#Delboy How do Celtic keep the fans happy? One of the more sensitive subjects that is circulating Celtic is regarding that of fair ticket sales. As we all know already, season ticket holders get priority in getting tickets booked for the Champions League games, and quite rightly so. There isn’t an argument here, as the people with the season tickets after all are the people who inject cash into the club. I’m not saying that fans who don’t have a season ticket don’t give money to Celtic; there are numerous ways of doing so. But when it comes to having a season ticket, this is the easiest and correct first step in the distribution of Champions League tickets. It’s what follows the first stage of the ticket sales that has seen so many fans left angered and disappointed. This year the remainder of the Champions League tickets went on sale again to the season ticket holders. This time four amounts of the three ticket Champions League package available to every season ticket. In effect an additional twelve tickets to every season ticket. All in that’s fifteen tickets at a maximum to one season ticket. There hasn’t been a general public sale this year for those who are without a season ticket and this is a touchy subject is at the moment. Why have the club not released tickets to non season ticket holders? Why have all tickets went to season ticket holders? Who deserves tickets more than others? Is there a plan of action behind this motive? I don’t have answers to any of these questions, but its questions that fans are wanting answered. One of the reasons that I’ve thought about is that the club are trying to increase season ticket sales. If you have a season ticket then you’re guaranteed to get Champions League tickets. Is this the message they are trying to give off? The club aren’t taking into consideration that some fans simply cannot afford to splash out the money on a season ticket. I fell guilty of this myself last season but I’ve got my season ticket again this year. In the current economic climate, money is scarce. Not just in terms of football, but everywhere. Some fans prefer to go to away games than home games. Some fans get to games when they can get the money to go. Some fans have other commitments and can’t get to games as often as they’d like to. Taking all this into consideration, how do Celtic go about resolving this problem? It’s a tricky situation to solve as there will always be a few fans upset at how the club run the ticket sales, no matter the system in use. One idea that I think is appropriate to use is to give non season ticket holders a unique identity card, similar to that of season ticket holders. Every time a non season ticket holder buys a ticket or anything at all from the club, like replica, then they are simply able to hand over this card to be swiped onto the system. This in turn will then add on points to individual cards and whoever is at the top come the sale of Champions League tickets gets priority over those who’ve not bought as many. To me this is simple to employ and is a fair way to keep the majority of fans happy. It’s the same scenario that is in use with season ticket holders. When people swipe in their season ticket cards it is registered onto a system to show that the ticket has been used on specific match days. So why not use this with non season ticket holders? I think over time this would also give a clear indication of the fans who purely want Champions League tickets, the fans who only want to go to the big games. To me these are the people who don’t deserve to get any tickets to the Champions League games. With the points system in use, the system would show that there hasn’t been any ticket sales domestically, and in return they are way down the pecking order. Work yourself up first, get to some domestic games and then over time you’ll be rewarded with the luxury of the Champions League tickets. This year though I think that four sets of three Champions League ticket packages is extremely excessive. Why does a season ticket holder need fifteen tickets? Of course, they’ll be bought for friends who don’t have a season ticket or for family members. How then is that a fair outcome? Giving season ticket holders the option to buy an additional two ticket packages would be better. Then put the other two ticket packages on a general public sale. This could be done using the points system I talked about above, or it could be done purely on a first come first served basis. Ticket sales on a first come first served basis though would again leave many fans unhappy. People wanting to get to the games could be held up in work or not able to get on the internet or to the ticket office when the tickets go on sale. This is why I think giving non season ticket holders a unique identity card would be the best way forward to combat the situation. It’s been a problem for a few years now, as demand simply outweighs supply with the Champions League tickets. Demand is always going to outdo supply though, and there will always be some fans left upset at not getting tickets. Then we have the situation with any Cup Finals that Celtic are involved in. This is completely different to that of Champions League tickets though. For Cup Finals, there will always be a lot of fans left without tickets. This is purely because the Finals are played at Hampden and we only get a limited number of tickets to sell, usually half and half. If you are lucky you’ll get a ticket, and if not you’ll receive a letter through the post saying that you’ve not been successful in your application. But how do the club decide who qualifies for a ticket? Who has priority over others in terms of season ticket holders? 20130918-111622.jpg The questions are endless and I could go on and on, but these are the main points that have resulted in many fans being left upset and without tickets to the games. Celtic have to try and address this problem for next season’s campaign and look to employ a sensible and effective strategy. In my opinion, the easiest option is the unique identity card for non season ticket holders, which would come into great use. What do you think is the easiest option?
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 16:31:26 +0000
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