If there is one thing that causes a regular buzz amongst a large proportion of the West Ham match-going fan base, it’s the quest for that away day experience and the attempt to get tickets. And it’s a quest that many fail to achieve. It’s not exactly as difficult as the quest for the Holy Grail or even the quest to find a politician who will give a straight answer, but it’s pretty close to being that difficult.
It’s fair to say that in the good old days, and yes I’m talking about those days when we resided in Green Street, the quest was slightly easier. There are many factors to contend with now, so let’s have a look at those before I get bogged down into those two words almost as awful as ‘dynamic prices’ and go by the phrase ‘priority points’.
Not wishing to teach granny to suck eggs, points are given for away attendance and certain home games. The more points you obtain over two seasons, rolling, the better chance you have of getting away tickets but more of that later.
First off is the ever expanding fan base. It’s pretty obvious that when your home ground almost doubles in size in attendance that there will be a desire for more away tickets. It is now a rarity for the priority points required for away day tickets to go into single figures let alone general sale.
Then comes the way that away tickets are apportioned. First off there are the away season ticket holders, a mythical band of brothers of around 750 members who will either be allocated tickets or will have first dibs when tickets become available. This is a closed shop, meaning they will not allow any new members.
Then comes the bond holders. We all know they exist but no one seems to know who they are. Legend has it that there are around 250 surviving members of this select group. Then comes any hospitality or sponsor tickets. It’s anyone’s guess how many that numbers.
Then the final nail before priority points comes into play and that is the club is allocating, over a certain amount of tickets, ten percent of those will be held back for a ballot. So that doesn’t leave a lot for actual sale.
Europe has also played a role. Away European games have allowed those who can travel to build a nice point base. It’s interesting and I wonder if this has anything to do with Europe, that now looking around at our away following it is mostly dominated by men of a certain age.
There seems to be very few children and women at our away games these days. Looking around at The City Ground in Nottingham, the away contingent was 95% male. Now let’s take a look at the priority points required system which in my eyes is flawed.
In the olden days it was simple. A supporter would get one point for every away game they attended no matter what distance they needed to travel. This is still in existence but the club has muddied the waters. In an attempt to gain greater revenue from unattractive home games, mainly domestic cup games, the club introduced a scheme whereby a season ticket holder, if they purchase a cup ticket by a certain time, would gain two points.
This meant that a fan who went to Newcastle away on a rainy Monday night would get less priority points than a supporter attending a home game. To me this doesn’t seem fair. It has also led to a system whereby supporters purchase their home cup tickets to gain two points yet have no intention of attending.
By doing this they will increase their points balance for away games. This is a fact. At our game in Nottingham recently, I spoke to a reliable source who informed me that around 3,000 tickets had been purchased for the game against Forest but they fully expected not all would attend due to the points system.
His simple idea was that the club should identify non attendees and not only remove the point but take away an additional point as punishment. This he stated the club could easily do for the home games and through digital ticketing, could also do for away games.
If the club can allocate two points for certain home games could they not look at away fixtures? Again, why should someone who travels to a cup tie in Europe only get one point?
The same with those long distance league games. It would be a simple process to allocate different points for different locations. If the club can do it for ticket prices they can certainly do it for distance travelled from the London Stadium.
Now you may think I’m saying all this because my own points total has been severely affected. And I feel aggrieved. Well it’s not the case. I have never been to an away European game but I have still managed to obtain enough points to attend most away games.
I can’t get any tickets for any game with an allocation of under 1,500 but I accept that. What I can’t accept is people building points and not going to games, and the club’s failure to look at this antiquated system other than to make money by offering an incentive to attend a home game.
What it has led to is the market online for away tickets at inflated prices. But what does the club care so long as they are making money? Each away game sells out and the two points for home cup games and one for away games works for them.
But it has, I feel, lost a certain amount of the camaraderie there once was when travelling away from home.
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