Who are the winners and losers from Town’s points based priority system?

Huddersfield Town have launched a new away ticket priority system, which they’ve introduced to help work out who is most entitled to be at the front of the queue. Last season’s system caused acrimony among some supporters, who felt their loyalty to the club was being snubbed.

The biggest change is moving away from consecutive years’ season ticket purchases as priority, to points being given to fans for more varied reasons. But who stands to gain the most and who’s going to lose out from this scheme?

How are the points given out?

Here’s a quick summary of how you can earn loyalty points under the new system:

• Season tickets purchased since the 08/09 season – 25 points each
• Away tickets purchased last season (including cup games) – 1-5 points per game (depending on distance and demand)
• Blue and White foundation membership – 15 points for adults, 5 for children
• Patrons membership – 5 points (this one comes from Down at the Mac forum, so may not be reliable)

You can check your points total by logging in to the Huddersfield Town ticketing website, once you’re logged in your loyalty points total will be clearly displayed on the screen. To look at how your points were allocated you need to go to “account history” in the “My account” menu and filter for loyalty points.

Who are the biggest winners?

People who travel to away games – While it could be argued that season ticket history is by far the biggest factor in sorting out priority, those that travel up and down the country to every game will have amassed a decent number of points last season, and will have that recognised in the new system.

Season ticket holders that have missed the odd year – The old system prioritised consecutive years’ season tickets. I didn’t have a season ticket the year my son was a baby, so was in P4 last year. Because I’ve had a season ticket for 9 out of the last 10 years I’m now likely to find it easier to get tickets for away games.

People who let their mates book away tickets using their priority last season – One of the unfortunate byproducts of last season’s priority system was that many fans used their connections to borrow other people’s priority to get themselves tickets. Anyone that bought tickets for their mates to go to away games will still get the loyalty points for those games, which doesn’t seem fair but can’t easily be avoided.

Who loses out in the new system?

Season ticket holders that didn’t go to many away games last season – Any long-standing season tickets holders that had a high priority status last season will fall down the pecking order if they didn’t go to many away games last year. Given the high value season tickets are given, they won’t fall back too far. But if this system continues for a few years they’ll drift down if they continue to cherry pick the best games.

Members of the Blue and White foundation and Patrons – Being in one of these membership schemes last season was the difference between one priority bracket and another. Now it’s just the difference between a few away games or not. I’ve already seen a few Blue and White Foundation members grumbling online about how their loyalty isn’t recognised as much by the points system.

People who went to away games using their mates’ priority – The flip side of the point I made above is that some people attended loads of games last season, but only because they got a higher priority friend to buy them a ticket. I’m not feeling all that sympathetic to this group of fans, because they effectively jumped the queue last season.

How many points will be needed to get to games next season

The club haven’t announced any numbers on how many points you’ll need to get to the front of the queue next season. However, here’s my wild speculation about what I think could happen:

300+ points – This will be the equivalent of priority one last season, if you’ve got more than 300 points then you should be able to get to any game you want.

200-300 points – I’m guessing away games against Liverpool and Manchester United will sell out in this priority group, so if you’re willing to either queue or gamble on the online ticketing working the second tickets go on sale for your band, then you’ll probably get to nearly all the games.

100-200 points – You should get to most away games but could struggle to get to the nearest games, like Burnley, and the Manchester and Liverpool based teams. A lot will depend on whether many of the fans at last season’s away games were going for the novelty of the Premier League. If a lot stay away this season, then it could be much easier to get tickets this year.

Less than 100 points – I’d guess that those with under one hundred points will be the last group before general sale. The good news is that many away games will go on general sale next season. And the games against the less fancied teams were by far the most entertaining away games from a Town perspective last season.

TerrierSpirit.com opinion

I was P4 last season and have 264 loyalty points this season. While it’s not completely clear what that will mean, it’s likely I’ve done well out of these changes. So my opinion is completely shaded by the fact I’ve personally benefited from it.

However, it does feel like this system rewards more fans for their support of the club, and will give fans who lost out last season a better chance of getting tickets. The allocation of points was always going to be controversial and it’s a shame that some fans will lose out. However, the club have made an effort to make a system that’s as fair as possible, and they deserve some credit for that.

Does the system seem fair to you? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.