Scrapping of the PTS Scheme

[lackyboy]

If works well for those who use it but it has been closed to new members for years. It doesn't work too well for the rest of us who are excluded from it. I'm sure I would think the scheme was great as well if I was actually allowed to join it.

The decision to close the scheme will no doubt have a financial element to it but it is also about removing inequality.

Could the exact same not be said about the ST holders ?

[redlancer]

problem is demand is higher than supply so no ticketing system is fair unless you have a ST and been to a few away matches and all the CL games.

The PTS was great for me and in a way better than a season ticket as some matches i wouldn't be able to go.
I saw it as a privelage, in the same way a season ticket is.

I don't see why it couldn't off been kept on as the 50% going less than 3 times means they were paying £55 for the privelage. Plus as there was a 50% availability doesn't that mean only 50% could go.

And the comment re the 1 or 2 timer a year spending loads is valid but this also apply's to the 50% then?
Where i sat i would say a high perportion of the other PTS seats were occupied by none regulars who had travelled far and probably made the odd tip a year.

I used to have the use of season ticket and in the area there would always be empty seats for all but the main games.


A review of season tickets holder would be a good start i've been on the list for 10 years plus now.

Maybe a photo system with a limit number of card loans or at least one person in the group is the holder. Or allow a set number of people to share the ticket


The current system is once in your OK but to get in is impossible.

The away tickets are impossible to get even if you are a ST, it used to go on the last number of the ST.

Say they get 100k members and i recon there will be 10k of tickets thats a 1 in 10 chance - the big games you'll need loyalty.
It might end up being a fairer system. The lesser games might end up much ,much better odds
I got lucky with the PTS but imagine there are some who have been on the waiting list for that.

It would be great to go back to the good old days when you just walked up to the ground had a couple of pints, grabbed your chips n gravey and que'd for the kop.
But recon this would loose the club loads of money so would increase tickets prices but then atmosphere would probably be better.

[lackyboy]

It would be great to go back to the good old days when you just walked up to the ground had a couple of pints, grabbed your chips n gravy and que'd for the kop.

Ah, Great days!

[tbounce]

I can understand your point of view. You have been paying the club for membership of the scheme and it return you get to buy tickets fore the likes of me. If works well for those who use it but it has been closed to new members for years. It doesn't work too well for the rest of us who are excluded from it. I'm sure I would think the scheme was great as well if I was actually allowed to join it.

The decision to close the scheme will no doubt have a financial element to it but it is also about removing inequality.

I have been on the PTS scheme since its inception. When the scheme was launched the club wrote to every member of the supporters club to invite them to join the scheme. it was therefore open to any fan who wanted to join - admittedly for a fee (I think it was £35).

Indeed in the first couple of seasons you could add a friend as a member. Therefore if you couldnt get on the scheme, I suggest it was because you were not a member of the club at the time of the scheme's launch. Therefore I feel your argument is undermined slightly and is akin to that of the glory hunter who wishes to attend matches now when it looks like we may actually win something but didn't want to go when the likes of Ipswich and Watford were beating us at home.

[carheex]

The abolishing of the PTS system is fantastic news. No one should have more rights/access to games than anyone else.

[tbounce]

The abolishing of the PTS system is fantastic news. No one should have more rights/access to games than anyone else.

Although of course people paying £29 will have more rights/access to games than people who do not.

[Catrin]

I have been on the PTS scheme since its inception. When the scheme was launched the club wrote to every member of the supporters club to invite them to join the scheme. it was therefore open to any fan who wanted to join - admittedly for a fee (I think it was £35).

Indeed in the first couple of seasons you could add a friend as a member. Therefore if you couldnt get on the scheme, I suggest it was because you were not a member of the club at the time of the scheme's launch. Therefore I feel your argument is undermined slightly and is akin to that of the glory hunter who wishes to attend matches now when it looks like we may actually win something but didn't want to go when the likes of Ipswich and Watford were beating us at home.

My first game at Anfield was a league game against Swansea. I think I'm a bit old to me a glory hunter.

As it happens I was there when we lost to Watford. A bald guy scored for them, Tommy something. I was also there when we got dumped out of the cup by Bristol City. Seems I'm pretty **** at hunting glory.

...and since you mention Ipswich I remember fondly the (richly deserved) welcome we gave John Wark when he came back to Anfield with Ipswich in 1992.

[Van Halen]

Found this while reading an article about Shanks Granddaughter and SOS.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2009/06/06/karen-gill-s-tribute-to-liverpool-fc-fans-union-spirit-of-shankly-100252-23801018/2/

Fans fume over new ticket plan

SUPPORTERS have been left fuming by Liverpool’s decision to shelve the Priority Ticket Scheme.

The 10,000 fans concerned received a letter from commercial director Ian Ayre this week explaining the reasons for disbanding it.

Those fans have been paying £55 each per year to have access to 5,000 tickets for each game at Anfield.

Ayre insisted the scheme was underused with 25% of the PTS membership not purchasing a single ticket last season, while 50% bought for three games or less.

However, not surprisingly that cut no ice with the other 50% who have been buying tickets week in week out through the PTS scheme.

In order to try to get their hands on tickets those fans will now have to join the club’s membership scheme which was introduced at the start of this season, allowing supporters access to season ticket returns.

But it already has 50,000 members and is open to anyone who pays the £29 yearly subscription fee.

I sent a scathing letter to the club about this PTS change. I go to most matches, got this waffle back:

Thank you for your letter regarding the closure of the PTS membership.

We appreciate the time that you have taken and your comments have been
duly noted.

Many of the issues that have been raised are regarding tickets and the
allocation of tickets; ticketing policies for the coming season will be
made public over the next few weeks.

Please be assured that your fan card number and purchase history will
not be affected.

The new membership scheme is to be launched early next month and we will
be making more announcements shortly.

We will contact you in due course with further information and value any
comments and feedback you may have.

Kind Regards,

Liverpool Football Club

[Craig_H]

'New' membership scheme? So is the current membership scheme going to be ditched?

[tbounce]

I sent a scathing letter to the club about this PTS change. I go to most matches, got this waffle back:

Thank you for your letter regarding the closure of the PTS membership.

We appreciate the time that you have taken and your comments have been
duly noted.

Many of the issues that have been raised are regarding tickets and the
allocation of tickets; ticketing policies for the coming season will be
made public over the next few weeks.

Please be assured that your fan card number and purchase history will
not be affected.

The new membership scheme is to be launched early next month and we will
be making more announcements shortly.

We will contact you in due course with further information and value any
comments and feedback you may have.

Kind Regards,

Liverpool Football Club

At least they replied to you! I also sent a scathing letter which has, as yet, been ignored. I have also heard that the 5,000 tickets previously allocated to the PTS are going to be given straight to Thomas Cook for "match day packages". An absolute disgrace.

They will be charging people £200 a go in the hope they will go once a season and spend a fortune in the club shop which fans who go week in week out generally dont do as going to a match isnt a "once in a lifetime experience" for them.

They will come crawling back when the bubble bursts and burst it will. Setanta's deminse is just the beginning me thinks. Will any true fans still be interested by then?

[RoadEnd]

The following is a direct quote from an email sent by Ian Ayre

What we released this week were the details of the PTS being amalgamated into the LFC Membership system. What we have not yet done is finalised the selling criteria around what will become the "members sale".


We understand that some people will have gained loyalty from attending games via the PTS and that some PTS members will have been to many more games than others. Once we have finished our work on the selling processes and criteria we will of course share that with everyone, but we have ensure that we get that right and ensure it works before we communicate it.


I hope that helps clarify where we are up to, if you have any further questions just let me know .

[RoadEnd]

Taken from another site, following a meeting with Ian Ayre

He indicated in that email exchange that having analyzed the scheme over the last year, it was clear that over 25% had bought no tickets, and over 50% had bought less than 2-3 tickets. This indicates that a large number of members are getting either all games or regular access to a base of 5000 tickets. The club feels that in an effort to give more fans more access to more tickets they should put these 5000 tickets into a membership sale, this amalgamation means the 50,000 members and 10,000 PTS members can all have the chance to acquire these tickets. The club also said that it envisaged around 1000 of the 5000 being earmarked as additional adult/child allocations which increases the clubs adult child by 200%

[Chrono]

Sounds good to me, there has been a monopoly on tickets for a long time now

[StevieJ]

So Mr. Ayre feels the PTS scheme gives a small proportion of fans are monopolising the base of 5000 tickets. Isn't this true of season tickets too? If the club wants to make access fairer to all fans then Season Tickets should also be ditched.

The issue of PTS members not utilising the service was relatively easy to solve, if a member does not use x number of tickets each season then either increase the fee for the following season or re-allocate the ticket to another person on the waiting list.

[honk]

So Mr. Ayre feels the PTS scheme gives a small proportion of fans are monopolising the base of 5000 tickets. Isn't this true of season tickets too? If the club wants to make access fairer to all fans then Season Tickets should also be ditched.

The issue of PTS members not utilising the service was relatively easy to solve, if a member does not use x number of tickets each season then either increase the fee for the following season or re-allocate the ticket to another person on the waiting list.

I am/was a PTS member and the above mayhave proven to be difficult. I live 160 miles away and make it up to about 6 games per season. To go to more for me would be difficult due to cost. Also I do apply for more games through the year but fail as they are either sold out by the time I get through on the phone or I cant sit and wait on the phone for a few hours trying to get through due to my work commitments. I liked the sysyem as I got to go to a few games and always thought if the other members were like me it was a fair system. I can see that it may have had its touts but surely if they tried they could find these out. As previously said I think tis is purely done now to get new punters to each game to spend more cash on match day.