Home credits for cup finals from 2015/16

[nut flush gooner]

Priority should ALWAYS be given to season ticket holders with the most away credits. Then you can start to look at other options before a ballot comes into play.

There is no inner circle for getting 3 away credits, next season one away worthless cup match one away CL game in the group stages and one FA cup game or 1 league game played on a monday night somewhere up north completes the requirement. And those credits remain for a further two seasons so all you have to do is repeat once a season to satisfy current criteria.

The home credits idea is potentially a good idea but should only be used after looking at fans with away credits. As I have said on the other thread, the ballot was a farce because the club allowed groups to apply together but denied some or all of the applications. Applications should be made on a group basis rather than an individual basis in future, if the lead applicant is successful then everyone gets tickets and we don't get difficult situations between mates who have/havent been lucky. The maximum group that should be allowed to sit together is 4. I don't know what groups of 8 expected with the current system.

[georgeknows89]

Some of there crap on here about the away scheme including from the mighty Herd amazes me and certain aspects of it are to me being overlooked with all throwing their toys out the pram.

The away scheme has been in place so long I can't remember when it started (and yes i have been a member since year 1) but it has only come into focus of fans mind and attitude since the birth of the Emirates.

The scheme has about 1250 fans on it and has had a small variance each year.The unwritten rule was that it never exceeded 50% of our lowest away fan allocation, so when a team like QPR or I think Blackpool for example were promoted, if fans dropped out that season then no new entrants were allowed in.

When we reached big games at Highbury, season ticket holders were nearly always accommodated ( including CL Paris 06).

Emirates has created the problem with the expectation ( or perception) of so many more fans trying to be portrayed as more loyal/important than the others to the club and there is no perfect answer or scheme.

In fact,many away scheme members are up in arms complaining to the club as to why they were not given priority over the 3+ credits for say 24 hours as didn't think they should be thrown in the same pot for ticket allocation/selection.

In defence of the Away scheme members, to a degree this is payback time in recent years as away demand has increased and culminating in this years reward, for all the years we had of wasting £££ hundreds (maybe thousands) on tickets that couldn't be resold in bygone years for the likes of Boro, Bolton,Blackburn away, live on TV 5.30 on a Saturday that some didn't attend and the resale and distribution methods of today didn't exist.

Emirates has also created the ignored aspect of away ticket requests from box holders and diamond club that eats into our allocation every game as part of their contractual rights to request, all putting pressure on away tickets.

Its unfair to award on how much you spend on ticket in monetary terms but box holders and diamond club are guaranteed their tickets based on this, but the 7000 club level paying up to £5800 each per season are not , which the club should be commended for.

no easy answer and agree perhaps a combination of factors best but i think the home scheme formula if implemented will be as crazy as Tim Payton

[mickess]

As a gold member who attends all home matches and attends as many away matches as I can (I have in excess of 30 credits) I understand the frustrations of members who can only attend home matches.
I am not an away member and I can understand the anomaly that those who are 'only' away members get priority. But how many fall into this category? The only away members I know are also gold members and attend home matches as well, so I guess relatively few in number.
I know there are members who buy tickets for away games and sell them especially when they are relatively cheap. I habitually attend at least two and sometimes three of the European away games each year as well as most of the UK away games so I feel I have a right to some kind of priority over those who 'only' or 'only can' attend home matches.
On some of the away games the 'away credit' can only be claimed by actual attendance at the match with a voucher being issued by the club at the away ground with unique references from which you could claim the credit. It would be fair to me and the others that attend away matches regularly if the voucher scheme for claiming away credits were introduced for all away matches. Maybe only members in possession of the actual ticket could claim credit, thereby making sure that only those who attend get the credit.
The present system is only 'abused' by a relatively few and to put all the 44,000 season ticket holders into a scramble when and if we reach a final is absurd. A lot of you will remember the vouchers printed on the programme years ago and the scramble to get your 'missing' numbers at the end of the season. Truly there is no fairer system than we have at the moment but with the additional criteria that 'actual' attendances at away and home matches are the only ones taken into account. I know of silver and red members who would get priority under this kind of system.

[arseofacrow]

As a gold member who attends all home matches and attends as many away matches as I can (I have in excess of 30 credits) I understand the frustrations of members who can only attend home matches.
I am not an away member and I can understand the anomaly that those who are 'only' away members get priority. But how many fall into this category? The only away members I know are also gold members and attend home matches as well, so I guess relatively few in number.
I know there are members who buy tickets for away games and sell them especially when they are relatively cheap. I habitually attend at least two and sometimes three of the European away games each year as well as most of the UK away games so I feel I have a right to some kind of priority over those who 'only' or 'only can' attend home matches.
On some of the away games the 'away credit' can only be claimed by actual attendance at the match with a voucher being issued by the club at the away ground with unique references from which you could claim the credit. It would be fair to me and the others that attend away matches regularly if the voucher scheme for claiming away credits were introduced for all away matches. Maybe only members in possession of the actual ticket could claim credit, thereby making sure that only those who attend get the credit.
The present system is only 'abused' by a relatively few and to put all the 44,000 season ticket holders into a scramble when and if we reach a final is absurd. A lot of you will remember the vouchers printed on the programme years ago and the scramble to get your 'missing' numbers at the end of the season. Truly there is no fairer system than we have at the moment but with the additional criteria that 'actual' attendances at away and home matches are the only ones taken into account. I know of silver and red members who would get priority under this kind of system.

We were told there'd be a voucher at Schalke but there werent any. They just credited to the relevant account as normal.

[Top Londoner]

Mugs




WENGER OUT

[arseofacrow]

Of course it's not totally ideal - people can still buy the ticket on their account, sell the card on and not physically enter the stadium but until we enter the realm of fingerprint/retina scanning at the turnstile to ensure that the people entering the stadium actually own the card, I think this is the best way of implementing a home credit system.

Should have to get a chip implanted in to your head so the club knows what your up to 24/7

[nut flush gooner]

Of course it's not totally ideal - people can still buy the ticket on their account, sell the card on and not physically enter the stadium but until we enter the realm of fingerprint/retina scanning at the turnstile to ensure that the people entering the stadium actually own the card, I think this is the best way of implementing a home credit system.

Should have to get a chip implanted in to your head so the club knows what your up to 24/7

Yes and if the chip picks up you knocking one out twice a day its an instant rejection !

[mickess]

Ok the chip in the head is a bit far fetched, but we are not very far away technologically from fingerprint/retina verification. Just look at what is happening with immigration at airports at the moment where it is being introduced. All new passports are biometric and machine readable. Don't mock it. It WILL happen one day at sports grounds. Not for a few years yet but it WILL happen.

[Theoperator]

Im waiting for Rodders and Steve_o to get chipped, all Gooners can see what he and Steve_O are up to as the excitement of the VT and contract reach a climax

In all seriousness though there is no way that retina and fingerprint stuff will happen at sports events, anyone but a monkey knows what happens at times with season and other tickets. The clubs put a blind eye on it, as with it the season ticket sales would surely plummet.

I dont fancy Queueing outside The Bowl for 20 hours when the equipment gets a leetle bit jaded like it does on the way into The UK, when just a 747 full of travellers arrive at once and the waitng gets longer than Diabys return to the frontline. Entry to the bowl pre match is equivalent to around 150 Jumbos arriving within an hour, its impossible as well as even more cost to fans. Besides however will the system work for away fans anyway?

[MK Gould]

Bit of a reality check here given the negativity about how the club have handled this...

There have surely been relatively few FA Cup finals where we didn't have exactly the same problems of demand massively exceeding supply... Ok, so for the short period of 38000 all seater at Highbury, we could pretty much satisfy demand from Season Ticket holders. And maybe when the final was held in Cardiff.

But what about 1978-1980 when there were no Season Tickets available on the terraces and you had to collect the vouchers from programmes and stick them on a bloody sheet! I'd been to almost every match in 1980 - including one v Norwich around Christmas when only about 17000 turned up - and still ended up buying a ticket from a tout!

There is no perfect solution...but the main problem now is surely a positive one in that we have a huge stadium and 45000 odd Season Ticket holders. Would we prefer to be Spurs????

And anyone else remember having to queue up all night outside Highbury when we received extra tickets for the Cup Winners Cup Final in Paris in 1995? Fortunately, I was one of the first few hundred to arrive and they at least closed the gates behind us while we slept on the floor next to the North Bank turnstiles. A good night...especially as I got my ticket in the morning !

[EsxGooner]

As a red member whos been to 20 ish home games this season I wouldn't be against having the opportunity to build up some 'home credits' in future seasons assuming I haven't been offered a ST by then. At least this would give a potential advantage over other reds/less active ST holders.

[northbank123]

As a red member whos been to 20 ish home games this season I wouldn't be against having the opportunity to build up some 'home credits' in future seasons assuming I haven't been offered a ST by then. At least this would give a potential advantage over other reds/less active ST holders.

And therein lies the problem. Not having a bash at all but if we are potentially opening it up to silver and red members who have attended a lot of games alongside ST holders even more people are going to be disappointed at the application/ballot stage and there will be even more disgruntlement. Best to keep it to as narrow a group as possible, 40% of those eligible missing out is bad enough!

[QuartzGooner]

And anyone else remember having to queue up all night outside Highbury when we received extra tickets for the Cup Winners Cup Final in Paris in 1995? Fortunately, I was one of the first few hundred to arrive and they at least closed the gates behind us while we slept on the floor next to the North Bank turnstiles. A good night...especially as I got my ticket in the morning !

Arrived at Highbury about 5.30am for 1993 Cup Final replay queue.
Turnstiles were meant to open at 9am but David Dein came outside at 8.40am, took one look at the lengthy queue and told the turnstiles to open straight away.

[nut flush gooner]

And anyone else remember having to queue up all night outside Highbury when we received extra tickets for the Cup Winners Cup Final in Paris in 1995? Fortunately, I was one of the first few hundred to arrive and they at least closed the gates behind us while we slept on the floor next to the North Bank turnstiles. A good night...especially as I got my ticket in the morning !

Arrived at Highbury about 5.30am for 1993 Cup Final replay queue.
Turnstiles were meant to open at 9am but David Dein came outside at 8.40am, took one look at the lengthy queue and told the turnstiles to open straight away.

Yeah it was mental queuing up for the big games in the 80s/90s. Also quite funny how Hull in 2014 require their fans to do the same!

[Herd]

Some of there crap on here about the away scheme including from the mighty Herd amazes me and certain aspects of it are to me being overlooked with all throwing their toys out the pram.

What George very conveniently omits here is that in the beginning u didnt have to be a member of the club nor a season ticket holder to get on the away ticket season list im not sure u do even now .
Loads of touts got in at that stage ,and again it might be different now,BUT whilst you paid upfront you could back any tickets u didnt fancy to the club , or offload them to mates or the AISA who have been reselling tickets for ages always at face BUT Touts havent been so kind and many from that list get resold for a profit that would make binning a few more than worthwhile .
It means in short you could get tickets for any away game and cherry pick those u wanted to go to.If you have enough credit to do so

The system system is rife for abuse and indeed its been abused royally for years .

For me its season tickets with away credits first ,then season tickets holders without second ,the rest well good luck .

I have had my seasons for years ,worse I have 2 X 1500 pound BONDs from the North Bank which the club have stripped all priveliges from to the point they are wortheless so I could answer a case for getting priority there too .

I have a final ticket which ive goven to my son ,all I want is a fair and equitable system that is based on the finacial contribution to the clubs coffers ,which the above would do !