Ipswich 1 Maidstone 2

[Deleted]

What I'd like to know is where these 3,000+ fans are for league games.

OK, we have more regular fans than turn up every other Saturday and there will be regulars who have good reasons for not attending on Tuesday nights. But, from the highly scientific methods of recognising people and blind guesswork, I'd guess that our regular 2,000ish gates are made up from the same 3,000ish fans, with maybe another 500 or so who can only watch less regularly.

That leaves at least a couple of thousand 'fans' who only bother for the big games. They are welcome, of course, and it's all grist to the mill, and other such strange sayings, but they could hardly object if the 3,000+ regular fans were given first pop at tickets.

The question, of course, is how to do this. Years ago, at UP, I remember vouchers in programs you could save up for cup ticket priority, but that's hardly a viable method these days. How else can the non-ST fans prove they were regularly at games? Especially these days that there are no 'proper' tickets.

The only feasible answer I can come up with, after spending at least five minutes thinking about it, is free vouchers at certain games. With (say) five vouchers being the requirement for jumping the queue.

This wouldn't be a great admin burden, as it's easy to print off batches of numbered and dated vouchers. And these could be given out at games where high attendances weren't expected (advertised in advance), to boost the gates/income for those games.

And just think of the black market value of those vouchers for games like next Saturday's!

[Deleted]

If you think it’s bad now, just wait until the replay at the Gallagher. When Ipswich fans discover we don’t reciprocate the 15% convention. When sponsors and season ticket holders take 80% of home tickets. When the riverside trees are crowded with hundreds of kids. Sometimes life isn’t fair and you don’t get a ticket.

[stonesforlife]

If there is a 1000 season ticket holders, they must of given lots of tickets to staff and players because there can't of been 2400 tickets on sale yesterday, how it sold out that quick, someone said in the queue that there was only around 1000 tickets for yesterday, work that one out.

[Deleted]

I'm a season ticket holder but haven't bought an Ipswich ticket because of other commitments. Must be a few other ST holders in the same situation.

I've had personal experience of FL clubs using a voucher system so I don't see why the club couldn't have issued vouchers for recent league games.

Maybe they should have held some tickets for sale during Tuesday's game against Braintree, that would have boosted the attendance.

[Deleted]

Also wondered about the voucher idea, but suspect they would be pretty easy to forge, or copy. A whole programme might work,I suppose.
Resigned myself to watching on TV pretty much from the start, not least because I don't do queues.

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2024 5:58:35 GMT Benny said:

If you think it’s bad now, just wait until the replay at the Gallagher. When Ipswich fans discover we don’t reciprocate the 15% convention. When sponsors and season ticket holders take 80% of home tickets. When the riverside trees are crowded with hundreds of kids. Sometimes life isn’t fair and you don’t get a ticket.

It’s not a convention, it’s the rules of the competition and amounts to about 600 tickets.

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2024 8:00:19 GMT stonesforlife said:

If there is a 1000 season ticket holders, they must of given lots of tickets to staff and players because there can't of been 2400 tickets on sale yesterday, how it sold out that quick, someone said in the queue that there was only around 1000 tickets for yesterday, work that one out.

Someone posted on twitter that when they got theirs there were 1600 left.

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2024 9:01:00 GMT daveu said:

Jan 21, 2024 5:58:35 GMT Benny said:

If you think it’s bad now, just wait until the replay at the Gallagher. When Ipswich fans discover we don’t reciprocate the 15% convention. When sponsors and season ticket holders take 80% of home tickets. When the riverside trees are crowded with hundreds of kids. Sometimes life isn’t fair and you don’t get a ticket.

It’s not a convention, it’s the rules of the competition and amounts to about 600 tickets.

A rule which can be ignored on safety grounds, as we did against Stevenage.

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2024 8:41:01 GMT @61666 said:

Also wondered about the voucher idea, but suspect they would be pretty easy to forge, or copy. A whole programme might work,I suppose.
Resigned myself to watching on TV pretty much from the start, not least because I don't do queues.

Or sell a batch of three match tickets. Braintree, Punjab United and Ipswich.

Ultimately it’s a once every few years scenario. There have always been two ways to get a ticket; be a season ticket holder, or queue up. Somebody is going to feel disappointed and hard done by.

[Deleted]

Let’s see if 4000 turn up on Tuesday. Got a feeling they won’t

[Deleted]

Bearing in mind the anticipated demand I am a little surprised the club didn't try to sell tickets on a package basis. You could get a ticket for Ipswich if you also brought tickets, for example, for Braintree ,Yeovil and Toruqay at the same time. This would have kept some of the 1 off's away but also inflated the gates for these games (2 of which are for Tuesday nights) and brought extra revenue to the club. 

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2024 9:43:01 GMT rockstar said:

Let’s see if 4000 turn up on Tuesday. Got a feeling they won’t

They won’t. The reason for the bigger than usual attendance is that is a glamorous game against higher league opposition. This brings temporary and lapsed fans out of the woodwork who buy some of the tickets

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2024 9:47:43 GMT @barnstone said:

Bearing in mind the anticipated demand I am a little surprised the club didn't try to sell tickets on a package basis. You could get a ticket for Ipswich if you also brought tickets, for example, for Braintree ,Yeovil and Toruqay at the same time. This would have kept some of the 1 off's away but also inflated the gates for these games (2 of which are for Tuesday nights) and brought extra revenue to the club. 

They just wanted them sold and ideally by the end of Saturday. Why complicate it

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2024 9:33:28 GMT Benny said:

Jan 21, 2024 8:41:01 GMT @61666 said:

Also wondered about the voucher idea, but suspect they would be pretty easy to forge, or copy. A whole programme might work,I suppose.
Resigned myself to watching on TV pretty much from the start, not least because I don't do queues.

Or sell a batch of three match tickets. Braintree, Punjab United and Ipswich.

Ultimately it’s a once every few years scenario. There have always been two ways to get a ticket; be a season ticket holder, or queue up. Somebody is going to feel disappointed and hard done by.

[br

There’s probably an FA rule as to why this can’t happen

[stonesforlife]

Jan 21, 2024 9:24:07 GMT daveu said:

Jan 21, 2024 8:00:19 GMT stonesforlife said:

If there is a 1000 season ticket holders, they must of given lots of tickets to staff and players because there can't of been 2400 tickets on sale yesterday, how it sold out that quick, someone said in the queue that there was only around 1000 tickets for yesterday, work that one out.

Someone posted on twitter that when they got theirs there were 1600 left.

I was about 100th in the queue yesterday my mate were about around 500 back, they got there tickets and there was 73 left. There has defo been a lot of tickets given to players and staff etc if it was two per season ticket holders, obviously we don't know how many but guess this could be why a lot of people missed out. There wasn't 2000 available yesterday that's for sure