The Ballot

[Ads]

Strong rumours that away tickets will be:

10% for GA+
20%? (Loyalty points)
70% ballot.

Not sure if anybody else has heard this, but have to say it's really put an absolute downer on the end of season. I feel like 30+ years of loyalty and effort, when for a good 25+ of those it was easy to get a ticket, is being flushed down the toilet.

The likes of Goughie, Hatchet and Julian who run the biggest  independent coaches/clubs will be decimated. Mates for decades and decades linked by a common addiction and dedication.

I feel more gutted at the possibility of this than when we got relegated.

[Paul.S]

I’d give nothing to GA+ and make them apply through a ballot of 10/15% with everyone else.
I do about 6/7 aways each season and get some via other means but you cannot ignore loyalty.
There was a time I did every away and I would’ve felt unappreciated to say the least if this would’ve come in then.

[Ads]

Yeah I have no issue with say 20-30% being ballot.

But I'd quite like being 1 of 400 at the Riverside on a mid-week and 1 of 300 tops at Rapid Vienna twice when it comes to Premier League and European away tickets, to actually mean something.

I'm not sure how many GA+ there would be, but its a great way of forcing me to spend an extra grand on my seaaon ticket to give me more of a shot for something that apparently going to 50+ games a season suddenly doesn't.

[VillaTim]

I think 50 / 50 ballot / booking history would be fair .
The problem has been some abusing the loyalty / history thing and creating effectively a closed shop , which cannot be right.

[Ads]

Get fucked.

[Clampy]

I think a ballot should be more. Not sure about 70% though, sounds excessive.

[eamonn]

Ballot for what ? Thought we'd been reinstated to the Cup...

[Ads]

It's in the first line of the post.

[PeterWithesShin]

70-75% loyalty, the rest ballot. GA+ can either be loyal allocation or takes their chance with everyone else.

And I don't have a dog in the fight as i've zero interest in aways these days.

[Nii Lamptey]

VillaTim is talking shit. It's not a closed shop at all. I had zero away booking history 2-3 seasons ago.

I have built booking history up by starting at the bottom, snapping up a last remaining ticket from the big allocations. This season I have managed 14 out of 19 domestic aways through official means, and all but one of the Champions League aways - only missed the first Bruges away game. The talk of a closed shop is utter bollocks.

Home fixtures are already pushing out dedicated, lifelong fans with Villa Park being replaced with daytrippers. Do that to the core of diehard away fans and you lose the heartbeat of the club.

[RamboandBruno]

I find it virtually impossible to get tickets for league away games for me and my son, so selfishly increasing the ballot threshold would help. But if what you say is right, that is excessive. I also don’t really understand the thinking behind it and that makes me suspicious. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that the club would be doing this as some sort of gesture of goodwill?

Probably way off the mark, but I wonder whether its a model for home tickets too? 

[Nii Lamptey]

Should be 10% ballot at most, 90% booking history.... with GA+ given no preferential treatment or ring-fenced allocation.

[dave.woodhall]

Get fucked.

Pack that in.

[Ads]

Should be 10% ballot at most, 90% booking history.... with GA+ given no preferential treatment or ring-fenced allocation.

Only reason I can think is that the club makes no money off aways. They take barely any coaches these days and make nowt on tickets.

Opening up in this way dilutes the support, ruins the independent coach followings too. They probably count on a few of the addicted being driven towards GA+.

[Pete3206]

So about 2,000 away tickets go into a ballot for a possible 30,000 fans if it was just for STH. You have about a 6% chance of ever getting one for any given match. And say you are successful, would you be able to enter further ballots?

I think this will lead to more touting and tickets from the ballots will be nowhere near 70% as tickets are skimmed off for hangers on and 'packages'.