The issues facing Newcastle United members and getting match tickets have been well documented.
Living in hope of a queue number considerably less than 24,000 when match by match tickets go on sale.
I am one of the many who ditched my long-standing season ticket during the Ashley years but kept going to almost all the games in a delusional vision that this actually made a difference, but of course now, I struggle along with the other Newcastle United members to get the Golden Tickets on sale match by match.
I’ve been lucky to get tickets for most matches, but not all, and often these aren’t next to my mate in the same situation, as two together is a luxury those with a queue number of more than 5k don’t have, but I recognise there’s lots of us in the same boat and I’ve been relatively lucky to date.
However, I’m massively opposed to Season Ticket holders being able to buy more tickets at the same time, and I’ve been in touch with the club to say so – why should this even be a thing?!
Especially as this means that people who are not affiliated in any way to Newcastle United, certainly not being Season Ticket Holders or Members, are having tickets bought for them. My name is on my ticket and the club knows all my details; however, a host of folk are having tickets bought for them and these could be anyone – away fans, those with banning orders, even Ashley apologists etc.
Now an even bigger problem is arising – package trips for overseas ‘fans’.
When I can, I sit in the Leazes End, and I’ve friends with Season Tickets who do the same, and there has been an increasing number of large groups (12+) in this stand that are clearly lads from across Europe who are here for a weekend trip to the North East.
My mate Paul has a Season Ticket in a section where there are vacant seats around him that Newcastle United members take up match by match, but recently he has been regularly surrounded by these large groups of lads, from countries such as Bulgaria, Albania , Germany and Holland – and more often than not in some state of extreme drunkenness (It might be said I’d be the same for a lads away trip however!). All very good you might say as we try to expand our ‘brand’ abroad, but how on earth are these lads getting tickets ahead of Newcastle United members like me?
I was sat next to group of seven or eight Ajax fans from Amsterdam for the Southampton match, who had managed to get tickets as part of a package that included their ferry and hotel.
Now these lads were very knowledgeable football fans, and we had a good crack throughout, but how can these people who are not Newcastle United members and not even Newcastle United fans, get large numbers of tickets for matches when I know mates have failed to get them?
And we’re not talking isolated groups either – for this match alone there were also a large group of Wolfsburg fans there too, and for the ‘big’ games there’s even more.
Someone is pulling a fast one here.
