By Sean Whetstone
It’s no secret, I am openly pro-club, pro-owners and pro-Olympic Stadium move and I make no excuses over that. I have even been accused by some of being a ‘club stooge’ always toeing the party line and afraid to speak out against the club hierarchy.
Well, two things have got my goat recently and I felt compelled to say so.
The first is the priority waiting list which supporters are encouraged to spend a non-refundable £10 to join. Over 34,000 supporters have paid their tenner but it has been obvious for long time that demand will outstrip supply.
At the end of the season ticket sales period for the Olympic Stadium next season 9,000 seats remained for sale meaning around 25,000 on the list will be disappointed and out of pocket by £10. Despite that, the club continues to actively market the priority list and will gladly still take your money despite there being little chance of you getting a season ticket in the foreseeable future.
They should be open and transparent about the total number on the waiting list and the number of seats remaining before allowing more fans on the list. I would even go as far as returning the tenner for those who did not get a chance to buy a season ticket.
The second gripe is the ballot for the last three games, yet again they are encouraging you to sign up to something you have very little chance of getting, The club want you to shell out £40 to join the Academy to have a chance in the ballot for tickets for the last three home games at the Boleyn Ground.
What they don’t tell you is there is less than 3,000 tickets on general sale for each of these games and there are over 18,000 Academy members. It will be already oversubscribed as much as six times over but the club wants you shell out forty quid for the slim chance of getting your hands on a ticket.
Existing Academy members will also feel hard done by with their odds reduced and many of the supporters paying £40 will feel cheated when they don’t get tickets.
Again the club should be open and transparent to those buying the £40 membership in admitting there is less than a one in six chance of getting a ticket.
Tickets for members for the Arsenal and Manchester United games will cost between £60-£85 depending on the band although I told there are no Band 1’s available as they belong to season ticket holders.
Including the £40 membership fee and £1.50 booking fee supporters could end up forking out between £101.50 and £116.50 for a ticket for two of the final games at the Boleyn Ground and that’s if they are lucky enough to beat the six to one odds in the first place.
I am sorry but this all seems less about celebrating our farewell to the Boleyn and more about cashing in on the final season. Transparency and fairness is all we ask for!
Well said Sean, I think it’s a total disgrace on so many levels. Another couple of things worthy of mention are; one of the advertised benefits of being a season ticket holder has always been priority in booking additional tickets for games. What’s happened to that then? Where’s my opportunity to buy another ticket for those games? My daughter is an academy member and I sometimes ring up and get her a ticket in one of the non season ticket seats near me & my son in the BML. If she goes into the ballot and beats the 1 in 6 odds she could find herself anywhere in the ground which is pants. The temptation is obviously there to do it anyway and then sell it, which is wrong but it’s a situation the club have created. The other thing is that there are apparently reputable agencies advertising and taking money for tickets to those games already. Where the hell are they getting them from?
Reading this article something doesn’t figure out of the whole thing… I bought two tickets for West Ham vs Crystal Palace one week ago, total amount £ 290! Why do I have to pay so much?! Ok, I’m Italian, but seriously, this is crazy… With that kind of money I could pay a season ticket here in Italy… Not to mention West Ham vs Arsenal, I gave up because I would have to spend my whole salary…
Where did you get the tickets from mate? I assume one of the agencies I was talking about?
If you got them through an agency you will have paid more Matte.You have probably paid almost double their true value mate.
Hi Hammer and Ray, thanks for your concern… yes I bought them trough an agency… For that money I should sit between Gold and Sullivan on Mrs Brady’s lap… lol 😀
Lol,careful,she is a man-eater.She will take you to her man dungeon, haha
ahahah… 😉
Wouldn’t it be better if Brady sat on ur lap??
ahaha… you had a brilliant idea, maybe it’s better… lol
Imagine the reaction when we score, you would have the biggest smile in the ground lol 🙂
lol… 😀
THANK YOU Sean.. For taking up our plight I joined the priority list ages ago.! Then when i joined the Academy They gave me a new number. And i certainly looks like I’m going to miss out.. Plus it looks like ill miss out on tickets for the new stadium. One thing you left of your list ! Was the cost of ringing the ticket line. I rang for a ticket for Mark Nobles testimonial
It hung up on me twice.and as they were selling the Liverpool tickets at the same time..The eventual cost of my call via my mobile was £37 plus the ticket. I’m very disalusioned.. COYI
I think £126.50 is the top price you could pay – £85 for the ticket, £1.50 booking fee and £40 Membership!
All this stuff does seem to be a very underhand way of doing things – ripping the fans off when there is very little chance of getting the tickets – the Club should be better than this!
Actually there is no Band 1 tickets available unless they sell them on ticket trader as all Band 1 seats belong to season ticket holders. Band 1 is not an option on the ballot form. The dearest ticket ticket for the ballot is band 2 which is £75 plus booking fee of £1.50 if you add the £40 membership it will set you back £116.50
Good read and yes there seems to be an obvious imbalance. My question is will the club be lowering the huge allocation of away supporters to address the huge waiting list to some degree? Also surely the £10 deposits will be returned to those who miss out?
I think it is difficult to reduce away allocations to the big clubs. Arsenal and Manchester United will be offered the full 3,000. I do know that the option of West Ham staff to buy tickets has been revoked for the last three games. Staff often got discounts for tickets.
Top article Sean.It is a total rip off.Quite embarrassing actually.Good to see an objective article on here instead of your & Hugh’s usual G&S butt kissing,lol 😉
Surely the club will refund anyone who is unsuccessful in gaining a ticket?? Daylight robbery, cant take fans money for no return.
The £10 fee is non refundable but they say the waiting list/priority list is for life! We have the lease for 99 years for the OS so plenty of time for the 25,000 to get a season ticket. What is not clear is whether the priority is transferable on death. Can your place be handed down to your children or your children’s children.
On a serious note, they should send those unsuccessful getting a season a £10 voucher to spend in the West Ham Store. It would be a token gesture and not all would use it but it would be the right thing to do