SOS: Follow up statement on Semi-Final ticketing

[109_ultra]

Spot on again from SOS.

 

I think the club also need to be asked how it defines the word "loyalty" because it seems to differ from what I know it to mean. Clearly the criterion applied here breaches any concept of loyalty and is motivated purely by greed.

 

Are they looking to abolish season tickets in the future or is it the club's intention to change the demographics of the attending fan base from the local man who doesn't spend in the ground or club shop on a match day? The vision the men making these decisions have worries me and this ticketing poolicy speaks volumes about their intentions for the future.

 

A lot is being made about the atmosphere at the ground lately and by further ostracising its most loyal supporters in this way, the club is only serving to increase that sense of detachment.

 

Enjoy your sky generation, seal clapping, jester hat wearing brigade. Fuckers.

[Dougie Do'ins]

I agree, especially if we reach a juicy semi final where they want to go to it but didn't want the risk of paying money for earlier home rounds against smaller teams.

How do you know that ? There could be multiple reasons for people no opting for the ACS.

 

I never bothered with the ACS because the cup games gave me the chance to sit with my mates. My ST was in the Kop. Theirs in other parts of the ground, so the ACS for us was a no go.

 

As others have said, they may not have been able to guarantee the money was in the account at the time the club came calling. Some people are living week to week, or in some cases, day to day. So while the ACS might work well enough for you, there's just as many who it doesn't work for.

 

I thought we'd seen the last of the Parry capers but if anything, it's getting worse. The average working class fan is being fucking shafted again. Loyalty obviously counts for nothing with this club. Absolutely despicable desision by the club. But what do you expect from a club who claim the reason they don't sell 13-16 yr old tickets for less is because "they did a survey and kids in this age bracket told them they wanted to be treated like adults" I'm amazed that cunt Ian Ayre managed to keep a straight face when he came out with that one.

 

This is a win win situation for the club. Potential members will be attracted at the thought of being given priority to tickets for lucrative games, while those who weren't to keen on the ACS will now be having second thoughts for next season.

 

It's all heading towards the end of window sales at the ground.

[Guest ShoePiss]

How do you know that ? There could be multiple reasons for people no opting for the ACS.

 

I never bothered with the ACS because the cup games gave me the chance to sit with my mates. My ST was in the Kop. Theirs in other parts of the ground' date=' so the ACS for us was a no go.

 

As others have said, they may not have been able to guarantee the money was in the account at the time the club came calling. Some people are living week to week, or in some cases, day to day. So while the ACS might work well enough for you, there's just as many who it doesn't work for.

 

I thought we'd seen the last of the Parry capers but if anything, it's getting worse. The average working class fan is being fucking shafted again. Loyalty obviously counts for nothing with this club. Absolutely despicable desision by the club. But what do you expect from a club who claim the reason they don't sell 13-16 yr old tickets for less is because "they did a survey and kids in this age bracket told them they wanted to be treated like adults" I'm amazed that cunt Ian Ayre managed to keep a straight face when he came out with that one.

 

This is a win win situation for the club. Potential members will be attracted at the thought of being given priority to tickets for lucrative games, while those who weren't to keen on the ACS will now be having second thoughts for next season.

 

It's all heading towards the end of window sales at the ground.[/quote']

 

And we have a fan base that would eat their own Nan if it meant they get ahead.

[Code]

Code72, your opinion as always regarding tickets is formed through your own selfish needs.

 

I really dont see any difference between a member with 19 home games and a season ticket holder when it comes to loyalty.

 

So why should a member with 19 games on his card not be allowed to buy ticket for this game ahead of season ticket holders who have been given a chance to get their tickets already but decided not to use the option?

 

It makes no sense whatsover.

 

I dont agree with low number of games set for the entry, but then again I did not agree with the jump from 13 or 15 or whatever it was on the first day of the member sale down to 0 on the second day either, was that fair for those like myself with 12 games from last season?

 

Where was SOS and everyone then?

 

From a commercial point of view it makes every bit of sense in the world to do it like this.

 

Memebers pay £30 every year just to have the opportunity to buy tickets without being promised one single one, so if the club want people to buy into this membership scheme they need to give something back as well.

 

So for those ST who had the chance but decided to not take it in the summer, you might get your chance at general sale.

 

If you think going to all those shitty games against Wigan, Stoke etc is such a burden there are thousands of people out there just waiting fro you to give up on your season ticket.

[PaulMcC]

How do you know that ? There could be multiple reasons for people no opting for the ACS.

 

I never bothered with the ACS because the cup games gave me the chance to sit with my mates. My ST was in the Kop. Theirs in other parts of the ground' date=' so the ACS for us was a no go.

 

As others have said, they may not have been able to guarantee the money was in the account at the time the club came calling. Some people are living week to week, or in some cases, day to day. So while the ACS might work well enough for you, there's just as many who it doesn't work for.

 

I thought we'd seen the last of the Parry capers but if anything, it's getting worse. The average working class fan is being fucking shafted again. Loyalty obviously counts for nothing with this club. Absolutely despicable desision by the club. [b']But what do you expect from a club who claim the reason they don't sell 13-16 yr old tickets for less is because "they did a survey and kids in this age bracket told them they wanted to be treated like adults" I'm amazed that cunt Ian Ayre managed to keep a straight face when he came out with that one. [/b]

 

This is a win win situation for the club. Potential members will be attracted at the thought of being given priority to tickets for lucrative games, while those who weren't to keen on the ACS will now be having second thoughts for next season.

 

It's all heading towards the end of window sales at the ground.

 

When did he say that? Fucking stupid statement.

[Dougie Do'ins]

When did he say that? Fucking stupid statement.

 

How Ian Ayre kept a straight face while answering question 2 I'll never know.

 

Question 2 from Lewis Cubbin representing the U18s

 

Q) Why does Liverpool Football Club class children of thirteen years old as adults under the membership scheme?

 

Points raised: The scheme we run is relatively new. Junior Membership is recommended for 12 and under due to the benefits we offer, which includes a draw for attendance at a junior soccer school. In addition, research carried out by LFC, and other clubs, revealed that once a junior member becomes a teenager, they want to be treated as an adult supporter.

 

Taken from the minutes of the last fans committee meeting. The answer seemingly went unchallenged.

[Code]

Was it in this thread or on the MF someone posted his corrospondanse with the club on the issue?

[Dougie Do'ins]

Was it in this thread or on the MF someone posted his corrospondanse with the club on the issue?

The full minutes were in a thread on the MF. I've looked for them on the offal but cant find them so cant post a link.

[Randy Marsh]

How Ian Ayre kept a straight face while answering question 2 I'll never know.

 

Question 2 from Lewis Cubbin representing the U18s

 

Q) Why does Liverpool Football Club class children of thirteen years old as adults under the membership scheme?

 

Points raised: The scheme we run is relatively new. Junior Membership is recommended for 12 and under due to the benefits we offer' date=' which includes a draw for attendance at a junior soccer school. In addition, research carried out by LFC, and other clubs, revealed that once a junior member becomes a teenager, they want to be treated as an adult supporter.

 

Taken from the minutes of the last fans committee meeting. The answer seemingly went unchallenged.

 

Good god, what a load of toss that statement is.

 

"Yer, actually Ian, I'd much rather you charge me 42quid for a ticket than 25 because I just wanna be treated like an adult and that.."

 

Fucking tripe.

[elBooth]

The ticket office has never used away games in their criteria for Carling/FA/Uefa cup and Champions League home games so i don't know why people are even bothering mentioning that. They did for finals but not home ties.

 

Why didn't the Club use the Northampton Town game from last season?

 

Although over 22,000 attended on the night, less than 11,000 individuals purchased tickets in advance of the game, some of these supporters managed to purchase multiple tickets during the sale and the rest of those who attended purchased at the turnstiles. Less than 300 non Auto Cup Scheme Season Ticket holders purchased for this game and the majority of them are now on this year's Auto Cup Scheme. The majority of non Season Ticket holders who attended are now official Members who will have the opportunity to purchase this game.

 

and that's why Northampton can't be used, because 'no-one' went. The club want you to sign up for ACS so there's guaranteed money there regardless of the opposition.

[Turkish Delight]

Was it in this thread or on the MF someone posted his corrospondanse with the club on the issue?

 

I posted my correspondence on the ticket thread. The most up-to-date correspondence was the mails below but my last email was ignored.

 

I manage a customer service team for a living and I'd be embarrassed with both the lack of responsiveness and the fact that they basically told me that because most people who had travelled away already qualified for tickets they didn't bother putting it as a criteria and thought that would be ok. So in short they knew they were screwing people over and decided to just fuck them off anyway.

 

If the club was a normal business everyone would fuck it off.

 

 

Response Via Email (Thomas Wilson) 13/12/2011 06.15 PM

Dear Alan

 

Thanks for contacting Liverpool Football Club

 

In answer to your original question, The club took in to consideration those who have travelled to the previous away games and found most of those supporters who have travelled this season are already on the Auto Cup Scheme or are members.

 

Should any tickets be remaining after the sale for Season Ticket Holders, a further announcement will be made.

 

Thanks for your continued support

 

Kind Regards

 

Thomas Wilson

Customer Experience Team

 

 

 

My response to this mail was this:

 

Dear Thomas,

 

While 'most' supporters may have been in either of these fields clearly not all were and the club obviously decided to simply discard the loyalty of people like me. I know from being on fan forums that I am not the only person affected and I would expect the club to at least consider the effect of the ticketing arrangements in advance.

 

The question I would ask is that if the number of people in my situation is so low then what would it take to amend the arrangements to account for the 'few' that have been overlooked? Are the club so inflexible that they would rather continue with something that is wrong rather than just correct it?

 

If the club's stance remains unaltered then I will be doing the only thing I can do and with-hold my custom for the FA Cup games this season which until now I had been planning on going to. There's not much point in going to the Oldham / Southend game when the ground is half empty and then being reliant on the club doing the right thing later down the line if we get to the later stages. Unfortunately, when it comes to ticketing the club has consistently proved over the years that it gets it wrong time and time again.

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

Alan

[Champ]

I remember being made up to get my ticket for the final at Cardiff for the league cup automatically following Watford on a cold winter mid week night, whilst my mates who couldn't be arsed were scratching round for a cup final ticket.

 

 

Not quite the same but I have just bought tickets for the Carling Cup semi final. I can hardly believe it.

 

Due to distance, finance and other commitments I can realistically only get to a few games a season and never had any hope of building up the kind of attendance record required to get to league away games, and prior to this, big cup games.

 

I fully accept that STH have undoubtedly demonstrated their loyalty to the club through their pockets and should have some priority to buy tickets for the prestige games. And while I have moaned and moaned about the new ticketting arrangements for league games for the first time in my expereince it has allowed me (and others like me) the chance to be part of these games too.

 

I have realised that what I also need to do is get together with other Members and collect games on a limited number of cards to register the large number of games that are often required for eligibility.

[Whelan]

Ever since it was introduced I have always signed up for the ACS, and I am sorry, but the argument over lack of money is irrelevant, you don't pay up front, you pay as they come up, as you would do if you decided against signing up.

 

The point the club is making is that you had the opportunity to sign up, and you did not take it, whereas Members have no choice, and no guarantees. Because of the luck of the draw this year, we have no way of discerning any level of loyalty. I went to Northampton last year, and all the UEFA cup games, and signed up this year. My mates made the choice not to sign up because they don't go to the earlier rounds and had no intention of doing so, but they are now complaining!

A season ticket gives you advantages, but that is all, but I don't think that you have a right to special treatment.

[Code]

Ever since it was introduced I have always signed up for the ACS, and I am sorry, but the argument over lack of money is irrelevant, you don't pay up front, you pay as they come up, as you would do if you decided against signing up.

 

The point the club is making is that you had the opportunity to sign up, and you did not take it, whereas Members have no choice, and no guarantees. Because of the luck of the draw this year, we have no way of discerning any level of loyalty. I went to Northampton last year, and all the UEFA cup games, and signed up this year. My mates made the choice not to sign up because they don't go to the earlier rounds and had no intention of doing so, but they are now complaining!

A season ticket gives you advantages, but that is all, but I don't think that you have a right to special treatment.

 

Excellent post that.