Transparency and fairness please WHUFC
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.
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!