Away Tickets - What's the magic?

[Des Little]

It’s a known fact that many of the top tier buy tickets regardless of their ability to attend the game or not, purely to safeguard their eligibility. There’s nothing that club can do in order to prevent this as it stands, it’ll only be addressed once tickets have names on and ID is needed to gain entry. Until then, it’ll be the same, it’s  just how it is.

[RamboandBruno]

50% of all away tickets should go to an open ballot. In my opinion. Keeps it fresh and prevents the same old faces each time

That's equally as childish as the banners....there's no way that will ever happen and nor should it.

I only saw one banner, and it's absolutely fine, put together by a very young Villa fan who I chatted with in Alkmaar, and no, it shouldn't happen.
I have no idea how things can be made "better", whatever that means, but I'd be a bit miffed if the two guys who used to sit next to me and dropped their STs as soon as we were relegated ( and have been back to a few games this season) got tickets for an away game because Strictly had reached its conclusion.

You’ve made similar comments before on this and its quite a smug attitude that supporters who don’t go to every away games for years are effectively tourists. My starting position is that you and supporters like you that have bern going to all away games for years, should have priority. However, at some point you were a younger supporter who started going to away games. Maybe there were just bigger allocations then, more likely fewer supporters were going so it was easier to go and we were more than likely shite for much of this time so again less people wanting to go.

The point is you could get tickets. Im not as bothered myself as I used to be, my season ticket and a few away games here and there does me. However, my soon to be 14 year old son has been a season ticket holder since he was 5, is mad to go to more away games, how does he possibly build up enough history over the next few years to go the way things are. So  where are the next generation of away supporters coming from?

[claret+blue ed]

Good start by the club this in cracking the "closed shop club" .

if you had been going when our chips were down in the Championship then it wouldn't be an issue for you.  Harsh yes but 100% as well.

I went to as more aways in the Championship than I ever did, and I pretty much always went to about 6-10 a season and that was enough to get one for the last away game. It’s not about people not wanting to be there when we were shit, it’s about the fact that it didn’t used to be ‘all or nothing’.

The fact that people anecdotally see the ‘same faces everywhere’ is meaningless. I know a lot of people who go to every game, I also know loads who go to all but a handful, and they’d probably count in the people you see ‘everywhere’ as well. Some weeks you might see some of the ‘same faces’ and they’ve turned up with their son this week because their mate is on holiday/at a wedding/got covid. Funnily enough, come to think of it, his son has been at quite a few games with him hasn’t he?

If all those people who can’t make the odd game, for entirely genuine reasons, felt able to just not buy a ticket for that game instead of live in fear of losing the magic number of bookings, then there’d be enough tickets for loads more fans to go, & even for people like that bloke who actually CAN ONLY take his son when his mate can’t go, to maybe just get his son a ticket for half a dozen games a season down the normal channels.

this is exactly how it should be

[andrew08]

Until the PL introduces identical entrance turnstiles as a condition of league membership, with identical season tickets, with photos on, to be used at all stadiums home and away then it won’t change.

That said I speak as a ‘same old face’ and passing on tickets is not as widespread as perceived. Of the 1700 most do go everywhere and spend their holiday entitlements and disposable incomes doing it. A lot of us can’t afford to do other stuff in between games!

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

It’s a known fact that many of the top tier buy tickets regardless of their ability to attend the game or not, purely to safeguard their eligibility. There’s nothing that club can do in order to prevent this as it stands, it’ll only be addressed once tickets have names on and ID is needed to gain entry. Until then, it’ll be the same, it’s  just how it is.

It's not many.
It's a few. In my experience.
There is inevitably a "fear" of not being able to get tickets for games, and I would say the vast majority have every intention of going to the games they get tickets for, but that fear drives the "closed shop" nature of the system we have.
We used to have an away season ticket system which was rightly binned.
So what do we do?
I agree, it will only be resolved when specific tickets are attributed to specific owners, but how do we decide who is eligible and who isn't?
A few recent away situations have been interesting...admission was by NFC tickets only...fair enough. But when my mate's daughter was poorly a few days before the game her ticket for the match, nor the coach, could be returned or refunded, and my mate couldn't go either as he is her PA. In the old days their tickets could have been passed on to grateful friends or family, but this simply couldn't happen, which meant two empty coach seats and two empty seats in the stadium. A genuine case with a very unsatisfactory outcome.
I have no idea what the answer is.

[Ads]

Bosnian stewards is the answer. We bought a home end ticket off a Villa fan in Opera for my good lady and they let her in the away end with it.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

50% of all away tickets should go to an open ballot. In my opinion. Keeps it fresh and prevents the same old faces each time

That's equally as childish as the banners....there's no way that will ever happen and nor should it.

I only saw one banner, and it's absolutely fine, put together by a very young Villa fan who I chatted with in Alkmaar, and no, it shouldn't happen.
I have no idea how things can be made "better", whatever that means, but I'd be a bit miffed if the two guys who used to sit next to me and dropped their STs as soon as we were relegated ( and have been back to a few games this season) got tickets for an away game because Strictly had reached its conclusion.

You’ve made similar comments before on this and its quite a smug attitude that supporters who don’t go to every away games for years are effectively tourists. My starting position is that you and supporters like you that have bern going to all away games for years, should have priority. However, at some point you were a younger supporter who started going to away games. Maybe there were just bigger allocations then, more likely fewer supporters were going so it was easier to go and we were more than likely shite for much of this time so again less people wanting to go.

The point is you could get tickets. Im not as bothered myself as I used to be, my season ticket and a few away games here and there does me. However, my soon to be 14 year old son has been a season ticket holder since he was 5, is mad to go to more away games, how does he possibly build up enough history over the next few years to go the way things are. So  where are the next generation of away supporters coming from?

For years and years there were no tickets....you just went to games, home and away, and paid on the turnstile...It's how we used to take 6 or 7 thousand to games in the old 3rd division.
I just got into the habit of going to all games, home and away, and planned my life around The Villa.
It's not being smug, it's a choice I have made, including planning my working days, weeks, locations and holidays around Villa games and the football season.
I've had a season ticket for about 20/22 years.
In more recent years I have made every effort to get tickets for games for myself and my mate and his daughter, which again, includes planning to fit in with times when tickets go on sale and sometimes ending up out of pocket. I accept it as part of what I have to do if I want to go to games.
I don't see any other Villa fan as a "tourist" as you seem to think I do....I am just reporting my personal experience of people who want to go to games now who didn't want to 5/6 seasons ago, for instance, when I think the big demand for away tickets really started in earnest.
I rarely missed so was able to build a strong booking history.
As I say to everyone else, the best thing to do is to build up as big a booking history as possible, as we all have, and simply get to as many games as humanly possible....what is difficult is dropping everything to get to the games....eg Boro...when they come along. Not everyone can do that. I could because I made it happen within my own limitations/constraints etc.

That's not being smug. That's me not doing other things so I can do Villa things. 

I genuinely wish your lad, and every Villa fan, the very best of experiences in following our club. Like any other membership of any "club", old buggers like me will not be able to go any longer and younger fans will take our place. Or just put all the tickets in a hat? Or collect vouchers from the programme? I have no answer to satisfy everyone, and I don't know of any club that has.
 

[Des Little]

More sniffer dogs at turnstiles and banning orders from away games is the simple and effective way to eradicate the bell end contingent of our away following.

[RamboandBruno]

50% of all away tickets should go to an open ballot. In my opinion. Keeps it fresh and prevents the same old faces each time

That's equally as childish as the banners....there's no way that will ever happen and nor should it.

I only saw one banner, and it's absolutely fine, put together by a very young Villa fan who I chatted with in Alkmaar, and no, it shouldn't happen.
I have no idea how things can be made "better", whatever that means, but I'd be a bit miffed if the two guys who used to sit next to me and dropped their STs as soon as we were relegated ( and have been back to a few games this season) got tickets for an away game because Strictly had reached its conclusion.

You’ve made similar comments before on this and its quite a smug attitude that supporters who don’t go to every away games for years are effectively tourists. My starting position is that you and supporters like you that have bern going to all away games for years, should have priority. However, at some point you were a younger supporter who started going to away games. Maybe there were just bigger allocations then, more likely fewer supporters were going so it was easier to go and we were more than likely shite for much of this time so again less people wanting to go.

The point is you could get tickets. Im not as bothered myself as I used to be, my season ticket and a few away games here and there does me. However, my soon to be 14 year old son has been a season ticket holder since he was 5, is mad to go to more away games, how does he possibly build up enough history over the next few years to go the way things are. So  where are the next generation of away supporters coming from?

For years and years there were no tickets....you just went to games, home and away, and paid on the turnstile...It's how we used to take 6 or 7 thousand to games in the old 3rd division.
I just got into the habit of going to all games, home and away, and planned my life around The Villa.
It's not being smug, it's a choice I have made, including planning my working days, weeks, locations and holidays around Villa games and the football season.
I've had a season ticket for about 20/22 years.
In more recent years I have made every effort to get tickets for games for myself and my mate and his daughter, which again, includes planning to fit in with times when tickets go on sale and sometimes ending up out of pocket. I accept it as part of what I have to do if I want to go to games.
I don't see any other Villa fan as a "tourist" as you seem to think I do....I am just reporting my personal experience of people who want to go to games now who didn't want to 5/6 seasons ago, for instance, when I think the big demand for away tickets really started in earnest.
I rarely missed so was able to build a strong booking history.
As I say to everyone else, the best thing to do is to build up as big a booking history as possible, as we all have, and simply get to as many games as humanly possible....what is difficult is dropping everything to get to the games....eg Boro...when they come along. Not everyone can do that. I could because I made it happen within my own limitations/constraints etc.

That's not being smug. That's me not doing other things so I can do Villa things. 

I genuinely wish your lad, and every Villa fan, the very best of experiences in following our club. Like any other membership of any "club", old buggers like me will not be able to go any longer and younger fans will take our place. Or just put all the tickets in a hat? Or collect vouchers from the programme? I have no answer to satisfy everyone, and I don't know of any club that has.

Apologies, i shouldn’t of used the word smug, I think there were comments a few weeks or months back about some supporters only wanting to go to the big draw away games, but nevermind, just me being an arse.

I’ve being going to Villa home games since 82 and had season tickets for the majority of seasons since 86-87, apart from a few years in the mid 90s when living away. Ive only ever gone to a handful of away games for various reasons and to be fair admire the sacrifices you and others have made. Unfortunately its past the stage of me being able to make these sacrifices every other week now, so it'll up to my lad when he’s old enough to go on his own to try and get himself that history if he still wants to.

[VillaTim]

Good start by the club this in cracking the "closed shop club" .

if you had been going when our chips were down in the Championship then it wouldn't be an issue for you.  Harsh yes but 100% as well.

i did about 8 a season back then . I don't have the option to go to EVERY bloody game nor would i want to ! Now its a case of attend them ALL or nothing. Its a pathetic system.
Just the other day one of the "closed shop group" offered me 2 for Everton , i told him to shove them where the sun don't shine

[john e]

It’s a known fact that many of the top tier buy tickets regardless of their ability to attend the game or not, purely to safeguard their eligibility. There’s nothing that club can do in order to prevent this as it stands, it’ll only be addressed once tickets have names on and ID is needed to gain entry. Until then, it’ll be the same, it’s  just how it is.

It's not many.
It's a few. In my experience.
There is inevitably a "fear" of not being able to get tickets for games, and I would say the vast majority have every intention of going to the games they get tickets for, but that fear drives the "closed shop" nature of the system we have.
We used to have an away season ticket system which was rightly binned.
So what do we do?
I agree, it will only be resolved when specific tickets are attributed to specific owners, but how do we decide who is eligible and who isn't?
A few recent away situations have been interesting...admission was by NFC tickets only...fair enough. But when my mate's daughter was poorly a few days before the game her ticket for the match, nor the coach, could be returned or refunded, and my mate couldn't go either as he is her PA. In the old days their tickets could have been passed on to grateful friends or family, but this simply couldn't happen, which meant two empty coach seats and two empty seats in the stadium. A genuine case with a very unsatisfactory outcome.
I have no idea what the answer is.

Forgive my ignorance but what’s a NFC ticket

[VillaTim]

Until the PL introduces identical entrance turnstiles as a condition of league membership, with identical season tickets, with photos on, to be used at all stadiums home and away then it won’t change.

not true .
I recently went to a concert where etickets were issued that were 100% not transferrable . The only way anyone else would get in would be by taking your phone

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

No, you're right Rambo, I did make comments about SOME people only wanting to go to the big stadiums etc, but as I say, I am only going on personal experience...one saying they wanted to go to Spurs because they'd never been and commentators said it was a great stadium...supporting The Villa was never mentioned!

I only had breaks from going regularly in the late 70s....I was playing most Sat afternoons....and mid 80s when my lad was born. Simply never had a ST until about 20 odd years ago, just habit I think.
I got the away bug at about your lad's age and just loved it, made great friends and had some wonderful days with the Villa faithful. The last 12/14 or so years I've hardly missed a game...my last 3 holidays have been during the International breaks...the love just grows and I don't want to miss any of it the way we're going atm!!!
I know full well many simply can't organise their lives the way I could/can but I am sure your lad will get the chance of away games now and again and, however the club chooses to do things in future, that he will get to many more.
Well done with sharing the love with your boy! UTV!

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

It’s a known fact that many of the top tier buy tickets regardless of their ability to attend the game or not, purely to safeguard their eligibility. There’s nothing that club can do in order to prevent this as it stands, it’ll only be addressed once tickets have names on and ID is needed to gain entry. Until then, it’ll be the same, it’s  just how it is.

It's not many.
It's a few. In my experience.
There is inevitably a "fear" of not being able to get tickets for games, and I would say the vast majority have every intention of going to the games they get tickets for, but that fear drives the "closed shop" nature of the system we have.
We used to have an away season ticket system which was rightly binned.
So what do we do?
I agree, it will only be resolved when specific tickets are attributed to specific owners, but how do we decide who is eligible and who isn't?
A few recent away situations have been interesting...admission was by NFC tickets only...fair enough. But when my mate's daughter was poorly a few days before the game her ticket for the match, nor the coach, could be returned or refunded, and my mate couldn't go either as he is her PA. In the old days their tickets could have been passed on to grateful friends or family, but this simply couldn't happen, which meant two empty coach seats and two empty seats in the stadium. A genuine case with a very unsatisfactory outcome.
I have no idea what the answer is.

Forgive my ignorance but what’s a NFC ticket

Near Field Communication.
Like paying for stuff with your phone.
YOUR ticket is on YOUR phone...you can't pass it on and there are no alternatives.
It only works when interracting with another device...ie the ticket reader.
It's not a QR code.
You can't screenshot it....you simply won't get in.

A few typical FAQs...
Q. What if I don't have a smart phone?
A. You can't have a ticket.

Q. How do I pass my ticket on to my friend?
A. You don't. You contact us, we cancel it and we resell it.


A few clubs/venues have the facility for sharing tickets but only to a named recipient with an account/id etc.

It's the future!

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Until the PL introduces identical entrance turnstiles as a condition of league membership, with identical season tickets, with photos on, to be used at all stadiums home and away then it won’t change.

not true .
I recently went to a concert where etickets were issued that were 100% not transferrable . The only way anyone else would get in would be by taking your phone

This is NFC!

Cheers VT!