sit Lower Tier and would like a different perspective. I sit WSL and my block sold out before I had a chance to purchase my normal seat. I would like to try an Upper Tier. I don't particularly want Lower and/or in a corner. Its my choice/preference and I am taking a risk that the club open up another option. If they don't and I have held on for too long, then thats my problem. I am at Stoke and I shall be in my usual seat for Swansea, normal service resumed.

If you want to try a seat in the Upper tier, you could ask the club to transfer your seat for the Swansea home match. You don't have to wait for a cup tie to try a different seat.

 

[Is it PotG?]

The club announced from the start that no seat moves would be possible.

So, would they frustrate fans that have played it by the book as it were, or risk the wrath of the waiters?

Assuming the 600 or so remaining sell out that is.

 

[dazzer6666]

616 seats left in lower tiers by the way

So selling about 1 seat per minute today then..........should be sold out by about 9pm

 

[worthingseagull]

If they wait too long to bloody well open it, then they will possibly get weaker ticket sales - just do it now for gods sake

If it's because all their staff are busy and they don't have anyone available to organise it - i'll go in there and sort it all out for them, they only have to ask

 

[dazzer6666]

So, would they frustrate fans that have played it by the book as it were, or risk the wrath of the waiters?

Assuming the 600 or so remaining sell out that is.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

there are vast numbers waiting

I think this needs a POLE!

 

[Moshe Gariani]

There was an interesting (and illuminating) quote from Steve Sidwell in the Argus on this. He's not in the 25-man squad and so can't play in the PL this season, even if he gets fit.Consequently the FA Cup is the only chance he's got of playing again before the end of the season, and he wants us to go as far as we can. He said: "I'm about the only person in the building who wants this!"

It was tempting to just let this slide away but it is worthy of further discussion and does shed light on the club's whole approach to the FA Cup and the Coventry match.

Without this thread, and a few of us killing time discussing the seating plan (and branching off on the pantomime villain Barber), you would hardly know that we are still in the FA Cup.

I do get it. The amounts of money in it mentioned on this thread are relatively small. There is nothing special about playing at Wembley anymore. And the chance of actually getting past the big boys to win it is small. There isn't much to like about it and for the club it is an unwelcome distraction.

As a 49 year old with very fond Albion FA Cup memories this is all hard to compute but they are the facts.

 

[Taybha]

There was an interesting (and illuminating) quote from Steve Sidwell in the Argus on this. He's not in the 25-man squad and so can't play in the PL this season, even if he gets fit.Consequently the FA Cup is the only chance he's got of playing again before the end of the season, and he wants us to go as far as we can. He said: "I'm about the only person in the building who wants this!"

That about sums it up , club wise , manager staff and player wise i honestly believe they really want to give it a go but the whole thing stinks when you move upstairs , whoever decided this way of selling the tickets for a 5th round FA Cup tie (that's just 4 games away from European Football next season ), should explain why they did it , because it is fundamentally flawed and a bit of a pisstake frankly , to expect thousands of people to change their habits just so they can save a few quid on stewarding and catering is bloody tinpot compared to what the club has recieved from the PL this season alone , i really don't see how they could think it's a good idea .

 

[Djmiles]

A good few thousand waiting for the upper tiers to open. Come on, Barber!

 

[worthingseagull]

Pros of not opening upper

None

Cons of not opening upper

miss out on @£40,000 revenue from ticket sales alone 3000 x (average) £14 per ticket
catering staff, stewards & cleaners are easily paid for from catering profits on match day (if there's a remaining balance that too goes to the club)
miss out on extra vocal support for the Albion
miss out on new fans who've never been before becoming Brighton fans
Having to endure other clubs calling us tinpot when they see on tv that we had a huge empty stand for an FA cup 5th round game
Encouraging some bad feeling amongst existing fans who have been waiting day after day for them to open the upper tier

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Barber is obsessed by profit but he also has a massive ego and doesn't want to admit his mistake.

If the amount of money involved were larger then he would swallow his pride and trouser the bonus boost. But because we are only talking about whether more Albion fans get to enjoy watching an FA Cup match, from the best viewing seats in The Amex, then he isn't so bothered.

No business survives without profit, small medium or large and football clubs are no different, despite having their own inflation/recession proof micro economy.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Pros of not opening upper

None

Cons of not opening upper

miss out on @£40,000 revenue from ticket sales alone 3000 x (average) £14 per ticket
catering staff, stewards & cleaners are easily paid for from catering profits on match day (if there's a remaining balance that too goes to the club)
miss out on extra vocal support for the Albion
miss out on new fans who've never been before becoming Brighton fans
Having to endure other clubs calling us tinpot when they see on tv that we had a huge empty stand for an FA cup 5th round game
Encouraging some bad feeling amongst existing fans who have been waiting day after day for them to open the upper tier

Will they sell 3,000? Still have 600 not sold.