Or anybody get a credit??
Quoted this from a blog as I struggle to see how as a fan cardholder we actually get to go to these games.
Chicken/egg..
Liverpool have sold all of their tickets for tomorrow night's Champions League game in Porto but there is absolutely no chance of the away end being full.
All 2,500 tickets were snapped up but if 2,500 Liverpool fans make the trip to Portugal it'll be the biggest shock of the season.
In fact, I'd expect no more than 1,000 to make it over with most choosing to sit at home and watch the game on TV with their £36 ticket sat on the sideboard gathering dust.
The ones who have bought tickets but don't go are, to use a euphemism,
"playing the system".
They pay the price of the ticket and get another credit to their name;
a credit which will then go towards entitling them to a ticket for more glamorous games should Liverpool progress in the competition.
And it is here that the "loyalty" system breaks down.
People are being rewarded for not going to the game,
for staying at home when Liverpool are playing when they have indicated to the club that they will be going.
The mess is of the club's creation, of course. For some reason, they acted in good faith and came up with a system which demanded honour and honesty if it was ever going to be fair and equitable.
They should have known better.
The warning signs have been there for some time.
Last season when we played Galatasaray in Istanbul, the club sold over 3,000tickets for what was a meaningless game with Liverpool already having qualified for the knockout stages.
The more naive amongst us thought this might have had something to do with the Istanbul effect as supporters made an emotional return to the scene of the Reds greatest ever triumph.
But those of a more cynical mindset knew the score - the credit hunters had come out to play, greedily gobbling up the £6 tickets that could serve as a passport to more glamorous locations in the rounds to come.
And when those of us who travelled got to the ground on a freezing cold December night we found that the cynics were right and the romantics were wrong; there were no more than 600 Reds in our end.
Basically, a situation has been created where you get as much reward for buying a £6 ticket and staying at home as you do for paying £500 (plus the rest) to travel over a thousand miles to support your team.
And it's a situation that has to change.
As a season ticket holder I qualified for a ticket for Porto but I didn't buy one because I'm not going.
Plenty of other lads have taken the same principled stand.
The problem is, plenty of other lads have decided to work the system again and they have created a situation in which our end will be half empty tomorrow night despite the fact our tickets have offically sold out.
They have paid £36 to not support their team.
And they have paid £36 to take themselves another rung up the loyalty ladder.
It is up to the club to do something about this problem because at the moment we do not have a loyalty system, we have a cheats' charter.
Maybe the time has come to look at doing what other clubs and national teams do - only giving tickets out to fans
(and awarding them loyalty) when they get to the town or city where the game is taking place.
In their rare incursions into Europe, this is what Everton do. They select a prominent hotel in the city centre and ask fans to be there to collect their tickets.
No show = no loyalty.
I know this system is far from perfect and it would make life more difficult for those who do travel but if the current situation is allowed to continue then the sight of half empty Liverpool ends in Europe will be a sight we will have to get more and more used to.
Thoughts..
Quoted this from a blog as I struggle to see how as a fan cardholder we actually get to go to these games.
Chicken/egg..
Liverpool have sold all of their tickets for tomorrow night's Champions League game in Porto but there is absolutely no chance of the away end being full.
All 2,500 tickets were snapped up but if 2,500 Liverpool fans make the trip to Portugal it'll be the biggest shock of the season.
In fact, I'd expect no more than 1,000 to make it over with most choosing to sit at home and watch the game on TV with their £36 ticket sat on the sideboard gathering dust.
The ones who have bought tickets but don't go are, to use a euphemism,
"playing the system".
They pay the price of the ticket and get another credit to their name;
a credit which will then go towards entitling them to a ticket for more glamorous games should Liverpool progress in the competition.
And it is here that the "loyalty" system breaks down.
People are being rewarded for not going to the game,
for staying at home when Liverpool are playing when they have indicated to the club that they will be going.
The mess is of the club's creation, of course. For some reason, they acted in good faith and came up with a system which demanded honour and honesty if it was ever going to be fair and equitable.
They should have known better.
The warning signs have been there for some time.
Last season when we played Galatasaray in Istanbul, the club sold over 3,000tickets for what was a meaningless game with Liverpool already having qualified for the knockout stages.
The more naive amongst us thought this might have had something to do with the Istanbul effect as supporters made an emotional return to the scene of the Reds greatest ever triumph.
But those of a more cynical mindset knew the score - the credit hunters had come out to play, greedily gobbling up the £6 tickets that could serve as a passport to more glamorous locations in the rounds to come.
And when those of us who travelled got to the ground on a freezing cold December night we found that the cynics were right and the romantics were wrong; there were no more than 600 Reds in our end.
Basically, a situation has been created where you get as much reward for buying a £6 ticket and staying at home as you do for paying £500 (plus the rest) to travel over a thousand miles to support your team.
And it's a situation that has to change.
As a season ticket holder I qualified for a ticket for Porto but I didn't buy one because I'm not going.
Plenty of other lads have taken the same principled stand.
The problem is, plenty of other lads have decided to work the system again and they have created a situation in which our end will be half empty tomorrow night despite the fact our tickets have offically sold out.
They have paid £36 to not support their team.
And they have paid £36 to take themselves another rung up the loyalty ladder.
It is up to the club to do something about this problem because at the moment we do not have a loyalty system, we have a cheats' charter.
Maybe the time has come to look at doing what other clubs and national teams do - only giving tickets out to fans
(and awarding them loyalty) when they get to the town or city where the game is taking place.
In their rare incursions into Europe, this is what Everton do. They select a prominent hotel in the city centre and ask fans to be there to collect their tickets.
No show = no loyalty.
I know this system is far from perfect and it would make life more difficult for those who do travel but if the current situation is allowed to continue then the sight of half empty Liverpool ends in Europe will be a sight we will have to get more and more used to.
Thoughts..
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