IN a reaction special, John Gibbons and Andy Heaton are joined by Spirit Of Shankly’s James McKenna to talk about tonight’s unprecedented statement from Fenway Sports Group who have tonight announced that they are to reverse the changes to ticketing structure announced by the club last week as well as scrapping the much criticised ‘categorisation’ of tickets depending on opposition.
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Thanks and congratulations to all who worked hard on this. And thanks to TAW for their work as well as being a platform. Moving forward (from an international LFC fan here) please continue to inform us of these issues and let us know how we can effectively give help and support to Liverpudlians on this journey and long term relationship with the club and FSG. Good work. Cheers.
This is now an opportunity to deal with the whole question of ticketing for matches.Throughout this debate we have heard and read how the atmosphere at Anfield has declined and will continue to decline due to sales of tickets to relatively well off middle aged supporters,I would class myself as being in this category.In my opinion whole sectors of the ground have failed miserably in their support for the team in the last few years.The atmosphere is poor,like being in a cinema,the away support constantly take the piss and we just sit there and take it.
I am in agreement with several of the issues raised in this podcast and others but I would go further;
Season tickets can only be held by an individual for a maximum of 5 seasons,this would freshen the atmosphere and create more enthusistic support in the ground.
Membership- no member can attend more than 6 matches per season,this meaning that young people can have access to match tickets.
Do away the the categarisation of matches, when you apply for tickets you have the opportunity to watch either MUFC or West Brom.
The monopoly of sales of away match tickets to the same people week in week out also has to stop.Create more opportunities for others to go and watch away matches thus allowing them to taste the atmosphere at other grounds.This may well see an improvement in the atmosphere at Anfield.
Are current LFC members and season ticket holders willing to step aside and allow others the opportunities to watch and support their club OR has this arguement been by individuals to protect their own interests?
I would be willing to take a reduction in match tickets to encourage others to attend matches.
Well done ~ now clubs need to work with the police and local authorities to clampdown on ticket touts otherwise the profits from the increased demand will be met by touts and you can’t control how much they will charge.
It’s been illegal to sell on match tickets since 1994 but you never hear of anyone being convicted of touting and we all see the same touts on the same streets every week.
I can walk to the game, any game, and find the touts – or rather they offer their goods to me. So why can’t the useless coppers or club officials do the same?
These toutse are sitting on many tickets that can go to real fans. How is it the club can’t perform some elementary address checking using PAF keys and find the multiples? It’s one bloody SQL query for anyone that has access to the tables FFS!
Seeing as the touts will not be declaring their income to the HMRC, they can be facing jail time or massive fines. It’s not just pissing off fans by cheating the ticket system, it’s against the bloody law on multiple levels.
I’ve never made a penny on a ticket though hundreds have passed through my hands. I’ll be honest though, reading some of the comments from Liverpool fans this week has got me questioning whether that’s morally correct or just stupid. It’s clear that some are happy to pay whatever the price is. We’ve seen the ‘I’m alright Jack’ attitude in these comments. Not just from people who don’t go but also from ones who can afford it with ease. We’ve also seen the idiotic viewpoint that cheaper tickets mean Liverpool can’t compete. I’m seriously on verge on thinking if you’re not bothered what you pay. If you’re not bothered that fellow fans can’t afford the prices and if you think paying more will help the team compete then come to me for tickets. Bumping the price up £30 would make my ticket affordable. As I say, it’s not something I’ve ever done but if people want to stand with the fans I’ll never make on them but the ones who are happy not only for themselves to pay more but also fellow fans then I’m happy to oblige with their wishes.
I got put in the van for it a few years ago. I was standing on the road opposite the club shop with a few mates and a tout asked me if i wanted a ticket. I just shook my head and he carried on. Next minute I got took off and searched. They tried to say I couldn’t have a season ticket in someone else’s name. I quoted them 3.2 of the season ticket T&C’s.
The situation was resolved quite swiftly when a sensible policeman came over. It only escalated to getting put in the van because they said I was lying to them about my name, haha.
It struck me as odd though that imo they saw who the tout was but pulled me. I was left with the impression they’re only interested in easy targets and I’d go as far as to say they’re scared of the main group of touts.
I’m sure reaction shows are a pain in the arse to do but I wanna say how important I feel they are for your subscribers. I was busy in work yesterday, rushed home and went straight to watch Cast play. I didn’t know any of this news when I got in after the gig. I put this show on and got all the details I needed to get up to scratch on what had gone on. I could have got a lot of it elsewhere I’m guessing but it would have been a slog given the state I was in. I felt it was all nicely condensed here. Really good stuff.
One thing I’ve been meaning to say and said before is I’m convinced this bubble will burst. Take Liverpudlians out of the equation for a minute and for arguments sake, concentrate on Chester. It’s no different to any other city /town in the North West regarding LFC fans. We’re only 20 miles away. There’s quite high demand in Chester for a pair of tickets sitting together. I’ve helped a fair few people get them. What I find though is, they rarely come back for more. Only the hardcore fans will pay close to £100 for a pair after the initial ‘take their sons to Anfield’ trip.
If I have other plans I sometimes ask on fb if anyone wants any tickets. I get loads of messages saying ‘how much’ and when I tell them (face value) they drop their interest. I firmly believe that were Liverpool to have another 5000 tickets to sell on match days (not ST’s but just tickets) then within a year or two demand would drop off once everyone has been once or twice. I offered an Exeter home one for free but no one took it. It was midweek and cold.
I know Liverpool is the one place that’s different but I’d say cast aside the ‘working class’ followers for want of a better phrase and it’d be the same as Chester. I feel a lot of the demand is bucket list or once a season. Lfc v Norwich when Lfc are mid table becomes hard to shift. We shouldn’t underestimate how dependent Lfc are on the hardcore fans (again, for want of a better phrase).
Point being, it’s great the club have listened but they need to careful too. With the rise in tv football and even streaming the demand may drop.
Why do people keep saying 15,000 walked out? The ground was nowhere near 1/3 empty. Perhaps the Kop, but certainly the other stands where nothing like it.
Hi lads,
I am a subscriber to the forum and enjoy the content a lot so well done.
I have a bit of an issue with the coverage of FSG in relation to this matter, not directly in relation to the ticket price structure , which was obviously wrong in certain areas, and hence the reaction of the people.
My concern is the characterisation of the owners as greedy chancers trying to make a buck, when are far as I can make out from the clubs accounts etc.
The club was only in the black for the first time last year and even then ‘operating debt’ went up. So FSG are not taking any money out of the club as everything generated is spent on the team or club as whole, like all the money from the increased commercial revenue,and there is no reason to think that would have changed. The our fact is that costs (chiefly players wages and transfer fees) are continuing to rise and will probably swallow up the TV money.
FSG paid down our leveraged debt with no liability on the club, and the only money they are making are far as I can see is from the other side of the merchandising via New Balance, which is no different to the money Reebok were making when they made the kit, in that it is not taking from the clubs share of that income. They will of course hope to recoup their investment and then some one day if they sell the club but that will be money coming out of a new owners pocket not the club.
I guess what I am trying to say in a nutshell is that, however misguided they were about proposed tickets, it was only going to be money invested in the club so to call them greedy is a bit much. These guys are a million miles from Hicks and Gillett after all. They have made the club financially much more effective 5 years, and we are not dependent on rich owner to prop us up, which is how it should be.
Now you guys may be saying that you know all this, but I haven’t heard these contextual points be made on your content as this developed, and I was struck by how many supporters I have had exchanges with on forums believe that John Henry and the others are making out like bandits on our money already, so I think maybe that point should be made by people like yourselves who have a voice and can inform.
(Cue the “corporate shill” abuse – ha ha)
Keep up the good work boys
YNWA
James Parsons
[email protected]
Firstly, congratulations to everyone involved – an incredibly swift and effective response.
Thanks to John Gibbons for trying to keep this podcast on course (I understand that emotions were obviously running high). I would have liked a little more empathy for FSG in the reaction, I fully understand that they dropped a bollock initially but their full, unreserved apology (a rarity in business) and u-turn was completely the right thing to do and can’t have been easy for them. I wasn’t a big fan of the term, ‘we won’ used by Jay, as it sounds a bit divisive. I would like to think ‘we’ as a collective are working with the owners going forward (maybe i’m misguided!!).
Thanks – awesome content as always
Matt