This season will see David Wagner and his team coming up against some of the best teams in club football and have to solve problems that seem impossible. Before any of that, the club have a problem to solve that’s as tough as any of the tactical challenges in the Premier League. Away ticket priority.
Town will receive a maximum of 3,000 tickets for away games in the Premier League next season. It seems very likely that demand will outstrip supply and some fans will be left disappointed.
The dilemma for the club is how to divide the tickets up fairly. Or if some people will miss out, who is the most deserving of a place at the front of the queue?
Who are the different groups of people with a claim to priority tickets?
There is a thread on Down At The Mac where people have been talking about this season’s away ticket priority. There have also been numerous conversations on Twitter, Facebook and the real world. Everyone has an opinion about which group of fans deserves to get first dibs on tickets, usually it happens to be a group they belong to. Here’s roughly how these groups break down:
- Terriers on Tour – A scheme that was launched last season for season card holders, where you could become a top tier priority by paying a one-off £20 fee
- Patrons – Not sure exactly what they do, but a group of dedicated fans that act as a link between supporters and the club (I think)
- Blue and White Foundation – An £8 a month scheme that includes a lottery, membership of Canalside, and top priority for away tickets if you also have a season card too
- Season card holders – given priority over non-season card holders since forever
- Regular away fans – some fans go to more away games than home games. Given travelling away involves more effort and expense it could be argued they deserve putting toward the front of the queue
- People who make the most noise – Impossible to quantify but we’ll need our away support to be loud and consistently positive next season.
- Longterm season ticket holders – The 4,000 that were rewarded from Dean’s season ticket pledge have followed the club for a good while, maybe they should be given first dibs on tickets this year
- Fans that travel long distances – If you live away from Yorkshire and travel hundreds of miles every game to support Town then it could be argued you’re a bigger fan that someone (like me) that only has to travel down the road
- People that went to particularly crappy away games – Being in the Premier League is all the sweeter because of all the years we spent watching town play obscure opponents. Should fans that travelled to the less glamorous teams go to the front?
- People with plenty of money – Football is a business and Town’s revenue is going to be significantly less than their Premier League rivals thanks to cheap season tickets and having only just arrived at this level. Getting in extra money from fans willing to pay to jump the queue might help fill the coffers
What’s the fairest way to allocate away tickets?
Fair isn’t a useful thing to aim for in this scenario as it seems certain some fans will be left feeling aggrieved regardless of what the club decides. The best case scenario is they alienate the fewest people. Or only alienate fans that will aren’t likely to hang around when (if?) the good times end.
Who’s likely to lose out?
There’s also the problem of having a system that’s workable. I don’t think the club have an accurate way of knowing which fans have gone to which away games. They know who they’ve sold tickets to, but that’s not a reliable source. Some fans will have had their tickets bought for them by a friend or family member. Others will have paid on the gate and not be logged on Town’s system. The Down At The Mac thread linked to above is full of stories like this.
There are other potentially deserving candidates that probably won’t get prioritised because it’d be too messy to work out. Making lots of noise, travelling the furthest, or being to the shittest away game are all too complicated to fit into a coherent priority system.
What are the likely options for Town?
I honestly don’t know how it’ll be worked out but I think it’ll be a variation on one of three options:
- A lottery among season card holders – There are around 20,000 season card holders so it’s too big a group to split up 3,000 away tickets. If having a season card was the only qualifying criteria then a lottery system would be a way to divide up the tickets between those that asked to be considered for a particular away game
- Repeat last season’s priority system – So Patrons, Blue and White Foundation members and Terriers on Tour get priority, then season card holders followed by general sale
- Design a completely new system – Probably one that involves points allocated for loyalty, however you want to define “loyal”. This would have been a good system if it had been operating since the League Two days but would be hard to implement now
Terrier Spirit opinion
I hope the club do something like option two above, a variation on last year’s system. I’d expect the cost of Terriers on Tour membership to go up, and I’d happily pay to know I’d be able to go to my choice of away games.
I have to acknowledge that I’d only want this system purely out of self-interest. I was a Terriers on Tour member last season.
A lottery would give most fans at least the chance of getting to the big away game at such as Old Trafford or Anfield. Is that fair though? I’m pretty sure many fans would feel aggrieved by such a system, particularly those that have been loyal to the club for many years.
So I’d prefer the system to stay as it is, but I have to acknowledge a lottery system would probably be the fairest to all fans.
I think it’s a decision the club can’t help but annoy people with, but hopefully, they’re smarter than me. Maybe they’ve dreamt up a system that rewards loyalty (however you define it), gives everyone a chance of tickets and is simple to implement. Hats off to them if they manage that.
Have you got a better idea about how to divide up away tickets this season? If so put your idea in the comments below.
Firstly I am and have been a season ticket holder for years. Also am and have been a blue and white foundation member for years too. I do go to 20 plus away games every season and have done for years again.
I do though this season expect that I am not going to get tickets for games that I would like to see. I really think that I cannot expect to get priority over our newer fans. Therefore I reckon a lottery type system should be implemented.
I joined the B & W foundation to help fund our academy. Not to get a preference for away tickets over other fans who perhaps don`t have a spare £104.00 per year.
I know this would be controversial especially with all my long standing Town pals , but we need to embrace our newer fans and give them the opportunity to to follow our team away .
Let us not alienate any of our fans regardless of time served and watching at those low level games that a lot of have done.To make it fair we should all have equal opportunity to go away.
I do understand that I would be doing myself no favours asking for this to be implemented. We are though a good , fair , family club. TTID
Great comment Greg. Very selfless, and I completely agree about letting new fans feel welcomed.
Wow, flying from Malawi must be one of the longest journeys a Town fan is making this season.
Tend to agree, living in the South for the last 30 years and working some Saturday’s makes a season ticket untenable. Have been to all of towns away games in the South over the years from Exeter to Dagenham and Redbridge, Brentford to Reading (my two closest ground apart from Wycombe). Have bought two season tickets for this season in the hope that I can get to the away games at grounds nearer to where I live and have no wish to become an armchair football fan. The ticket office know my buying history and would love to continue to watch Town in and around London or on the South coast. West Ham away on the Monday night…..I’ll be there if I can get a ticket! I know it has to be fair but personally I would like to apply now for away tickets of matches that I would like to go to and let the club decide who should get them, at least I would have a chance….or would be happy for the club to re-sell tickets of the home games I can’t get to in return.
Unfortunately, those of us who live a long distance from Huddersfield (Canterbury, Kent and previously Spain), don’t have season cards and do our best to get to a few home games a season and as many away games down South as possible are basically screwed whatever happens. I know I have no right to expect priority of any kind and wouldn’t ask for it, and I could always have bought a season card when they were on offer, but having often been one of 400 of us watching us get battered in the rain at Craven Cottage or The Valley for the last several years, I’m now facing up to not being able to watch my beloved Town at all until we either extend the ground or return to the Championship. Hope to God it’s the former. UTT
Hi Wayne, I think the away games at Brighton, Southampton and Bournemouth all have a good chance of going on general sale because of the distance for Northern fans. Probably some of the London teams too.
I hope you manage to make it to a few.
So difficult…. I’m a lifelong fan having played for Huddersfield ladies and supporting fist down at Leeds road with small crowds. I’ve lived in Malawi since 2001 so haven’t attended as many. Still seen all Wembley games though…. I’m putting my business and charity on hold for six months and flying into London 11 th August season ticket bought…. I’ve no idea where I stand on the fan ratings….. but would love to get a ticket for the palace game😊😊 fingers crossed
Hi there, I just want to start by saying that I really enjoyed reading your article.
Now, I think there is a recurring theme amongst comments in that people who no longer live up north are fretting about getting tickets for away games. I myself now live down by London so I am one of those worrying.
However, I feel like a lot of Town fans mistake “us” fans for those new fans who they feel are “glory hunting”. Some us of simply didn’t buy a season ticket this year, or haven’t in years gone by, because geographically / financially it wouldn’t make sense for us to, especially this year where I could have quite happily utilised the cheaper season ticket prices in the hope that I would get better priority for the games that I can attend, but I didn’t want to deprive any local fans (be they new or old) of the chance at experiencing the premier league at our own stomping ground.
I’ve been to games all across the country following Town and have come up to the John Smith’s for as many games as I can manage a year, both physically and financially. However, I can tell you now that “history” booking and loyalty will not be implemented as it would be too difficult to implement and who defines loyal?
I think that it will be a season ticket based system and the rest of us will have to lump it. Not that I begrudge those who live and breathe Town being able to get tickets, I’m just disappointed that I might miss some of the biggest games in Huddersfield history because geographically I am based down South and didn’t want to be selfish in depriving someone local the chance to see Town live, every week against some of the biggest teams in world football.
I just hope demand for Bournemouth, Southampton and Brighton are low, with some London games being difficult to attend (Arsenal / West Ham mid-week) so that I can utilise my geography to my advantage!
Or maybe they’ll throw a curve ball and allow us fans to buy blue and white memberships + terriers on tour in order to bump up our priority status!
Hi Oliver,
I’m glad you enjoyed the article, thanks for commenting.
I fear you might be right about dedicated fans without season cards being overlooked to keep ticket priority simple. It’s a shame but hopefully they’ll have a clever solution.
I expect the away games that are a good distance from Huddersfield will probably go on general sale and may not even sell out. We took less than 3,000 to Wolves for the game that clinched our playoff spot.
I really hope TOT/Terriers on Tour stays in existence with a few tweaks to it. By this, I mean a few more added benefits than it had last season. It had away priority – the main thing you wanted from it – but it was a small scheme as it was new. It could be improved on in a few ways. The price would rise, and with us being in the big time, it would rise anyway. I don’t want to have to sign up to the BWF because I’m not wanting to folk out over £100 for a whole season just to get priority, plus it has benefits I’m not really after like a lottery and access to Canalside because it offers a membership. There’s benefits you want and benefits you are not wanting as much. Even setting up a monthly Direct Debit at £8 for BWF would be a farce, even if you are paying money back into the academy. I have a friend who could be in a worse position than me because he was just a Season Card holder and did not even possess a TOT membership.
To say this whole away ticketing saga is complex to say the least, you did a splendid job with your write-up.
*drum roll* The final countdown to what will be a dreaded announcement is well and truely begun. The all-important details are out tomorrow, and hopefully it will be a structure many will be happy with including me.
good article on a very difficult subject and a tough one for the club
regarding the 4000 did they all go to away matches before in the championship? i don’t think so (less than 1000 at Norwich away, less than 3000 at wolves etc) and have had their loyalty rewarded already so to me no priority on that basis
a lot of season card holders who joined after the promotion are only interested in premier league and would not have bought if we had not been promoted and will not renew if we are relegated ( i Know a few) but a lot could be new fans so what do you do to this group?
how would they make a lottery work fairly ? would you exclude people who had already won ?
someone could get a ticket for every match and others loose out every match .
people will cherry pick the matches and poor matches such as Brighton away will probably not be a problem
so how do you manage entry to lotteries ,what if you won a poor match and didn’t go etc.
A full time team would be needed to manage the lottery as the ticket office struggles to cope on big games anyway
As many fans could loose out on tickets could the club stream the matches at canalside for example to enable those who did not get a ticket to watch the match
You’re right about a lottery scheme being complicated but I think other clubs do something similar.
A friend who’s a Leeds fan used to have to post off for tickets and they’d send you them back if you were picked. This is going back a whole though, when they were a bit more successful.
Please no, no lottery. I wouldn’t want it working that way guys and many will second my opinion. In my eyes it’d like the club hand picking who they want to go even though a lottery is at random. That would be so unfair on those who have attended so many on the road.
Please no, no lottery. In my eyes it would be like the club hand picking who they want to go even though it’s all done at random. It would be very unfair on those who have attended well over 50% of the games away last season.