Yesterday I wrote an article about the big questions Huddersfield Town fans want answering quickly. The part of the article that drew most attention was the section about getting fans back into the stadium.
Last night, Millwall Supporters’ Club released a statement with provisional details of how their club intend to manage fans coming back for games. While each club will have to make their own decisions, there were some clues in this document about what things might look like for Town fans.
Before getting into the details, I’d like to say how tough a situation this is for clubs to deal with. It’s likely that most clubs are going to have to turn away loyal fans to some extent or another and there is always going to be some disagreement about the fairest way to do this.
How many fans will be allowed back into the stadium at first?
I speculated about the possible number of Town fans that will be allowed back into the stadium yesterday as between five and eight thousand. Millwall are looking at allowing 5,994 fans in with social distancing measures in place. Their stadium capacity is around 20,000 so applying the same ratio for our slightly larger stadium, we’d have around 7,345 fans allowed into the stadium.
That is a wild guess though, based upon figures calculated for The Den, which is a much older stadium than ours. It could be that we’re allowed a higher ratio of returning fans because our stadium is better equipped for social distancing with it being a bit more modern. We’ll have to wait and see.
Should priority be given to those that have already paid for their season ticket?
Huddersfield Town had already announced their season ticket prices and were a few weeks into the campaign to sell them before the lockdown started and football was put on hold. That means that there are most likely thousands of fans that have already paid for the upcoming season. It’s also possible that some fans may have paid for their tickets after lockdown despite not knowing when they could get back in to the stadium because they wanted to support the team.
There’s an argument that those that have already paid for their tickets should receive priority because they’ve supported the club at the first opportunity and have paid to watch the games already. However, given that the deadline had not passed, it would be a bit harsh on those that were waiting for payday to renew or were just a bit slow in getting it sorted out. This is particularly true as nobody knew what was around the corner when season ticket sales opened up.
For what it’s worth, it looks like Millwall have decided to honour the season tickets they’ve already sold (2600) and then will sell another 900 full season tickets on a first come first served basis. Then they’ve got a priority system to give the remaining tickets to fans that had season tickets for last season for individual games.
Will the club move to selling tickets on a game-by-game basis
Most fans these days buy season cards rather than paying on the gate but that wasn’t always the case. It used to be that the majority of fans would pay on the turnstiles for each game as they went along.
An option for Town could be to scrap the season card system and let fans buy tickets for the games they want to go to. That would allow for more flexibility as the rules on social distancing change and avoids the risk of having to deal with refunds if games go behind closed doors again. It also means the club don’t get money up front from fans and poor results could lead to ticket sales slumping.
Millwall are looking to have a kind of raffle system where fans with season cards last season get priority. If you successfully get a ticket through this system your priority is lowered for the next game, meaning those that missed out for the last game have a better chance of a ticket for the next game. This seems complicated but does mean that a wider number of fans will be able to get in to see games.
Priority systems get even more complicated though when you consider that most people go to games with friends or family. Many fans wouldn’t want a ticket if the people they usually go with don’t also get a ticket too. Millwall are planning on allocating tickets in “bubbles” of two, so if you apply in groups of two, so you’ll at least have one familiar face to go with.
Will my priority points help me at all?
While the current situation is unique, the problem of allocating away tickets in our Premier League days has similarities with this scenario. The club struggled at first to find a fair way to allocate tickets for the Liverppol away types of games because we didn’t have a robust system to allocate priority.
Since then a priority points system has been introduced mostly based upon season ticket history. But this system has been rarely needed because fans’ appetite for away tickets diminished when we became a bit rubbish after our first year in the Premier League. The points system is still there, however, and it would be logical to use it as a kind of tie-breaker if there are more fans wanting tickets that tickets available.
I’ve got a vested interest in the club using this system as I’d be likely to benefit from it but even so, I’m not convinced it’s all that fair. For instance, some fans live a long way away so go to most away games but only make a handful of home matches, should they be put to the back of the queue? What about young supporters that haven’t been alive long enough to build up a ticket history? It seems harsh to punish them for not having a season card prior to their existence.
I think the club may use the priority points but if they do there will be plenty of people that feel like they’ve been let down. But that’s going to happen whatever system they choose.
Should the “prawn sandwich brigade” get priority
It’s worth remembering that a significant number of people attend games in boxes and hospitality suites and they will have to be counted in the total number of people allowed in the ground. Should people in these areas of the stadium get additional priority? Social distancing is likely to mean that they can’t operate at fully capacity but I can imagine the club will want to maximise the matchday income by allowing the maximum number of people in the posh seats as possible.
While part of me thinks that money should not influence something like access to watching games in the stadium, I suppose you have to acknowledge that this is where the club make the most money per fan and it’s sensible to prioritise their most profitable customers.
Again, looking at Millwall’s plans, their executive area is planning on opening at 50% capacity, whereas the rest of the stadium is operating at about 30%.
When will the club announce their plans for fans returning to the stadium?
All football clubs are facing a similar dilemma and it seems that Millwall have been the first to dip their toe in the water by consulting with their supporters’ group. I hope similar discussions are taking place with Huddersfield Town equivalents.
Letting other clubs reveal their plans first has its advantages, because executives will be able to gauge fan reaction and adjust their plans accordingly. However, I can’t see the club stalling for too long as they’ll be desperate to sell tickets to fans in whatever format they decide.
If nothing changes with the Government guidance (a huge IF) then we’ll be seeing fans returning from 1 October. The club will need to announce their plans and sell tickets in advance of this date, so I’d expect we’ll hear something before the end of August but that’s just my opinion.
What do you think?
Feel free to add you thoughts in the comments below. It could be that someone from the club looks at this article and it helps to inform their decision on what they should do next. The only thing I’d ask is that you don’t start having a go at other fans or start playing a game of “why I’m a better fan than you” because it can get a bit tiresome.
One thing you’ve missed out is the situation disabled fans are in. Most, if not all, require their Personal Assistant to accompany them so consequently those would have to be factored in as well. The PA’s are SC holders as well and one cannot attend a game without the other.
It’s a very tricky situation for the club and as you say, not everyone is going to be happy. I’ll take what I’m given and I hope decent notice is given as to which match ticket holders are given. Due to the distance some fans travel transport would have to be arranged which is hard to do at a couple of days notice
Fair point Steven. I’d guess disabled supporters would be put in bubbles with their carers and kept together. Although there may be some disabled fans that prefer to shield and stay at home, depending on whether their disability makes them more vulnerable or not.
Communication is the key to all this as I guess people’s personal circumstances will be unknown to the club so consequently any fans, able bodied or disabled, will need to be able to contact the club effectively if they are unable to travel to any game they get allocated
Think it will be tricky on all fronts, this is a unknown pandemic we are dealing with. We all know the stadium can be a chilly place on the best of days, wait till Dec/ Jan when the coughing season starts. As in holidays/ mass gatherings , the only answer is to get a vaccine whenever that maybe?. Up till then the supporters who have bought season cards with good intent no matter what division we were in, should be given a couple of games as first pick. This is subject to abandoning the crap tune that the terriers run out to.
Haha, I agree about the music. That might have been the Cowleys influence (they seemed to be blamed for all Town’s shortcomings). Maybe something more Spanish for the new season.
I have been a season ticket holder for around 30 years, some of those years I spent in my mates private box.I always get my season ticket and now my grandson’s before the deadline, I was about to pay for ours when the deadline was extended so I hung on and then ticket sales were frozen.I would be extremely disappointed if the people who have managed to get there tickets are given priority. You could have someone who decided to get a card for the first time and paid early, and they would be given priority over loyal supporters who have bought season tickets for years.I think if this were to happen my affinity with HTFC would be over.
I’m in the same boat as you Clive. I was about to pay for my ticket but then held off because of the health stuff on the news. We’ll have to see if holding back will cost us.
It’s sensible to prioritise Here today gone tomorrow wealthy guests over long-standing died in the wool supporters. That’s short sighted in my opinion. Even more so when the club is unlikely to be able to accommodate all those wanting to buy a season ticket.
Given how the club will be taking a massive hit on their match day income, I think the people in the posh seats will have a better chance of getting in even if it’s seen as unfair by many.
peraps away fans not allowed wuold help clubs with a big home following.
Hi Stephen. I think it’s very likely you’re right and away fans won’t be allowed until we’re back to normal. Having thousands travelling up and down the country seems like asking for trouble.
I have had my new season ticket for over 4 months and followed the lads on ifollow.
I would be annoyed if I didnt get to watch the lads this coming season.
But what is going to be the fairest way?
I have totally missed watching the lads from the stand, but I’m not the only one.
But peoples lives are at stake , there’s no price that can be put on that.
Very good point. As much as we all want to get back in the stadium, it’s vital that it’s done in a safe and measured way.
La Bamba ? Could get the players more enthusiastic.
Had season ticket at the old ground followed through to new ground. Wou!d be more than annoyed to travel to Huddersfield by train then bus to be turned awy! Ron
I’d expect the games to be all ticket, so there’ll be no option to pay on the gate. I have a feeling that many fans will stay away initially anyway, so it might not be as hard as expected to get tickets. We’ll have to see what the club has to say.
Most important the club should be fair and transparent about what will happen. This means working out what the scheme will be and allowing people to (say) buy a season ticket now to be able to participate: no privileging me just because I bought my ticket months ago or have oodles of loyalty points.
I hope the scheme with iFollow will continue: up to 46 games streamed live for the price of a season ticket is decent value. Beyond that I’d like attendance at the game to be made on a rotational basis. For example, if there are 7.5k seats available and we sell 15k season tickets everyone gets to attend half the matches.
Hard to argue with any of these points. Great comment.