| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. 18:18 - Dec 3 with 5268 views | homer_123 |
I'll be honest - I don't like it, it doesn't sit well with me.
I know others may think we have bigger issues to contend with (with recent performances) but thought I'd share.
What is it, to be a football fan in 2025?
There’s now a clear message to long-standing season ticket holders: if you don’t turn up, or you don’t re-sell your seat, you could lose your ticket. Even if you’ve held it for years. Even if you stuck with the club when the football was awful and the stands were half empty.
Now, on one level, I get it.
There’s a big waiting list. The club wants a full stadium. They want noise, atmosphere, energy and more people want a chance to experience that, I understand that. But, let's be honest, the club want matchday income too. Food, drink, merch, programmes, all of it and empty seats don’t spend money.
But...
When you start saying to fans, “Use it or lose it,” it feels less like you’re talking to people, and more like you’re managing stock. It’s the point where, as a supporter, we stop being a person in that seat and start being a data point in a CRM system. A line on a spreadsheet that needs to be 'optimised'. Hearing Ashton in that video - it's the first time I've felt like this - no longer the fan I was to the club a couple of years ago. It's irked me, more than I initially realised.
All football clubs talk a lot about fans as the 'lifeblood' of the club. They use that language in campaigns, in videos, in season ticket renewals. But these new rules around non-attendance send a different message, at least for me. They say:
We need you here, not just because we love your support,
but because every empty seat is lost revenue.
There’s a real tension here.
On the one hand, the club does need to be sustainable. Wages, transfers, stadium costs; they’ve all gone through the roof (factor in the long overdue investment as well). TV deals, sponsors and commercial partners are all part of the mix now. Clubs are not just football teams, they’re big businesses. To survive, they have to think about money.
I understand that football has been a 'business' for a while now but the whole reason the club has any value at all is because of the people who care about it. The ones who travel in the rain. The ones who miss family events for midweek fixtures. The ones who held their season ticket through years when it would have been easier to walk away.
So what happens when those people are treated first and foremost as revenue?
What happens when loyalty is measured not in years followed, but in how often your barcode gets scanned?
I’m not saying there’s an easy answer. I’m not saying the club is evil, or that nothing should change. We all knew that new and modern ownership and Premier League money would bring new rules and a sharper edge to the business side. I guess, this one small thing, for me, is that wedge - that first subtle sign of substantive change.
But I think it’s fair to name the dilemma:
- The club needs bums on seats
- The fans don’t want to feel like bums on a spreadsheet
Somewhere in there is a line. A point where sensible policy tips into something that feels cold and transactional.
My worry is that, if we’re not careful, we cross that line without really noticing. We look up one day and realise that fans are no longer seen as the heart of the club, but as inventory to be managed. Maybe I am naïve and we are already there but since Gamechanger came in, I had felt more connected to the club than ever, it got back that community feel, that it valued fans and the support generated. It felt like the club it once was both on and off the pitch.
So, can a club chase every pound, fill every seat, and still treat its supporters as more than numbers?
Because once fans stop feeling like the lifeblood, it won’t matter how good the spreadsheets look. |  |
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| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 10:31 - Dec 4 with 163 views | itfcjoe |
| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 09:19 - Dec 4 by southnorfolkblue |
But you talk about a potential policy. That's not a policy. That's no different to Rachel Reeves talking about what's coming up in the budget 😉.
You're probably more in the know on this but is there a cut off for the platform? If I wake up feeling shit and can put my ticket on the resale platform at 11am on the morning of the game without fear of punishment if it doesn’t get bought, then that seems fair enough to me. |
I haven't gone that close to the deadline before needing to try and sell mine, but as long as you can do that then at that point and not be punished [if it sells or not] then that would be totally fair for me |  |
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| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 10:33 - Dec 4 with 156 views | Ryorry |
| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 08:56 - Dec 4 by itfcjoe |
It's been communicated well and heavily by the club, any ST not aware of it will have had to ignore countless emails and letters and info in their ST pack, or the part in the video where it is mentioned, or the follow up articles by TWTD and EADT about the potential new policy. |
Yet many people are saying they've been given no cut-off time & they need one; plus others have said they've not been able to resell or pass the ticket on. |  |
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| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 10:52 - Dec 4 with 125 views | SamWhiteUK |
| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 21:26 - Dec 3 by southnorfolkblue |
It’s a bit of a live issue for me as I’m battling cancer and life is a bit day by day for me. I use the resale platform on any game day that clashes with a big dose of chemo, because I can predict how Im going to feel afterwards, but Saturdays are more of a gamble. Given where I live there aren’t too many people nearby who would use my ticket 😂.
So far I haven’t missed any Saturday gams but I can’t rule out having a last minute bad turn.
Ive been going since 1971 so would be pretty fed up to lose my ticket, if it gets introduced next season, you’re right that I need to speak to the Club |
You won't lose your ticket, I'd be sure of that.
The club want to clamp down on those, "I've got a season ticket, have done for years, and now it's mine to do what I please with" types, because they're selfish.
The club also do a huge amount of work in the community with the Foundation etc. There's no way that cases like yours won't be taken into account.
You are already using the resale platform as designed, so well done :)
I can't understand people not using the resale platform, to be honest. You get to have your precious ST and get some money back if you can't be arsed to go, what's not to like? |  | | |
| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 11:00 - Dec 4 with 119 views | Wright1 |
What a bizarre take - I can't believe anyone thinks it's ok for people to have season tickets and just not turn up on a regular basis. So now because you are a such a loyal and dedicated fan who cares so much about the club - you get to show that by regularly not going to games?! Sections of our fan base really do come across as full of their own self importance.
The team does need people there to fill the stadium and create an atmosphere - that isn't spreadsheet stuff. Equally, just because you've watched the team be crap for a numbers of years doesn't entitle you to waste the opportunity for someone else to go - they could be a parents trying to take their kids who are the future of the club, they could be people who didn't attend for a period for financial or family reasons, heck they could just be people who want to attend and enjoy the occasional game and that's ok too. |  | | |
| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 11:39 - Dec 4 with 93 views | itfcjoe |
| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 10:33 - Dec 4 by Ryorry |
Yet many people are saying they've been given no cut-off time & they need one; plus others have said they've not been able to resell or pass the ticket on. |
Anyone can resell or pass the ticket on, if it is listed and doesn't sell then it's hardly going to be punishable as the whole point is to stop seats being empty if people want to go | |
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| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 11:48 - Dec 4 with 68 views | SitfcB |
We went through all of this last week.
It’s not a bad thing and can understand why the club want to implement something like this.
They’re not as strict as most other clubs and have freely allowed people to pass on s/t’s to friend and family FOC - some clubs charge for it - easy to get a PDF from the T/O and now they’ve made it even easier so you can do it online.
They obviously would prefer more people to resell the official way, ‘cos money - but it’s mainly just about filling the seat - as MA said it affects the atmosphere and in ground sales, 10/12% no shows is ridiculous and quite frankly if people can’t be arsed to resell or pass it on when they miss numerous games it’s poor.
Of course there’s always the last minute ones/illness etc that can be excluded, it’s more aimed at those that don’t bother at all.
As long as the ticket is used it doesn’t matter and you won’t get any sort of ‘punishment’ heck you could even just get someone to scan your ticket for you and no none actually use it. [Post edited 4 Dec 11:50]
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| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 11:51 - Dec 4 with 47 views | SitfcB |
| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 22:54 - Dec 3 by N2_Blue |
FFS Rommers. That is not going to happen. You are not what the club is targetting
Serious over reaction.
Im a ST holder who only gets to about half of games and i'm massively in favour of what the club is doing here. |
Some are being way too dramatic over this for no reason at all. | |
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| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 11:57 - Dec 4 with 16 views | SitfcB |
| Something has been bothering me, since the Club released the latest video. on 18:33 - Dec 3 by J2BLUE |
To me this is a real fans first initiative. If you're holding a seat waiting to see if we get back to the Prem before going again then you deserve to lose it. |
That’s definitely it, and the people holding on to them don’t even attend themselves, they then sell on the season ticket seat for profit - £60/70 a seat.
If we don’t go up this season then we could see a lot drop out and people on the waiting list come in.
People seem to forget it’s not like it was 5/6/7 years ago when you could have a whole row to yourself, there’s 6,000+ people on a season ticket waiting list, if the former was still the case then they wouldn’t be bothered by it! | |
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