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No More Tickets for Villa Cup Tie
Wednesday, 19th Dec 2012 12:42

Town will not be given any further tickets for the FA Cup third round tie at Aston Villa on Saturday 5th January. The Blues sold out the 2,900 seats they had taken for the game soon after they went on general sale yesterday.

Chief executive Simon Clegg told the club site: “Our ticket office manager, John Ford asked Villa whether it was possible for us to have some more tickets.

“We were looking for another 500 or so which we believe would have satisfied demand, but unfortunately Villa have said they are not in a position to do that, which we can understand as they are likely to have sold tickets to home fans in areas that potentially would have been used for us.”

Away clubs are entitled to 15% of the capacity of the home side’s ground in the FA Cup, but Clegg says Town would almost certainly have lost cash had they taken all the available seats given the terms on which they were offered.

“As John has explained previously, we took the maximum number of tickets we could on a sale or return basis,” he said.

“The next figure available was 4,800, rising to the maximum 6,000 and we would have had to buy those tickets up front. That would have left us open to a big risk of substantial losses if we had failed to sell those tickets.

“Our average travelling support this season is 646 and while we knew that the numbers of fans wanting to go to the Villa game would be higher than that, we believe taking the 2,900 available on the sale or return basis was the right option.”

Meanwhile, Scunthorpe manager Brian Laws is hopeful that on-loan Town striker Nathan Ellington is close to a return after a calf injury which has forced him out of the last two matches: “Nathan has done ever so well this week. He has progressed well and we are hoping he will be available for Carlisle this weekend.

“I will be very disappointed if he is not fit and ready and, if he is, we will have a bit more fire power up front."

Ellington, 31, has made one start and two sub appearances for the Iron so far, without scoring.


Photo: Action Images



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alztar added 12:48 - Dec 19
Now I know a lot of people will be mad with me but I understand the logic of the club. Blame has to partially lie on Villa for having no desire to create an atmosphere! Bet there are 6,000 free seats on the day!
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prickettboy3 added 12:50 - Dec 19
Can't really blame ITFC for only committing to 2,900 initially as if we'd have to write off £50k due to a lack of sales I'm sure Clegg would have received his fair share of critisicism. However, i'm very disappointed in Villa to be honest. Why not offer the full 15% allocation on a sale or return basis? For me there's now a lot of pressure on Villa to sell out to justify their initial stance over their ticketing policy.

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Stourbridgeblue added 12:51 - Dec 19
Well we all know what to do don't we ;-)
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WeirdFishes added 12:53 - Dec 19
PHIL you put 'so fa' needs an r at the end:)
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Mr_Jingles added 12:55 - Dec 19
Villa are the muppets here !!!

Bet the attendance will only be about 20-25000...

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Greybritain added 12:57 - Dec 19
No spin please. This was another error on the part of ITFC, not AVFC.
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PhilTWTD added 12:57 - Dec 19
alexharban

Cheers, not wearing my glasses.
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debenturedave added 13:05 - Dec 19
Villa as a long standing cash rich Premiership club obviously couldn't care less about a one off Cup tie against a Championship club, as the gate will only be peanuts compared to their normal home games. They are selling adult tickets for as little as £10 to their fans, I wish I had known before I forked out £20 for mine as i'm sure their sections will be full of Town fans now taking advantage of their cheap tickets. What a joke this ticket allocating system is....Villa obviously don't want our business or they would let fans pay on the day , as they have shut areas of the ground for this game as they they don't anticipate a large gate !!!
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debenturedave added 13:05 - Dec 19
Villa as a long standing cash rich Premiership club obviously couldn't care less about a one off Cup tie against a Championship club, as the gate will only be peanuts compared to their normal home games. They are selling adult tickets for as little as £10 to their fans, I wish I had known before I forked out £20 for mine as i'm sure their sections will be full of Town fans now taking advantage of their cheap tickets. What a joke this ticket allocating system is....Villa obviously don't want our business or they would let fans pay on the day , as they have shut areas of the ground for this game as they they don't anticipate a large gate !!!
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RaymondovicBlue added 13:13 - Dec 19
I admit that I would not have been able to attend the game anyway for work and distance reasons but ... I'm backing those who missed out ... surely a more flexible system could be available as others have suggested.

Now my main point ... WHAT ON EARTH has news of Nathan Ellington got to do with this story ?!?!?!?
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alfromcol added 13:15 - Dec 19
The ball was in Villa's court they could have offered sale or return on the full quantity to start with and there would have been no problem It will be interesting to see what the 'Villa' supporters part of the attendance is.

Villa's home attendances this season have been around 33/34000 with 40000 for Man U so no shortage of spare capacity for the game against Town.

Earlier I thought Town were to blame for not listening to supporters but now more evidence has emerged it is obvious that Villa are the villains in this.
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BotesdaleBlue added 13:15 - Dec 19
When Villa have a 42000 + capacity and a gate likely to be in the region of 20,000 to 25,000 for this match, it is a sorry tale that they have already gone and sold tickets to home supporters in the adjacent areas to Town fans. Would it have been too much to expect them to have kept thier home supporters out of these areas, just in case we came back for more tickets?



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radiogaga added 13:22 - Dec 19
At the first instance, it was disappointing to see town not take further tickets. However, on further reading, Clegg has actually got something right. Damned if we don't buy further tickets for sale, damned if we do & then potentially not selling them all & "throwing money away". Agree with Prickettboy3 regarding Villa's reluctance to offer sale or return - Villa Park is a big ground & although it will arguably be the biggest away attendance for an Ipswich game this season, there's no way it will sell out. Villa were clearly after some quick bucks here.

However, the fact is that, despite there being people who deserve to go who can't & that will always happen in cases like this, the tickets that have gone have at least gone to people who have earned the right to go (the ones who fork out for season tickets, travel away throughout the season, gold card holders, silver card holders). With the most respect, those 'fans' who haven't gone to any games this season & then expected to pick tickets up for this game have got exactly what they deserve, nothing. There is nothing preventing any Town fans who have missed out from getting tickets in the home end at the gates on the day...
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essexitfc added 13:23 - Dec 19
Sitting with the Villa fans it is then, North Stand lower tier or Doug Ellis stand are the closest to away fans
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Super_Cooper added 13:37 - Dec 19
I blame it on Paul lambert...he know's what s**t he will be getting off the Town supporters!!!
The less fans there he won't be able to hear em!!!
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Michael11 added 13:43 - Dec 19
Anyone know where is best to sit in the home end near the ITFC fans?
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Langdon_Blue added 13:44 - Dec 19
Dear fans who already have tickets in the Away end

Please do not turn to the supposed 'Villa fans' sitting near you and chant 'you're supposed to be at home' as we will be wishing we could sing along with you! Oh and don't sing "tracksuits from matalan" at me either...it's from Asda!
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PhilTWTD added 13:44 - Dec 19
RaymondovicBlue

Have always stuck snippets of mildly interesting news not worthy of stories of their own on the end of other stuff.
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aj3wilson added 13:44 - Dec 19
can someone tell me which sections the town fans have so i can book a seat close please?
looking at the villa map it looks like north stand lower section R1? thanks
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JohnStirk added 13:47 - Dec 19
Has anyone got any insider advice on a good place to park at Villa?
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legal_blue added 13:47 - Dec 19
Muppets! The club could have invited fans to register their interest by email in advance to gauge the level of interest and ordered an appropriate number of tickets. Could have charged a nominal fee to register, applicable against the final cost of the ticket to weed out any mischief.

Hardly rocket science ...
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Wickets added 13:52 - Dec 19
Well done Clegg, outstanding bit of work.Oh for a Sheepshanks or Bowden.
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needhamblues added 14:08 - Dec 19
At the end of the day, if you are a loyal fan to the club and have a season ticket and or gold card you would have of had no problem in getting tickets.
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itfcjon added 14:10 - Dec 19
Just ordered my tickets from villa
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aj3wilson added 14:13 - Dec 19
just bought two tickets area R1 - £10 each
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