West Ham are struggling to sell their allocation of 3,000 tickets for the FA Cup encounter with Liverpool at Anfield this weekend.
This morning at 9am when the tickets went on sale to Academy members only 2,536 tickets had been sold from the 3,000 allocation.
A source close to the ticket office told ClaretandHugh “We will comfortably reach general sale tomorrow so it would suggest, despite the outrage online, the demand is being satisfied by the allocation we have taken as we know the most dedicated and committed fans are the paying Season ticket holders or Academy Members.
We naturally had the right to the 15% and kept this option until after the priority point deadline had passed to help us gauge demand and at that stage it showed, as the above sales figures supports, there was not the need to commit to 6000 tickets on a sale only policy.”
There was outrage on social media last week when it was revealed that West Ham had only taken an allocation of 3,000. Exeter City took an initial allocation of 4,000 which they later increased to 6,000. On this occasion, taking into account it will be broadcast live on BT Sport, it appears the club got it right.
Our source added: “As always, the board will take the highest away allocation wherever possible, and at times we must point out there is only so much the club can do to keep the fans happy while maintaining the board’s policy of keeping the club solvent and having to pay for unsold/unrequired away tickets.”
An email reply sent to fans who complained to ticket office about the Anfield allocation read:
“Thank you for your time and email I understand you are aggrieved at the potential allocation for Liverpool but I just wanted to briefly explain this is based on several factors; not only the lack of transport options on the return journey, the TV selection impact this has on attendance, January being a difficult month for many fans post-Christmas and this historically impacting ticket sales but also recent demand.
For our visit to Anfield which was a 3pm kick off in August this season out of the 3,000 allocation we only actually sold and took 2,345 fans.
For this tie we naturally still hold the right to take the full 15% allocation and have discussed this with Liverpool ahead of this allocation informing them that if demand surpasses expectations and we need more then we will react accordingly but as expected early indications show that this fixture will reach general sale comfortably as it did earlier in the season.”
Having been to Anfield many times the fact we only got a 3k allocation was a major factor (the minor factors being 2 birthdays and an anniversary do this weekend) in my decision not to go. Its the large allocations that make these type of days extra special and not just another visit. Whilst im sure that wouldnt put another 2 or 3k on our fans wanting to go it is a consideration for some. Baring a home tie next round i’ll be hoping for Arsenal away with 9k allocation. Good luck to all those going and im very confident.
walker
With no trains back to London after the game, selling 3,000 is a long shot. I can drive the 35 miles from my home, but I know several fans who usually travel to away games who won’t be going for this one. The ticket allocation is a reasonable decision by the club. Must also add that the much-maligned box office produced excellent customer relations for me at the weekend when my priority booking form sent by email got mangled in transit. A lad from the box office emailed me back, asking for the missing information and ensured me I would get a ticket. He even emailed again the day after to confirm that. Really impressed with that, now lets see us beat the scousers for the third time this season.
Nice to hear such positive feedback on the club for a change. Yep I think we got the allocation right given all
“For our visit to Anfield which was a 3pm kick off in August this season out of the 3,000 allocation we only actually sold and took 2,345 fans.”
The two situations cannot be compared – last August we hadn’t won at Anfield since 1963. Today we are in the position of having beaten them twice in the league already and on the crest of a wave the like of which we haven’t experienced for thirty years.
further update from source close to Ticket office:
“By 1pm on Friday which was the deadline we had to inform Liverpool if we needed more than the 3000 we had 1,650 ticket requests and that includes the late applications which arrived Friday morning.”
“We understand fans buying during general sale would have been disappointed on restricted view seats were left but clearly there wasn’t the demand as seen but being able to satisfy all members and ST holders to warrant an extra 1700 or 3000 tickets which were the two options.”