Booking West Ham tickets this morning...

[WBAKHFC123]

I have a ticket so like Harry states, this isnt sour grapes. However, how on earth have Kiddy got this so wrong.

I have heard so many different things about the ticketing fiasco.

Firstly, keeping the ticket office open whilst online sales were going is not unusual. The ticket office would simply order/allocate tickets using the same system but they have a customer staring at them whilst they do it. This is no different to howthe big clubs do it. I could log on through my phone outside the ground and order tickets whilst my mate would go to the desk, the ticket office staff would log on to the same system and order/book tickets in the same way.

I know of folk being given a ticket by club staff despite not going to any games this season. One of the lad's mates Dad (who has never been to a Kiddy game!) has been given a ticket by him. This is unacceptable and is genuinely disgusting behaviour by the club.

I have been told that members of certain companies linked to KHFC who have zero interest in football are attending, for free, in the corporate side of things because of who owns their company (you can guess who im referring to) and IMO the increase in ticket prices/corporate which has been discussed at length is only offsetting the number of free tickets we are giving away.

I dont go to every Kiddy game, I have been to 7 or 8 this season including an away game but I know of 4 people who attend every week without fail, home and away. And they have missed out on tickets. They arent season ticket holders but pay on the gate every week and were at the Halifax game. How is this possible. Another family friend who has sat in the same seat in the East Stand since it was built and does have a season ticket was only able to purchase a North Stand ticket, again, he is fuming.

The Norway fans, as im sure BBC will do a piece on them hence why they are coming, is a publicity stunt. I dont begrudge them tickets as its only 10-20 maximum but everything else this club has decided this week is a disgrace.

[GloucesterHarrier]

Ultimately, the only guarantee of a ticket is to be a season ticket holder and to pay close attention to the hoops that need to be jumped through. And however legitimate people's reasons might be for not doing so, that's the long and the short of it.

This is the absolute nuts and bolts of it. The only way to guarantee your ticket is to get a ST - that's been the case for years. I chose not to renew this season for financial reasons having gifted last seasons to the club, I knew the risk I was taking, and despite going to the majority of games I accepted if I had to watch the game on TV then so be it!

The club have looked after ST holders, they've looked after their commercial partners, they've got to accommodate the FA, the BBC, additional media people, WH fans, WH directors, players and staff families and of course the additional tickets available thereafter.

And those asking for a points based system, or a fairer system - with every system you invest in there has to be a decent business case - how often would we use said system? How many times in the past 10 years, even 20 years would we have used this system! Everything is so easy when you sit at home with hindsight, but when you're at the coal face, I suspect it's very different.

[Tom.10]

I know there are thousands of different ways the club could have prioritised, but perhaps those that should have had first dibs on tickets should have been those who donated the cost of their season ticket last season. We wouldn't be in this position without their cash no doubt. Perhaps it should be them attending an organised event pre match? That wouldn't have cost the club anything, nobody could argue with that, and it would have been a nice gesture that showed they are valued.

[tonythescout]

I'm sorry, but the Norway fan scenario is the same as the point you make of people being allowed tickets who simply didnt qualify.
Its the same scenario as the Govt re the covid rules, make them and ensure you follow them - this applies to both parties.
The Halifax stage thing was wrong anyway, stage two should have been a person who attended 2/3 league games and an fa cup game (all home game), then the rest on general sale.
There was always going to be people left out/disappointed given the demand and the capacity, and no doubt the club will profit very well from this game alone (and so they should and so they have to) but the items raised in this thread do need to be at least acknowledged by the club and used as a learning tool moving forward.
I dont agree that the south stand isn't suitable to be split for two sets of fans either. it simply is. the two barriers are sufficient. The game simply needs to be policed properly. As i said, many clubs in the FL have home and away fans in the same stand, these are policed/stewarded properly. Reading wasn't after the game, I am sure this was reviewed by both club, FA and the local force.

[GloucesterHarrier]

If anyone is seriously begrudges 10 tickets going to fans who are travelling to watch the game from Norway then the plot has officially been lost, and it's embarrassing for this fan base! COVID rules are there for health and safety - this is a football match!

[tonythescout]

If anyone is seriously begrudges 10 tickets going to fans who are travelling to watch the game from Norway then the plot has officially been lost, and it's embarrassing for this fan base! COVID rules are there for health and safety - this is a football match!

but they didnt qualify!

[ograzebrook]

Feeling truly miserable. My lad was a season ticket holder for years until last year when he went to Uni. Couldn’t go to the Halifax game, so no ticket for West Ham. There will clearly be hundreds in the same boat. I am just annoyed that the ‘glory hunters’ who went to the Halifax game get special treatment.

I feel the pain here and I'm privileged to have got a ticket for my son and I (albeit at full price for the son).

I just wanted to say don't be too quick to judge and turn disappointment into anger.

You might say I am one of these glory hunters as I have only been to the cup games this year. I live in Sheffield and have young kids and financial responsibilities like everyone else so I can't come as often as I would like. I have to do with radio commentary and twitter usually.

Having said that I've been supporting kiddy since 1996 and have been going to home and away games at every opportunity since then. I even got a one way train ticket to Lincoln on a Tuesday night when I was living in Coventry with no money and was prepared to spend the night in Lincoln sleeping rough and get a morning train back. Luckily the club secretary took pity and offered me a lift back to kiddy on the coach and, after walking to Wolverley from the stadium, I broke into my family home where my mum was living, by doing a commando roll under an infrared burglar alarm beam to get the spare key. My mum got a fright in the morning when she came into my room.

We won the match BTW - Dean Bennet scored the winner in the silver kit.

From Sheffield I have attended numerous local away matches and I'm not saying this to prove myself, more to make the point that not all 'glory hunters' are just tag alongs. Some will be and if they become more attached to the club and attend more games then thats a positive too...it's how attendances grow.

Even though I feel bad for anyone who missed out, resentment or bitterness is not going to make anything better - resentment is like holding onto a hot coal as they say.

[ograzebrook]

Really we should have built that temporary stand again as supply is way way short of demand. 1000 extra seats would have paid for it.

How did they do it in 1994 - was it first come first serve?

[ograzebrook]

If anyone is seriously begrudges 10 tickets going to fans who are travelling to watch the game from Norway then the plot has officially been lost, and it's embarrassing for this fan base! COVID rules are there for health and safety - this is a football match!

100% correct...I think taking swipes at the corporate side is a bit desperate too. It's as though a scape goat must be identified and attacked.

[Tom.10]

Really we should have built that temporary stand again as supply is way way short of demand. 1000 extra seats would have paid for it.

How did they do it in 1994 - was it first come first serve?

Looking a pictures of the 1994 temporary stand makes me doubt that would pass health and safety standards today! If the terraces didn't have roofs, we could definately have extended. Newport County did simething like that a couple of years back for their FA cup games against Premier League teams at Rodney Parade

[ograzebrook]

Newcastle wasn't it?

[Sheffield Harrier]

I would be upset and angry if I was a regular attendee, went to the Halifax game and did not get a ticket. I would be upset to hear that hundreds of tickets had gone to folks who will not be seen again. I'd be upset that (allegedly because this wasn't publicly offered to ordinary folk....?) 300 tickets for the East Stand are for corporate guests who will be well fed in the social club for a £100. Way of the world though isn't it. Some fans will not come back, but maybe the cup run will attract a few too. What is guaranteed, is that at some point in the next few years (such is the cycle of these things) there will be some sort of plea from the club (and whoever is running it at the time) to get behind the club, attend games etc because crowds are disappointing.

Yes, the only way to guarantee is to be a STH. Good point about those that donated their ST last season too. But then that isn't as valued as being a business partner. Feels that way.

The club had a difficult task. As I said before, it doesn't appear they have thought through all possible scenarios.

Some of what we are reading is probably untrue. Who knows. They really could do with coming out and saying something. I think messaging before ticket release and now could be stronger. But hey, they've got a sell out so they're probably busy sorting out all the media requests now.

[millzeuk]

For my two penneth worth….

Whatever system the club chose to use for ticketing there would’ve been unhappy people. If the club have decided to cash in with extra corporate seats meaning regular fans can’t attend then this is unfortunate but I can understand why from a financial perspective and looking to help secure the club longer term. There could have been a communication that there’d be less tickets available though to help manage expectations

The issue on people buying more tickets than entitled to isn’t a good look at all though and I understand people being cross.

Season ticket holders missing out get less sympathy I’m afraid, they had two days in advance to book either online or in person

That being said, let’s remember we don’t have huge staff numbers and this isn’t daily occurrence. Stories of staff being abused by people who weren’t able to get a ticket is not acceptable, no matter how frustrated they may be

[koro]

As a ST holder, I have mine, but I can sympathise with the views of some who will miss out. BUT, for proper supporters there could be some much more important matches to come, such as Kettering, Guiseley and Darlington at the end of the season. We want to finish top and get out of this bloody league.

[spitalfields]

Really we should have built that temporary stand again as supply is way way short of demand. 1000 extra seats would have paid for it.

How did they do it in 1994 - was it first come first serve?

Looking a pictures of the 1994 temporary stand makes me doubt that would pass health and safety standards today!

Possibly true. Regardless, the space where the temporary stand was built is now taken by the East Stand. And it wasn't full- despite the declared attendance figure.