Away Tickets - What's the magic?

[Ads]

I've missed a handful of games in 30 years, home, away, Europe. I don't really like the way you characterise me to be honest. I want my loyalty to keep going for another 30 years and if I live long enough, whatever comes after that. The idea of not going fills me with teeth aching anxiety. I want to go, I love to go.

The only games I've ever missed are when I've been ill and have never sold my ticket on and never would.

I've dedicated decades of my life to this thing of ours and you're snarling in resentment. That's a you a problem.

The idea that I should give that credit up, quite frankly, fucking no. Not now, not ever. Your last sentence is the biggest load of wrongness I've ever read on here. You don't get it at all, so no wonder you don't think loyalty matters.

Edit: "Being in a club" as if it's so fucking easy to follow this past time. So bitter and snide. The miles travelled, the thousands upon thousands of pounds that I don't even want to really think about, the hammering my cars have taken. Getting back at 3am from Millwall on a Friday night, having driven from Penrith to London and then back to the North West, having to dig your way through snow to get the car back on the estate. Having to have watched Lambert ball. Getting a puncture on the way back from Brighton on a Friday night as some berk has left laughing gas cannister on the M40. The 6 weeks it takes to get from the North West to Selhurst Park. Going on a stag do and leaving your car in Maidenhead, hiring one in Bournemouth, driving to Newcastle, driving back to Maidenhead, to then drive to the North West. I've fucking earnt my guarantee. "4 years" or a "cosey club". I'm loyal, there's hundreds more in that 19+ bracket who could tell you the same story.

[chrisw1]

I'm not sure anything you say changes the validity of my point.  Yeah, your personal attendance goes back further and I commend your loyalty. 

That doesn't change the overarching point that the '19 aways' have to buy 19 this season and will do so whether they want to attend or not.  And of course the vast majority won't have a track record anything like yours and I would wager a large portion will sell some on.

And it's not snarling resentment.  I wouldn't be able to get to more than a handful of away games either way, so it doesn't make much difference to me.  I just observe that a system where the same 3,000 people will go for the next 10 years without any prospect of younger fans breaking into that cycle is clearly flawed.

But as I said, I get it.  Jack's alright.   

[Ads]

Its oozing bitter resentment and you don't commend fuck all, as you're having a go at me because I'm loyal. How about Goughie? He's been going since Jesus was in short trousers and will still be going when the Rapture comes. If you commend loyalty, then you have to recognise it for the valuable currency that it is. For Goughie, for me or for anybody like that, the reality is that the currency has no equivalent value; it cannot be traded away.

There is a problem, Ive recongnised it. But I am not that problem and i am.not the reason you cannot get tickets. The solution isn't to dilute loyalty from the most die hard of Villa.

[LeeB]

I've missed a handful of games in 30 years, home, away, Europe. I don't really like the way you characterise me to be honest. I want my loyalty to keep going for another 30 years and if I live long enough, whatever comes after that. The idea of not going fills me with teeth aching anxiety. I want to go, I love to go.

The only games I've ever missed are when I've been ill and have never sold my ticket on and never would.

I've dedicated decades of my life to this thing of ours and you're snarling in resentment. That's a you a problem.

The idea that I should give that credit up, quite frankly, fucking no. Not now, not ever. Your last sentence is the biggest load of wrongness I've ever read on here. You don't get it at all, so no wonder you don't think loyalty matters.

I'm not going to take sides over this, there's no easy answer. Maybe keep the criteria the same but reserve a larger pool of tickets for ballot to give more people a chance? I don't know. I am the beneficiery of this system a few times a season if our kid can't go, which suits me fine.
 
Ads, the bit I've highlighted would have been me back in the day, I refused to consider moving away to uni as it would impact following the Villa, but once you 'break the seal' by missing a big game that anxiety goes. I think the first I missed (thankfully) was the FA Cup semi under O'Neill as my eldest was due any moment, I didn't go to either game at Wembley in the 2015 run and I couldn't get a ticket for the winning play off (did for the shit one though).

The thought of missing something like that in my youth would've have killed me, but I had an epic day anyway. I've zero chance of getting at ticket should we get to the final in Europe but I'm totally relaxed about it now.

[UK Redsox]

There's probably more chance of sorting out Israel/Palestine than resolving the Villa away ticket allocation

It's only the past couple of years where getting away tickets has been a problem.
Previously I picked and chose my away games and was always able to the tickets from Villa.

[chrisw1]

I'm not having a go at you ADS.  I'm saying the system is flawed and I think it could be better.

[Risso]

I'm not sure anything you say changes the validity of my point.  Yeah, your personal attendance goes back further and I commend your loyalty. 

That doesn't change the overarching point that the '19 aways' have to buy 19 this season and will do so whether they want to attend or not.  And of course the vast majority won't have a track record anything like yours and I would wager a large portion will sell some on.

And it's not snarling resentment.  I wouldn't be able to get to more than a handful of away games either way, so it doesn't make much difference to me.  I just observe that a system where the same 3,000 people will go for the next 10 years without any prospect of younger fans breaking into that cycle is clearly flawed.

But as I said, I get it.  Jack's alright.   

Those last two words really do completely convey your feelings of resentment, despite your protestations to the contrary.

Away tickets aren't any different in theory to home tickets in my view. There's a big waiting list for home season tickets, and there's no realistic prospect of somebody new getting one for several years. Should season ticket holders be turfed out at random to give new supporters a chance? Away tickets are obviously further constrained by the massively smaller allocation, but I'm absolutely fine with the fact that people who have been following Villa away for years get tickets and I don't. I'd have loved to have gone to Newcastle, but couldn't get tickets, so there we are, we can't have everything we want in life.

[TaxDodger]

The one thing that irks me slightly is the way they split up the criteria - I know it changes a bit based on the fixture but I think it's broadly 19 aways, 15 aways, 11 aways then season ticket holders.

By frantically clicking every time it came down to season ticket holders last season I managed to get to 6 league aways (and Man United in the cup), but I stand no chance of ever breaking into the 11 aways criteria unless I win the ballet 50% of the time I enter it.

Would it not be fairer to do 19, 10, 5 as opposed to 19, 15, 11? Or even to add more levels - 19, 15, 12, 8, 5 for example?

I appreciate this view is probably somewhat distorted by the fact that it would improve my own chances of getting tickets and that the latter would create more admin work for the club but surely this would enable season ticket holders to gradually build up their history and move up the ladder over seasons?

I suppose the counter argument to this is that all games would sell out before it reached season ticket holders and so season ticket holders with less than 5 games would stand no chance of getting any tickets ever but I definitely think they could divide up the criteria in a fairer way without the huge drop from 11 to zero.

[Brend'Watkins]

Some tickets, maybe a lot more than some might be freed up if they were to weed out the charlied up, pissed morons who seem to be ever present away followers. It might make the experience a bit more enjoyable to everyone else who follows too.

[Chico Hamilton III]

I think I disagree with Ads on just about every subject except this one.

[LeeB]

Some tickets, maybe a lot more than some might be freed up if they were to weed out the charlied up, pissed morons who seem to be ever present away followers. It might make the experience a bit more enjoyable to everyone else who follows too.

I noticed the three bellends behind me at Anfield, who were spoken to by the police at half time and were also being gobshites outside after the game, in the front row at Chelsea shortly after.

I doubt I'd manage to get through another game in their proximity without saying/doing something.

[chrisw1]

Fair enough Risso.  As I said I don't feel it's resentment as it's not really me who's suffering from the situation.  I genuinely respect ADS's long-term loyalty.

But there are an awful lot of 'fuck you you weren't there in the Championship' type posts and tweets out there and I thought it was reasonable to express a counterpoint.  And there's an awful lot of people buying 19 because they can and they have to.

Something as simple as reducing the first criteria to 15 or 17 would take this pressure off.  The vast majority of the loyal away fans would still get tickets to the vast majority of away games, but there would be less need to buy and sell on.  This probably wouldn't help younger fans trying to get on the train, but it would resolve the selling on issue.  The outcome would probably be rewarding loyalty more not less, as there would be fewer tickets floating around for more casual followers. 

[saunders_heroes]

I missed a couple of away games at the start of last season and I tumbled down the list and haven’t been able to recover since. Ive only been to a few away games since then, and that’s with the help of friends with spare tickets etc. I haven’t got a problem with this system because it’s always been the same. The demand for Villa tickets has never been higher in my lifetime and its bloody great, if a little frustrating. Better than having a half empty Villa Park and a mini bus of fans at away games.

[UK Redsox]

Some tickets, maybe a lot more than some might be freed up if they were to weed out the charlied up, pissed morons who seem to be ever present away followers. It might make the experience a bit more enjoyable to everyone else who follows too.

During the years when I was attending away games, it amazed me how many people were more interested in getting pissed and taunting home fans than they were in watching the football.
There's got to be way cheaper ways of acting an arsehole than forking out on away tickets, travel and overpriced stadium beer.

[Risso]

Some tickets, maybe a lot more than some might be freed up if they were to weed out the charlied up, pissed morons who seem to be ever present away followers. It might make the experience a bit more enjoyable to everyone else who follows too.

I could fully get behind that proposal. One of the reasons I'm not that bothered about away game attendance these days is that a large percentage of the travelling Villa fans are absolute wankers who make the experience deeply unpleasant. Making a mosh pit in the concourse before the game and chucking beer around, and then doing nothing but flap their hands at the home supporters during the match. Absolute scrotes.