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Is there any point in buying season tickets anymore?

edited November 2010 in General Charlton
Unless you altruistically want to help the Club of course and / or are particularly attached to where you sit.

There certainly seems to be little or no advantage in being a season ticket holder when it comes to getting tickets for other games at the moment from what i can see.

VIP (fair enough they have made a 5 year financial commitment to the Club up front no arguments from me there), Valley Gold (they've made a commitment but so have season ticket holders and, in cold financial terms, season tickets cost more than £120 a year so why does Valley Gold rank higher?) and fans who have bought tickets for away games (I disagree with this. Why put somebody who lines the pockets of another club above our own?) all seem to rank above the good old bog standard season ticket holder.

There is of course the considerable hurdle of Luton Town to surmount but if, by some miracle, we achieve that I can see that I, and others like me, may well not be able to get tickets for the Spurs game if the usual criteria apply even though, as an aside, I attended the Barnet replay and the first Luton game.

I, and others, make a considerable financial sacrifice to buy season tickets. It may no longer be worth it as fans who go to away games appear to be more highly valued by the club.
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Comments

  • edited November 2010
    The club have done all they can do this season to make allocation fair. Having a season-ticket alone cannot numerically be enough for some fixtures, I very much doubt it would be for the potential trip to Tottenham for example.

    We will have an approximate allocation of 4,200 and there are circa (please correct me this is entirely off the top of my head) 8-9k season ticket holders?

    The order is correctly somewhere along the lines of:

    VIP
    VG / season-ticket plus specified games
    season-ticket plus lower number of specified games
    red card plus specified games
    general sale

    Though it will be interesting to see how the club judge the merits of Barnet tickets (both games) and Luton tickets (both games) in determination of any ticket proposals if required. I hope no Swindon shambles is repeated IF we do get the dream tie, because that was an absolute disgrace and I don't want to have to have another rant about that!

    Ps. would be interested to see the % of VG members who are also s/t, would think it is more or less 99%?
  • Periscope depth.
  • It's cheaper than paying on the day for every match.
  • [cite]Posted By: ISawLeaburnScore[/cite]VIP
    VG / season-ticket plus specified games
    season-ticket plus lower number of specified games
    red card plus specified games
    general sale

    Where does 3 or more away games count?
  • [cite]Posted By: IA[/cite]It's cheaper than paying on the day for every match.

    True if you are able to attend all fixtures. However against that you pay up front looking purely in cold financial terms.

    However if games are moved for Cash Cow Sky etc and other commitments resultingly prevent attendance that price advantage is rapidly diluted.

    Season tickets have been previously marketed as a means of obtaining preference for tickets for "big" or "restricted" games but that increasingly no longer appears to be the case and is really why I have started this thread as I think some season ticket holders make the financial sacrifice in the (evidently it would appear mistaken) belief that they will get first dibs on tickets for big games.

    I accept that 99 times out of 100 in division 3 allocation won't be a problem since if Hartlepool only give us 200 ticket only 100 will want to go anyway as ooh ah will (often) tell us! However a game like Spurs (if it happens) is different.
  • [cite]Posted By: LSEBarnes[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: ISawLeaburnScore[/cite]VIP
    VG / season-ticket plus specified games
    season-ticket plus lower number of specified games
    red card plus specified games
    general sale

    Where does 3 or more away games count?

    "red card plus specified games" - I assume everyone has a red card?
  • edited November 2010
    Somehow I have got two. They sent me one last season and another one this season. No wonder the club is in financial trouble...

    Anyway, think they should give priority to people who've been to the Barnet and Luton games. This fixture has got nothing to do with the league games or any away games.
  • [cite]Posted By: ISawLeaburnScore[/cite]"red card plus specified games" - I assume everyone has a red card?

    Not the pathetic ones who haven't been to the Valley since a premiership game.

    I suppose redcard plus specified games probably is the answer to my question. Basically you will need to have been to a few away games. How many do we reckon? Is competition irrelevant?
  • You fret too much len.

    In answer to your opening question:

    1. A season ticket saves you the hassle of having to buy tickets on a match by match basis
    2. It guarantees a specific seat you may want
    3. If you go to most of the games it is financially beneficial
    4. It helps the club in its budgeting when acquiring or retaining players in the summer
    5. It gives you some form of priority above a normal member in the event of prioritisation.

    If the above 5 options are not enough, I'm not really sure what more else you can ask for to be honest.
  • [cite]Posted By: LSEBarnes[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: ISawLeaburnScore[/cite]"red card plus specified games" - I assume everyone has a red card?

    Not the pathetic ones who haven't been to the Valley since a premiership game.

    I suppose redcard plus specified games probably is the answer to my question. Basically you will need to have been to a few away games. How many do we reckon? Is competition irrelevant?

    Sorry I'm confused - are we having a general discussion or are we talking about the possibility of going to Spurs?

    If it's the latter I have no idea... will be interesting how they prioritise between the Barnet and Luton fixtures and league away games though.

    As for your first sentence, I hope that a proper ticketing structure will allow some of the people who have to witness god knows how much s*** to take advantage on any possible day out and have first dibs.

    Ps. Anyone at Northwich last season gets in for free ;-)
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  • I'm pretty sure in the unlikely event of us beating Luton that anyone who wants a Spurs ticket will most likely get one.

    Our away support isn't great. We struggle to sell full allocations for Palace and Millwall!
  • The top tier of priority includes Valley Gold members who are also season-ticket holders, so it is not true that Valley Gold members get higher priority than season tickets.

    The majority of fans who have bought multiple away games and qualify on that basis are also season-ticket holders. We only ever sell a few hundred to the top tier.

    In reality, there have been no games in League One where tickets have not dropped down to general sale, as far as I can recall. Swindon would have been an exception.

    As far as Spurs is concerned, we are arguing for the maximum possible allocation if we get through. No need to panic yet.

    Mathematically there's no way we can guarantee season-ticket holders a ticket for any away game, but there are transaction costs attached to buying tickets at The Valley match by match, quite apart from the price deferential.
  • edited November 2010
    [cite]Posted By: LenGlover[/cite]
    There certainly seems to be little or no advantage in being a season ticket holder when it comes to getting tickets for other games at the moment from what i can see.

    Of course there is - if you didn't have a season ticket you'd have even less of a chance of getting a ticket for a "big game".

    Let's face it, if we have got 8,000 (ish) season tickets and they all want a ticket for a "big" away game where the allocation is, say, 4,000 then half of them are (unfortunately) going to miss out.

    Not sure what else anyone can do about that exactly.

    However, I'd be pretty certain that if you've got a ticket for Luton away then you'll be further up the line for Spurs tickets, if we got through. Of course, whether you chose to go to Luton and use your ticket is up to you!
  • [cite]Posted By: Off_it[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: LenGlover[/cite]
    There certainly seems to be little or no advantage in being a season ticket holder when it comes to getting tickets for other games at the moment from what i can see.

    Of course there is - if you didn't have a season ticket you'd have even less of a chance of getting a ticket for a "big game".

    Let's face it, if we have got 8,000 (ish) season tickets and they all want a ticket for a "big" away game where the allocation is, say, 4,000 then half of them are (unfortunately) going to miss out.

    Not sure what else anyone can do about that exactly.

    However, I'd be pretty certain that if you've got a ticket for Luton away then you'll be further up the line for Spurs tickets, if we got through. Of course, whether you chose to go to Luton and use your ticket is up to you!

    One would hope that attending The Valley for Barnet and Luton would count more....
  • Season-ticket holders will all be able to buy tickets for Wembley, of course . . .
  • So Len, you want everyone who attended the Luton and Barnet games at the Valley to be first in line for tickets do you? And how many people in total is that?

    With the greatest respect, can we save on the moaning about the allocation of tickets until such time as we actually have a game to worry about. Please?!
  • I've got a ST, VG, went to both Barents games and Luton on Saturday. I believe I should have a place on the bench at Spurs should we get there.
  • [cite]Posted By: Off_it[/cite]So Len, you want everyone who attended the Luton and Barnet games at the Valley to be first in line for tickets do you? And how many people in total is that?

    With the greatest respect, can we save on the moaning about the allocation of tickets until such time as we actually have a game to worry about. Please?!

    You suggested that buying a ticket for Luton away would give greater priority for Spurs tickets. My response is that the home FA Cup tickets should count for as much or more.

    As I've said above the Club appears to value fans that travel away more than home fans at the moment. Why should a Luton away ticket rank higher than a Luton home ticket?
  • [cite]Posted By: Plaaayer[/cite]I've got a ST, VG, went to both Barents games and Luton on Saturday. I believe I should have a place on the bench at Spurs should we get there.

    You would probably do better than some of the present incumbents of that bench if saturday is anything to go by!
  • [cite]Posted By: LenGlover[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: Off_it[/cite]So Len, you want everyone who attended the Luton and Barnet games at the Valley to be first in line for tickets do you? And how many people in total is that?

    With the greatest respect, can we save on the moaning about the allocation of tickets until such time as we actually have a game to worry about. Please?!

    You suggested that buying a ticket for Luton away would give greater priority for Spurs tickets. My response is that the home FA Cup tickets should count for as much or more.

    As I've said above the Club appears to value fans that travel away more than home fans at the moment. Why should a Luton away ticket rank higher than a Luton home ticket?

    To be completely honest Len, if someone goes up to Luton for a midweek AWAY match then I personally would have no problem with them getting priority tickets for the next AWAY match over someone who turned up for a home game on a Saturday. Actually sounds quite fair to me, but as I say, let's wait and see for now.
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  • Re % of VG members being S/T holders, I'm sure there are quite a number, like myself, who live abroad and cannot buy S/T but are committed to
    the club with Valley Gold.
    Most of you are feeling uneasy because of the (eventual) Spurs game allocation, but this happens with nearly all the other clubs when they have a big
    game coming up.
    The sad thing is that in spite of us being in League 1 with the moderate attendances involved, you still have to produce various proof of investment in
    order to qualify for some away tickets.
    Wouldn't it be simpler to allocate some extra tickets for games when the demand is there and the attendance is nowhere near capacity (I didn'nt enjoy
    sitting with the locals at Griffin Park last year), and we could have got some extra revenue with Leeds, Norwich , Swindon and maybe Gillingham last
    season had we allocated them a few hundred more.
  • I think that the club get a proportion of the gate revenue from both home and away games in the FA Cup.

    I have had a season ticket since 1988, and I think priority should be based on how long you've had a season ticket, but I would say that wouldn't I?

    I suspect that we will be given more tickets for Spurs (should we get there) than there were at The Valley for either the Barnet or the Luton game and if the club want to reward those that come to the rubbish early cup games then they should offer them first dibs - even though those cup games raised less per ticket than any league game (save for those that they discount)

    However, on the basis that we will only have a month, and Christmas in-between, the temptation to have a first come first served ticket scramble like we had for Swindon last season will be massive.

    Let's face it when it comes to the sale of tickets the club has a long history of shafting the fans, so what they will do is anybody's guess.
  • Basing season ticket priority on how long youve had a season ticket is a bit ridiculous, certainly beyond a year or two. I was only born in 1986 but have had a season ticket for 15 odd years - I couldn't have had a season ticket in 1988! But I have been to between 65-85% of away games for the last 4 or 5 years. Surely away tickets should be directly related to who follows the club regularly away.
  • edited November 2010
    The allocation for any Spurs game will be on exactly the same basis as the priority for Brighton and Colchester. There is no possibility whatsoever that most of the tickets wouldn't go on sale to all season ticket holders or that there would be enough for all of them if they want them.
  • Maybe this debate should wait until we actually beat Luton to get to Spurs?
  • Indeed Tom K..
  • Len...you're missing the whole point of having a season ticket...it saves you the time and trouble of having to queue up, ring up or make a separate mid week trip to the valley to buy a match ticket every time and it gives you a ready made excuse to have to go to the game on days when the weathers shit, the team is shit and there's something good on the telly...it's a slippery slope otherwise and you could easily get into bad habits and one missed game could soon be a season and a lifetime of shopping with the missus...
  • We have only sold 400 tickets to Brentford, ok it's not as big as Spurs, but i'm sure everyone will be able to get a ticket. our away support is pants.
  • edited November 2010
    Attached is a copy of the FA CUP rules !

    We are entitled to claim 15% of WHL, this makes our allocation just under 5,500 so the entire stand behind the goal im guessing !

    PS: surprised to see in the rules that the refs only get £375.00 for reffing the final !
  • That's £4.17 a minute. Plus something to put on their cv for every schoolmaster or parking warden job they go for, and the greatest fame filled 90 minutes of their lives. Not to mention all the other perks and expenses. Not bat work, if you can get it (if you like that sort of thing).
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