Away Allocations

[TaxDodger]

I posted my general thoughts on away allocations on the tickets thread. It pisses me off enormously that we don't take bigger allocations. I can understand it at places like Chelsea where tickets cost a billion pounds and we probably wouldn't sell out a maximum allocation, but do they seriously under 2k tickets is sufficient to places like Everton and Southampton for games that kick off a 3.00 on a Saturday?

[amfy]

We have a sum of money set aside to encourage away support so why not use it to give games like this a little push.

If the availability is either 1500 or 3000 for example, and the club reckon we'd only shift iro 2200, then use the away fund to boost it to nearer the 3000 mark, rather than just give up and take the 1500.

subsidised tickets and free coaches can be used for people to remember how good a Saturday afternoon away trip can be, rather than just to try & boost our support for the more difficult night matches at Crystal Palace as we do at the moment.

[Des Little]

Every game for us now is massive. I'd like think that the club recognise this (I know they do), therefore we need as much vocal support as we can possibly get. We should therefore do all we can to get as many fans to games as we can - if this means a bit of financial support then so be it.

[joe_c]

Although the situation is far from ideal, I have been thinking about this from the club's perspective. If we took the full allocation for Everton and ended up with, say, 500 unsold then the club would have to cough up the thick end of £20k. Now, that's £20k out of Villa's coffers into theirs. Basically, giving money to a direct competitor for nothing. Over five or six games that's potentially a six figure amount.

It's easy to say the club can afford to swallow the cost and justify it against the exorbitant amounts we've pissed up the wall on crappy players and crappy managers. But why should they? If we can't make money on our own unsold seats then why should other clubs make money on the ones we can't sell?

There is clearly more demand than tickets available as I am pretty sure we've sold out all our aways this season but how we can identify the extent of the demand, I don't know and as I recall the allocation is either the minimum or the maximum and very little room for manouvre in between. I'd be interested to know what the trigger point is for additional tickets being requested. I'm sure it would be partly based on the speed at which the initial allocation is sold. I'd also be interested in how many people are put off by the sold out and do nothing more about it than grumble about it and the club never gets to know that there is additional demand.

[conman]

The Trust have brought this to the attention of the club. The response was a bit of a fob off in my opinion. Lots of flannel about only getting so many on sale or return and using historical data to decide whether to take a larger allocation.

In theory fine but what data are they using that suggests we couldn't shift 3000 at Everton on a Saturday afternoon?

Exactly ,,,,,,,,what data
Here is some data they could use
We sold over 3000 tickets for Everton Away 12 months ago

[joe_c]

The Trust have brought this to the attention of the club. The response was a bit of a fob off in my opinion. Lots of flannel about only getting so many on sale or return and using historical data to decide whether to take a larger allocation.

In theory fine but what data are they using that suggests we couldn't shift 3000 at Everton on a Saturday afternoon?

Exactly ,,,,,,,,what data
Here is some data they could use
We sold over 300 tickets for Everton Away 12 months ago

In before the edit.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Just out of interest, do we charge away teams for unsold seats? I'm guessing not as let's be honest they wouldn't be needed by Villa fans regardless of how many the away team brings (99% of the time).

If that's the case then aren't Everton taking the piss a bit? As they won't sell out against us. I'm guessing they average around 35k in a 40k stadium?

[AVH87]

Just out of interest, do we charge away teams for unsold seats? I'm guessing not as let's be honest they wouldn't be needed by Villa fans regardless of how many the away team brings (99% of the time).

If that's the case then aren't Everton taking the piss a bit? As they won't sell out against us. I'm guessing they average around 35k in a 40k stadium?

Everton are currently averaging 38,611 in a 40k stadium so selling out most games so far. However, of their 6 home games 4 have been their biggest of the season: Liverpool, Man U, Man City and Chelsea. I don't expect them to sell out against us, probably be closer to the attendance they had v Sunderland in their last home game (36.5k).

[joe_c]

Just out of interest, do we charge away teams for unsold seats? I'm guessing not as let's be honest they wouldn't be needed by Villa fans regardless of how many the away team brings (99% of the time).

If that's the case then aren't Everton taking the piss a bit? As they won't sell out against us. I'm guessing they average around 35k in a 40k stadium?

We would do, yes. The rules as I understand them which apply to the entire league are that you won't be charged for any unsold tickets if you only take the minimum allocation, but if you take the full allocation, any unsold tickets must be paid for.

[conman]

well if the worst comes to the worst and we do go down
at least we should get  bigger away allocations next season
tomorrow blues are taking 4 thousand to Fulham
although in the case of walsall away for example
it wont be a case of taking thousands there like we do for pre season friendlies
it will be a case of small ground ,,,,,,,small away allocation
as was the case for Bournemouth this season ,,,,,
hot summers day in  August  ,,,,,,,we could have filled the ground with Villa fans

[Percy McCarthy]

The Trust have brought this to the attention of the club. The response was a bit of a fob off in my opinion. Lots of flannel about only getting so many on sale or return and using historical data to decide whether to take a larger allocation.

In theory fine but what data are they using that suggests we couldn't shift 3000 at Everton on a Saturday afternoon?

Exactly ,,,,,,,,what data
Here is some data they could use
We sold over 300 tickets for Everton Away 12 months ago

In before the edit.

It's a whopper alright.

Meanwhile, there's always money for mosques.

[conman]

The Trust have brought this to the attention of the club. The response was a bit of a fob off in my opinion. Lots of flannel about only getting so many on sale or return and using historical data to decide whether to take a larger allocation.

In theory fine but what data are they using that suggests we couldn't shift 3000 at Everton on a Saturday afternoon?

Exactly ,,,,,,,,what data
Here is some data they could use
We sold over 300 tickets for Everton Away 12 months ago

In before the edit.

It's a whopper alright.

Meanwhile, there's always money for mosques.

not in dudley

[Percy McCarthy]

The Trust have brought this to the attention of the club. The response was a bit of a fob off in my opinion. Lots of flannel about only getting so many on sale or return and using historical data to decide whether to take a larger allocation.

In theory fine but what data are they using that suggests we couldn't shift 3000 at Everton on a Saturday afternoon?

Exactly ,,,,,,,,what data
Here is some data they could use
We sold over 300 tickets for Everton Away 12 months ago

In before the edit.

It's a whopper alright.

Meanwhile, there's always money for mosques.

not in dudley

Letting off the party poppers were you?

[conman]

The Trust have brought this to the attention of the club. The response was a bit of a fob off in my opinion. Lots of flannel about only getting so many on sale or return and using historical data to decide whether to take a larger allocation.

In theory fine but what data are they using that suggests we couldn't shift 3000 at Everton on a Saturday afternoon?

Exactly ,,,,,,,,what data
Here is some data they could use
We sold over 300 tickets for Everton Away 12 months ago

In before the edit.

It's a whopper alright.

Meanwhile, there's always money for mosques.

not in dudley

Letting off the party poppers were you?

i couldnt get a ticket
anyway if anyone going to Everton and cant make it i am prepared to buy your ticket off you at almost the full price you paid

[peter w]

I see Ruskin Hall is closed but the mosque next door is open. Why couldn't the mosque build another mosque on the site AND show the away games. What's it all about?