LCFC must offer General Sale to fans

[Voll Blau]

4 minutes ago, Chrysalis said:

We have a very large capacity issue which the club isnt currently rushing to remedy sadly.

 

There is simply no capacity for general sale.

 

The pent up demand wont last forever, we need extra seats yesterday really.

We've got two games in the next few days that haven't sold out. So there is capacity right now.

[foxile5]

15 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I'd love to know what other option I've got apart from giving in?

 

My lad is desperate to go see a game and has been bugging me for months to take him so yeah, I gave in.

 

I hate the process and it stinks that you have to buy a membership but I want him to go, enjoy the experience in SK1, and become hooked like I was at his age. 

 

You're the type of consumer, user, target audience member, fan that the club dream of. The reluctant but forced. You're maximum profit in their eyes. You won't use the membership so much that others can't purchase itinerant tickets on their membership but you'll spend a few hundred quid with them.

[Izzy]

2 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

You're the type of consumer, user, target audience member, fan that the club dream of. The reluctant but forced. You're maximum profit in their eyes. You won't use the membership so much that others can't purchase itinerant tickets on their membership but you'll spend a few hundred quid with them.

Making me sound like the bad guy here 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

21 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I'd love to know what other option I've got apart from giving in?

 

My lad is desperate to go see a game and has been bugging me for months to take him so yeah, I gave in.

 

I hate the process and it stinks that you have to buy a membership but I want him to go, enjoy the experience in SK1, and become hooked like I was at his age. 

 

That's fair enough Izzy. I'm not having a dig at you or others for doing this. I'm simply stating that the club won't change it's policy while it has fans such as yourself over a barrel like this.

 

The only possible route back to general sale is if the club goes through another unsuccessful period like 2004-08 and demand decreases (something which I'm sure we all agree none of us wants), or if the club gets on with the stadium expansion.

Edited 22 December 2023 by SouthStandUpperTier

[ramboacdc]

Someone on FB claims the 4k at Millwall was because of returns and Rotherham "doesn't need a general sale as there are only about 150 tickets left."
 

Que?

[foxile5]

10 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Making me sound like the bad guy here 

I'm not trying to at all - I think the club are hugely cynical in their ticketing practices and they should be looking to get folks like you and your lad into the ground for the price of an admission as an investment to the 50+ years of supportership it could bring.

 

Unfortunately, we're not ran by football people and they look at you like a statistic to extract the maximum immediate profit from for this year's books. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

54 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

We've got two games in the next few days that haven't sold out. So there is capacity right now.

450 unsold for tomorrow at the moment.

[Thefox81]

2 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

450 unsold for tomorrow at the moment.

And if they stuck them on general sale its a guarenteed sell out. Beggars belief

[PAULCFC]

Yep...i'd get 2,but not forking out for 2 memberships......BAH HUMBUG!

[RYM]

Based on the UFS findings it seems unlikely that anything is going to change this season, we’ll then be blessed with a promotion which will mean less, if any empty seats. It’s kind of a get out of jail for free for the club really. 

 

What you would hope is that the learnings from this means there is a plan for if / when we go down again. Fan groups need to all challenge this constructively to ensure something is in place. It may well already be.

 

Now our bubble has burst we will probably see more “faults” in our systems and on a positive the room for improvements.

 

Conscious of battering @Foxes_Trust but I’d really like to understand what you do if the club says no to you?

how do you hold them accountable?

do you really challenge the club or just roll over and have your tummy tickled?

You claim to 

• To lobby, publicise and campaign to encourage the Board to take into account the interests of supporters when making its decisions.

but what does that look like when they say no?

Do you use the FSA and others out there that can help lobby and suggest better ways for the club to operate?

 

Again from my time in football I was regularly challenged and questioned by fans. It’s brutal at times but you need that to grow as a club, to stay relevant. if you’re not challenged then you can hide and many, many clubs do. Lip service is also too easy without accountability and regular agenda driven and minuted meetings. There was a fan centric strategy at those clubs though and they were smaller clubs than LCFC so that can make it easier… but then harder in many ways.

 

Im a big fan of UFS, what they want is great  for the next generation of fans, I even moved my ST’s from the family end as my two young lads want to be part of it.

 

I know older fan groups don’t always condone / like what younger fan groups are about but you have to unite to make a difference IF you want the fan base to stay relevant and to grow beyond what happens on the green rectangle. Uniting can mean really uncomfortable conversations with the club, but done properly you can get results or at least reasonings.

 

A question I always used to ask fan groups, staff at clubs et al, if what you are doing isn’t for the benefit of making the fans experience better, then why are you doing it? 
 

Keep fighting the good fight 🦊

[guest123]

2 hours ago, Jackubu said:

They're not being silent though, they've shared that the conversation is ongoing albeit in an unsatisfactory way. My guess is that, if they shared the correspondence, the communication would be cut off. Seems sensible 

They made a vague statement with no context and when actually asked they went silent, you can’t argue that point. Now I’m fully expecting the fan boys to get excited about me hating on ufs without knowing I actually sent that account some useful info on this very topic before this thread was even posted, as I did a few other people on here. I pointed out the hypocrisy of the foxes trust being called out for being silent, do we all now forgive them and accept they were discussing stuff behind the scenes and were told not to say anything? Thank you

[wattsup]

As a season ticket holder the seat next to me has been empty on many occasions this season, my brother would love to come to some home games if he could sit with me

 

Neither us have a smartphone so I contacted the club to ask if there was any way to get a ticket sent in the post or collecting at the ground

 

The response wasn't clear at all,  I tried emailing back and was none the wiser so gave up, does anyone know if you can get tickets this way or do you have to own a suitable phone ?

 

Again this is turning some-one away who is a lifelong supporter,  can't afford to go to every match , but would like to attend when he can 

[Clarkeyblue]

47 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

450 unsold for tomorrow at the moment.

Don't know how you see that many unsold - all sections I see just have the odd single seat available.

[Golden Fox]

Couple of points that haven't been made yet (coming from same MO as lots of others - have been going to games for 30 years, gone to plenty of away games, had a season ticket in the past & now feels like the sort of of supporter the club doesn't want to encourage).

 

The demand for watching Leicester play now is massive compared to the past and compared to ground size. I fully support the OP about making tickets available for general sale if unsold, but that would still be a drop in the ocean of people who want to go and it would still be very expensive and price out a lot of people.

 

We are not alone in this position. I was speaking to a 60 odd year old from Liverpool the other day - from the city, used to go a lot, but just no chance of getting tickets anymore.

 

So given how many on here feel disconnected, the club need to think of other ways to go about it. I know the club is a business and is in an industry that has always been first come first served and tough luck if you are at the back of the queue (memories of spending a night queuing at Filbert St for ticket office to open in the morning), but this is a chance for the club to take a lead and to do things a different way. If they held a register of LCFC supporters - possibly free - possibly a couple of quid membership fee - then they could give a section of the ground over to registered supporters - so as to commit to all members having a chance to buy tickets for a number of games each year. This would cut down on your Leeds supporters trying to get tickets, as you wouldn't know what games would be offered. I'd supplement that by reducing season tickets numbers and giving more half season tickets or third season tickets - which would be cheaper than single game tickets, but would share round getting into the fixed capacity venue.

 

Currently, there are 23,000 season ticket holders & 3,000 in the away end (not sure where the other 6,000 go...) - but you could have a lucky 15,000 with season tickets, 5,000 sharing half season tickets, 7,500 sharing third season tickets and 3,000 available for registered members - and get so many more people into the ground and connected to the club. All the concerns about general sales and not knowing who was going would be moot, and we could become a real model for a community club. This would p*ss off a number of current season ticket holders, but tough - they would still get to go to half the games & it give someone else a chance!

 

Not going to happen - unless we get a new Head of Fan Engagement who is keen to be a trail blazer and had actually believes the tag line of the job description "Leicester City Football Club is deeply committed to the local community".

[Paninistickers]

48 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

450 unsold for tomorrow at the moment.

The Mercury should jump on this and ask the difficult questions. Whatever anybody makes of the decline of a once great powerhouse of a local newspaper (the mercury was right up there with Manchester and Yorkshire and Glasgow/Edinburgh for circulations for 50 odd years til the 2000s) it always was a campaigning newspaper. Maybe the editorial has gone to pot but Jordan Blackwell seems a talented lad. Even if he prints a simple 'the club declined to comment' he could run a price on this

[SecretPro]

They should make the stand extension general sale only. Might gets some fans in there that actually want to be there then, rather than the masses of general malaise

[Sol thewall Bamba]

16 minutes ago, Clarkeyblue said:

Don't know how you see that many unsold - all sections I see just have the odd single seat available.

M1 has about 300, then the various West stand bits have loads. 

[worth_the_wait]

1 hour ago, wattsup said:

As a season ticket holder the seat next to me has been empty on many occasions this season, my brother would love to come to some home games if he could sit with me

 

Neither us have a smartphone so I contacted the club to ask if there was any way to get a ticket sent in the post or collecting at the ground

 

The response wasn't clear at all,  I tried emailing back and was none the wiser so gave up, does anyone know if you can get tickets this way or do you have to own a suitable phone ?

 

Again this is turning some-one away who is a lifelong supporter,  can't afford to go to every match , but would like to attend when he can 

I had a long conversation with Jim (ticket office) last season, and he said that they would not turn anyone away who didn't have a suitable modern/smart phone.    He said you just need to speak to them, and explain why you can't use mobile tickets ... and so long as it was a good reason (eg you don't have a smart phone), then they would sort you out.   I assume, print you a paper ticket.

 

I made the point, that I thought it a bit insulting why anyone should have to "provide a good reason" why they didn't want a mobile ticket.   But there you go.   It's their club, not ours!

 

*** EDITED TO SAY ***

Nowhere does it say this anywhere on the website btw.   It implies, that for matchday tickets it's mobile ticket or nothing.   

It would be nice if they added a "If you don't have a suitable mobile phone, please contact the ticket office, etc etc".   But oh no, too much to ask,

Edited 22 December 2023 by worth_the_wait

[walkerleeds]

1 hour ago, guest123 said:

They made a vague statement with no context and when actually asked they went silent, you can’t argue that point. Now I’m fully expecting the fan boys to get excited about me hating on ufs without knowing I actually sent that account some useful info on this very topic before this thread was even posted, as I did a few other people on here. I pointed out the hypocrisy of the foxes trust being called out for being silent, do we all now forgive them and accept they were discussing stuff behind the scenes and were told not to say anything? Thank you

 

I don't understand what other context/ specifics you need? The original statement mentions what the query was and it's pretty obvious what the response was. 

 

Obviously screenshots of the conversations would be counterproductive because the trust is then lost and communication breaks down I would imagine (they seem like quite a temperamental bunch down there). 

 

UFS and Foxes Trust are not comparable, the former actively tries to improve things for fans. The fact you can't seem to read between the lines around this and require specifics doesn't make them silent, it simply means they aren't stupid enough to lose whatever communication they currently have by posting details on a football forum. 

[grobyfox1990]

3 hours ago, Izzy said:

I'd love to know what other option I've got apart from giving in?

 

My lad is desperate to go see a game and has been bugging me for months to take him so yeah, I gave in.

 

I hate the process and it stinks that you have to buy a membership but I want him to go, enjoy the experience in SK1, and become hooked like I was at his age. 

 

Look around for a STH to buy you guest tickets. There is a de facto general sale, and it is very easy to do. Whilst LCFC do not offer general sale, we must shame them by using every available tactic to exploit the game that is in place right now.

Would be well easy to set up an exchange where you list a pool of STHs on here and then vetted people come on and buy single match tickets from them, with the price of the tickets held on their cards. Given that dude got banned for saying 'cancer' on this forum I guess it won't happen here LOL but it is easily possible.

[Nolucklcfc]

 I met the club this morning about this. There is zero chance away tickets will ever go on general sale. Home games there might be some movement in the second half of the season. It’s because of trouble that comes with general sale apparently 🤷‍♀️

[Craig]

1 minute ago, Nolucklcfc said:

 I met the club this morning about this. There is zero chance away tickets will ever go on general sale. Home games there might be some movement in the second half of the season. It’s because of trouble that comes with general sale apparently 🤷‍♀️

They make no sense with their approach though.

 

Tomorrow Huddersfield will go on sale to those with one home or away point (not advertised anywhere, mind), yet tomorrow we have hundreds left and they haven't followed the same pattern. 

 

 

[MPH]

On 21/12/2023 at 05:49, ramboacdc said:

It's started a debate on the FB groups that there aren't as many tickets available as claimed. One person claimed that the 4k of empties at Millwall was "Maybe STH's who couldn't make that game" which I thought was a weak explaination. Others claiming the £30 charge is a way to help income for FFP seemed weak also. 

The club want a membership so they can capture data to prevent banned people getting in and also stop touts by having the ticket be in your name. It's why its still a swine to buy a ticket but if you can't make it and give it your friend/family member there is a chance you will be stopped or ejected because the ticket doesn't show your name as you walk in. Same with away end spot checks. They are cracking down on even face value exchange, which was always illegal but was sort of blind eyed until we hit the bigger time and groups popped up everywhere. People for example were trying to sell free disabled carer tickets for the face value of the ticket if purchased and pocketing the rest. The club were scanning the FB groups and banning people. I left Foxestalk for a while and I can see now the ticket exchange here has a disclaimer also. I am not sure if the same thing happened here, but it wouldn't surprise me. 

 

It does ruin the ability to wake up boxing day or over the Christmas break and decide late doors to pick a ticket up with your mates at the store if you want a last minute thing to do and have a bit of extra money, but there is an arguement on both sides. It's the shite state of football these days. If you can afford tickets you are gouged through the nose for them price wise, if you are someone who can't make every game and justify a membership, you can't buy a ticket off a mate who can't make it or buy one on general sale or the Championship away ends cost a stupid amount since theres no price cap.  

 

It's not about glory hunting fans or "you should have come see us when we were in L1 if you call yourself a fan." It's money (from both fans and LCFC) and the club trying to cover themselves and comply with police ensuring bans can be enforced. I don't think it's right but it is my thoughts on the state of football in general. 

 

 

 

 

Then by all means, charge a quid for membership

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 hours ago, Izzy said:

Making me sound like the bad guy here 

Maybe they've heard your jokes?

[Mike the Metal Ed]

41 minutes ago, MPH said:

 

 

Then by all means, charge a quid for membership

I became a "member" of Blackburn Rovers to go see them play Sheffield United one Saturday afternoon. It was free.