Does anyone know if magic tickets purchased this year are included in donating or are they still valid for next year?
Does anyone know if magic tickets purchased this year are included in donating or are they still valid for next year?
It's not really 'ill will' I'm on about. It's the possibility of making folks feel 'less worthy' and them being denied chance of attending a game because they didn't/couldn't donate.
Maybe I'm overstating this? I just hope that the club don't go down that route if they have to limit crowd numbers next season.
It's the fans not there that I have concern for. Fingers crossed it doesn't need to happen that way!
I honestly don't know the best way to select people if the club does need to limit numbers. The best I can come up with is a ballot with anyone holding a valid ticket of any sort being entered into it. I don't know how the football clubs are doing it. It must be a real headache for them!
They could go on a first come (2021 purchase) first served basis irrespective of what option they went for in 2020. Eligible members who can't attend the game to advise the club so other standby members can attend.
But to avoid multitude complications I think the club will stick with donation members, otherwise its just the usual current confusions of no such thing as "Black and White" these days but replaced by "50 shades of Grey" which gets debated to death.
Another consideration is those allowed to attend the game some are very likely not to get there usual seat in the South + North Stands as the club will spread out fans to create space.
Last edited by STIDDY; 15th December 2020 at 10:08.
The closest thing to fairness would be some kind of lottery on every game for all ticket holders. Giving priority to those who donated could seriously hit season ticket sales.
Not a season ticket holder myself and can’t generally make home games due to working away anyway so I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I don’t see how you can choose between fans who were asked to make a difficult decision in a time of crisis. You could have fans who have been season tickets for decades who simply couldn’t afford to donate their ticket money last year pushed aside for someone who might be a first time season ticket holder but in a fortunate enough position to donate. Every season ticket holder should be eligible for the ballot.
I think there are other ways to ‘reward’ or thank those who donated last season.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
Some people are likely to be disappointed if there is a limit on the number of fans allowed in anyway, and i do not envy the people who have to make the decision if it comes to that. What ever way you do it it is going to be viewed as unfair on some people, given the majority of season ticket holder’s chose to donate, should they not get the greater chance of getting to watch the game?
Its not like you have a small number of people who donated and they are demanding more than what they deserve, its about acknowledging a contribution they have made to the club when the club needed it. Maybe the fair way of doing it would be to apportion tickets between the 3 groups on a ratio of who did what, 60% to those who donated, 20% who took credit and 20% to those who had a refund, that way it doesnt disproportionately affect anyone.
We may have very small crowds early in the season if (as I fear) the entire country is at Tier 3 in Jan and Feb after the Xmas relaxations and subsequent increase in cases. If by March we come out of Tier 3 down to Tier 2 (with hopefully millions vaccinated by then) we will be looking at 2,000 for the first few games until hopefully stuff gets back to some normality in April, May etc. All the arguments over who gets what will be null and void because the majority of people who donated won't get in the ground until May anyway, let alone those that didn't or couldn't. The best hope is that by May-June we'll have all been vaccinated and LP has five figure crowds with everyone who wants to be in there getting in there from that point.
Until then lots will miss out if things go as expected in Jan and Feb, because despite the vaccine I doubt we'll go from mass restrictions to a free for all overnight, and it'll be weeks and months until places are open as normal, RL grounds included. If you offer me an open LP with a 17,500 capacity by June I'll take it, but before then we may all be frustrated and annoyed about our chances of getting into the ground. Hopefully it means we'll get bumper gates in the second half of the season, loads more wanting to go to Wembley etc which will be an upside for the club and the game.
The problem comes when the season starts with just a few thousand fans and some ticket owners have donated (Voluntary) for the 2020 season and find themselves donating again in part (Involuntary) for the 2021 season, that may become a "compensating priority."
I myself have been a season ticket holder for 21 out of 24 seasons and a continuous annual holder since Widnes in 2011, if I find out someone has become a new season ticket holder for 2021 season and gets to attend games and I don't, I will be pretty miffed about that.
Apparently their sales have been good mainly all renewals
This is why 'credits' are used by football clubs to prioritise those that get tickets. A 2021 season ticker holder with few or no credits (ie, number of games attended) in the last 3 seasons (for example) should be behind someone with full credits for that time, etc. But I don't think we operate such a system.
There is no easy way to fairly allocate tickets in the event of restrictions on numbers, however it is done you will have people who will feel like they have been treated unfairly. I, like you, have been a season ticket holder since 2011, and i would feel miffed as well in the case you have described, maybe prioity should go to those who have had season tickets longer than a certain period or time, but as i said, there is no easy or fair way to do this.
I'm pretty much in agreement with all of that assessment of the way it's going to go. This Christmas nonsense will mean that any chance of becoming Tier 1 before the end of February has gone for a Burton. I cannot understand the mentality of anybody wanting to push freedom back by two months for the sake of five days of semi-freedom sooner. It's just stupidity beyond belief from both the Government and the section of the population that demanded it. Short-sighted, ill-thought nonsense.
Back to the issue at hand, though, and 2,000 crowds till the early summer sound about right. Nobody knows if the vaccine will reduce transmission, and if it doesn't then it's going to take the majority to have had the vaccination to ease restrictions, and the more that refuse the jab, the longer that will be.
What I'm not sure about is how bothered people will be about going back to stadiums before the restrictions are lifted and after. Personally, I've little interest in sitting in a 2,000 crowd dotted about, wearing masks, not being able to buy food and drink, not being able to sit with or socialise with mates before, during and after, on a Friday evening after five days work, on a freezing cold night, when the game will likely be on TV. Am I really that desperate to get back? And the answer is no. I'd rather go to a non-league football match, where the experience would be much closer to the real thing. In fact, in September of this year, apart from a temperature check and a few seats being out of action, it was little different to what it ever was. At the TW Stadium, it will be massively different, and I think I'll give it a miss.
What is the great unknown is how fans will react when restrictions are completely lifted. The temptation is to say that it will be like the Post-War sporting boom and everybody will come flooding through the turnstiles, but I'm not so sure. I actually think many who haven't been vaccinated may still be wary. I wonder whether many people will simply be able to throw their masks away and crack on again as if nothing had happened. There will be people who no longer can afford it, and moreover there are many, many people who go out of habit rather than through any particular joyous love. Once that habit has been broken, will it be recommenced?
It won't be a problem in RL, but certainly I feel that Premier League football will take a huge knock, because I know many people totally disillusioned by how VAR and modern rule changes have killed the game, have now seen the break in their habit give them the excuse they need to call it a day. My hunch is that many season ticket holders will become regular supporters, many regular supporters will become casual supporters and many casual supporters will simply cease to go altogether. I just don't think there will be enough going the other way to adequately compensate.
THIS YEAR LENDING SUPPORT TO:- St. Helens RLFC, Manchester City, Celtic, Alemannia Aachen, Steps 1 to 6 Non-League Football
Nobody seems to be using that to decipher how the 2,000 are chosen. City have always had a very fair loyalty points scheme, but with 35,000 season ticket holders and 10,000 of those having more or less maximum loyalty points, it has gone to a ballot of those season ticket holders who ask to be considered for a particular game.
Of course, in all of that there are still minefields that could apply and Saints will have that, having a fair number of supporters outside the City of Liverpool Region. As things stands, Saints could only allow those season ticket holders living in Tier 2 regions to attend, and if you lived in Ashton, for example, who are in Tier 3, you'd be brown-sugared!
THIS YEAR LENDING SUPPORT TO:- St. Helens RLFC, Manchester City, Celtic, Alemannia Aachen, Steps 1 to 6 Non-League Football
I can’t wait to get back to be honest, restrictions or not
Do you honestly think everyone is going to follow the guidelines for Christmas if we were still in tier 3?
It cannot be policed in a country of 60m-70 million and people will meet up regardless. They government are in a no win situation whatever they decide. If they stick to tier 3 measures all round, people will complain and many will ignore it. If they relax measures people will criticise them for being too lenieint with the public.
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave
Quite right..
Those with an ounce of common sense will do what they were going to do anyway, keeping contacts to a minimum, no matter what tier or restrictions are.. I don't know anyone who's got a chart out and working out houses etc.
As for the original point, I'm happy with all season ticket holders in a ballot, I'm guessing a few thousand may not bother, although you'd think the vast majority of the vulnerable will be done come March
I don’t even know what tier we’re in around our way. I travel around the country for a living and its obvious this second lockdown has been a joke in comparison to the one we had in spring. Folk are doing whatever they please and i don’t think any less of them for doing so. I wear a mask whenever i go out, simply out of courtesy to others. I can fart in denim jeans and smell it within 2 seconds yet some face mask is gonna save lives. Yeh ok boss.
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies
Funny you say that, because I've let alot of this PL season pass me by to be honest. I've had hardly any interest in games in empty stadiums (I've been less bothered about that with RL for some reason), the VAR stuff has annoyed me more than I ever thought technology would (I was an advocate for replays etc) and for some reason the non-stop cheating of the players has really irked me this season even though it's been around for years. Watching Lo Celso at the weekend holding his head whilst he feigned to be having spasms in his legs a few weeks after Jimenez's head injury just made me realise that they're all just programmed to be snides and cheats now, regardless of how it makes them look. I can fully agree that crowds won't get back to normal outside of places like Anfield because of this break in their habits and the stuff going on in the game.
My hope for the second half of the 2021 RL season is just that, hope. No guarantee people will feel comfortable just getting back to life, much like I imagine loads have got used to not going to the office and are happier getting up at five to nine and working in their pyjamas in the spare room with their tea and toast. We're all making massive assumptions I agree, and it may be well into the year that people get back to normal. I think the little break we all had this summer when rules were relaxed and people could live semi-normally for a few weeks is a good indication that enough will want to get out there and live their lives, but no guarantee.
As for Xmas, yes, I am baffled that we want to freely put ourselves into a national Tier 3 situation for Jan and Feb just so we can have people round for a roast dinner and a sherry. I feel for those who haven't seen loved ones and are really looking forward to it, but I haven't seen my diabetic sister since March because she's being ultra careful, and I'm living with it. I'm quite happy sitting at home with the missus, eating too much, watching 70s sit-coms and war films and letting everyone else get on with it! ;-)
Fair enough if you're happy with it but I suspect you're in the minority. I'm ••••ing sick of all the contradictory rules, how they've affected people close to me, being stuck in the house for weeks at a time, the obscene amount of shite constantly in the news, social media and everywhere else, even something simple like going for a pint has been made to feel like chore. I'm actually getting annoyed thinking about it.
Different issues them though mate. I’m not happy with life as it at all, I want to be out and about, I want to see mates and family, I want to go on holiday, I want to have a beer whenever I want etc. I was merely talking about Xmas and being happy doing nothing if it means we don’t blow it and end up back to square one on Dec 28th facing another two months of this nonsense.
We've just got to hang in there for a few more months, the winter months are going to be difficult for everyone. Once all the NHS staff, essential workers and everyone over 60 has been vaccinated then freedoms will return hopefully by the end of March.
I can still see social distancing still being applied in an indoor environment for longer though, as for the rugby if we can run at 1/3 capacity with no away fans allowed for a couple of months that would give us some normality to our sport.