statement from rick parry about tickets

[Mike]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N...070519-1223.htm

 

RICK PARRY STATEMENT ON FINAL TICKETS

Paul Eaton 19 May 2007

Most of our supporters will be aware that the controversy surrounding the ticket allocations for the Champions League Final has been greater than ever before.

Regrettably, many feel it has cast a shadow over the incredible achievement of the Club reaching its second Champions League Final in just three years.

 

Because of the intense depth of feelings, I want to give some more information on how the tickets for the final were actually allocated and to address some of the issues that have been raised in this very public debate.

 

We received from UEFA a total of 17,095 tickets for the Final in Athens which compares with the 20,051 for the game in Istanbul.

 

For any Final we have commitments to former shareholders, corporate season ticket holders, players, former players, staff and sponsors. These commitments do not change significantly from one year to another and were in place when I arrived at the Club. So when people suggest that tickets have somehow gone astray this year I think it's important that these commitments are taken into consideration.

 

In Istanbul, some 14,500 supporters had been to six games or more and we were able to offer each of these people the opportunity to purchase a ticket for the Final. The split between season ticket holders and Fan Card holders was approximately 50:50.

 

For the game in Athens we had around 11,000 tickets available for general sale after the commitments I previously outlined were taken into consideration. However, although there were 3,300 people who had attended seven games, the problem was that there was a huge increase to 27,000 in the number who had attended six games.

 

As has been widely publicised, all those attending seven games were given the opportunity to buy a ticket for Athens, which meant that the other 27,000 supporters went into a ballot. The final number of tickets available for fans in the ballot is 7,700 which makes the chance of obtaining a ticket 1 in 3.5.

 

I am aware of continuous speculation about the numbers of tickets involved in the ballot and peoples? chances of success but would like to assure our supporters that these figures have been thoroughly checked and are accurate. They also take into account that not all of our shareholders, for example, took up their allocation and the fact we were able to obtain a small additional number of tickets from the FA, for which we are grateful.

 

On the issue of ticket take-up it should be pointed out that because of the very tight timescales involved the first ballot had to be conducted at the same time as tickets were being offered under contractual commitments and to those who had attended seven games. Consequently, it was always likely that we would need a second ballot. I want to emphasise that the ballot itself was scrupulously conducted. It was independent, and fully computerised and there was no scope for manipulation or interference. I am aware of anecdotes concerning groups of fans who have failed to receive any tickets. I can't explain the anomalies but I have asked for the process to be checked and double-checked.

 

I think I should point out the total number of tickets purchased by season ticket holders will be in excess of 7,000 (at the time of writing we still don't know precisely what that figure will be as the selling process continues). The equivalent number in Istanbul was 7,900. So, despite the fact that we have 3,000 fewer tickets, the difference between the number of season ticket holders receiving tickets to the two finals is less than 1,000. A difference that is scarcely reflected in the strength of feeling that clearly exists.

 

Given that the ballot denied a ticket to many of our supporters who have been so instrumental in helping the team reach Athens, the outcome is understandably disappointing to those so affected. The qualification criteria were intended to be as fair as possible yet inevitably it means there are many aspects of those criteria with which individuals denied a ticket can and will take issue. However, these conditions were published at the beginning of the season and have been in place since 2002.

 

One of the most emotive issues with those season ticket holders with six credits who have been unsuccessful has been the inclusion within the ballot of fan card holders with just the corresponding six credits for the European games but no other games. This goes to the very heart of the reason why we introduced the fan card in the first place. We are convinced of the value of a fan card system for ensuring the invigoration of our active fan base. The sheer numbers involved prove that this is working. However, the depth of feelings over this particular aspect of the fan card system has reminded us we must never neglect our long-standing supporters.

 

There has also been much comment from Season ticket holders regarding their loyalty to the club and I want to recognise that commitment. However, without in any way belittling that support, I also need to point out that there are over 60,000 people on the waiting list for a season ticket, many of whom have been there for years and all of whom would dearly love the opportunity to secure a season ticket. They do their utmost to obtain tickets to all games and I also want to pay tribute to their dedication to Liverpool FC. I am certainly not going to get into a discussion about who loves the Club more as their support is equally important and this is clearly a very emotive debate.

 

I want again to express my regret over the heartache experienced by so many of our supporters in missing out on a ticket they deserve. I wish you could all have a ticket. I can only assure all those fans that we did our best with the very limited number of tickets we were given and at all times we have been consistent and fair.

 

Just as we did in 2001 at Dortmund and 2005 in Istanbul we raised our grave concerns with UEFA over what we consider a totally inadequate allocation. We have asked them again to look at the needs of the supporters as the paramount consideration in the staging of any European final and we will continue to do so.

 

 

------------------------------

 

fair enough i say.

 

oh, and 60,000 on the ST waiting list

[MFletcher]

The numbers make sense to me.

 

And regardless of what anyone says, the club has to give tickets to sponsors and so on. It's absolutely ridiculous that corporate people can take tickets, but its the rather disgusting way of the world.

 

To be fair, I think it's mainly UEFA's fault. The stadium can only 72,000, so if we got, say, 32,000 and 6,000 of those went to corporate sponsors, we'd still have 26,000. It's the fact that our allocation is just vulgar that demand will never, ever be met. They're actually reducing stadium capacity by 9,000 to fit in extra advertising hoardings.

 

It makes you weep.

[Spike]

Fair enough apart from the fact that Bernard Diomede is apparently more deserving of a ticket than I. Probably.

[Gray - YPC]

You see Rick... all you had to do is to enter into the numbers game!!

 

I'd still like to see an exact breakdown with sponsors / shareholders / current staff / ex-staff etc as 7000 seems a hell of a lot!!

[beejay]

I wrote to Rick Parry asking if there were any spares after take-up of the allocated tickets and explaining that none of our party of 6 was successful in the ballot. To be fair, he has written back in sympathetic tones but the bottom line is all the tickets are gone and there simply weren't enough in the first place to satisfy demand.

 

We are still going but god knows what chance we have of finding tickets in Athens with so many in the same boat.

 

Anyone with spares give me a shout 07799 888897

[_00_deathscar]

In Istanbul, 72% of the tickets went to 'fans'.

 

In Athens, 64%.

Edited May 19, 2007 by _00_deathscar

[Guz]

In Istanbul, 72% of the tickets went to 'fans'.

 

In Athens, 64%.

 

Because we've got a small allocation and that the "commitment" to suits etc doesn't change between years. I think.

 

The issue is that there will technically be only 11k Liverpool supporters (we know that wont happen) in the biggest club game of the european football season. This is a fault of both uefa and LFC but a reflection of the time we live in.

[Billy Dane]

Exactly the right thing for Rick to come out and say (2 weeks ago).

 

Ticket distribution was always going to be disappointing for many, based on our allocation, all Parry needed to do was treat us like adults which the above quotes do.

[Cam]

It's all pathetic.

 

From UEFA's allocation (a sickening 29,000 amongst themselves) through to fans protesting to Parry & the club over not getting a ticket. Grow up.

 

Either protest to UEFA or accept that 11,000 (or even the not-much-larger-at-all 17,000) won't go into the 27,000 ballot-contenders. Never mind the 29,000 season-ticket holders, the 60,000 100% Red fans on the ST waiting list ot the millions of genuine die-hards around the country & world.

 

The argument of "I'm a better fan" is childish. We're fecking lucky to be back in the big-time and yet the second CL final in 3 seasons is being hi-jacked by already 'spoilt' fans.

[suzyv]

I think looking at the figures Parry has released it shows the st holders have not done to bad. They have only 900 less tickets then 2005 even though we had a few thousand less tickets. I think all the protests would have been avoided if Parry had been more open at the start. I also do not agree that a st holder and a fan card holder who has only been to the 6 games should have been in the same ballot. I think that st holders and fan card holders who had been to over a certain number of games should have been in the ballot first. You can not expect fan card holders to have all league games on their fan card as it is impossible to get them. This is from a fan card holder who due to finacial reason for this season only had to decide between league and cup games so even though I had the 6 games on my fan card I did not expect to get a ticket and just so you know I didn't.

Edited May 19, 2007 by suzyv

[nrkintheuk]

Should have come out with this ages ago

 

1 in 3.5 doesn't stack up with my experience though - in fact it isn't even close. And I suspect the numbers given for STs allocation include the corporate STs??

[Gunga Din]

what stil puzzles me though, is practically everyone i know who wa entered into the balot wasnt successful. its not the 1 in 3.5, its more like one in 10, and i cant get my head around that. people on here, people i sit beside at the match, people on other forums who i know all entered into the ballot, and few if any, got a ticket

[Kopfaithful]

what stil puzzles me though, is practically everyone i know who wa entered into the balot wasnt successful. its not the 1 in 3.5, its more like one in 10, and i cant get my head around that. people on here, people i sit beside at the match, people on other forums who i know all entered into the ballot, and few if any, got a ticket

 

that seems to be everyones experience too wayne. parry picks up on it a little in his statement when he mentions anecdotal evidence or whatever - but the thing is, he does need to account for it imo, because it seems far more than coincidence. He might say because it was a computerised ballot it couldn't have been rigged - but anyone with any programming knowledge, will know any given piece of code will only give what it's been asked to do, so it can be rigged at that point.

 

also, this statement also proves he's been lying and knew he had something to lie for - since the announcement he has said there was over 30000 people on 6 credits and 4000 people on 7 or more. Yet now he's had to play a numbers game (imo, probably thanks to the lad on rawk he did the php program and had these figures a while back), he's had to retract that and say the figure were 27000 and 3300. Something has gone on here, somebody has f*cked up and only a full and clear audit of that ballot will show what has happened. Because the numbers do not add up - 1 in 3.5 people with 6 credits did not get tickets.

[Kite]

that seems to be everyones experience too wayne. parry picks up on it a little in his statement when he mentions anecdotal evidence or whatever - but the thing is, he does need to account for it imo, because it seems far more than coincidence. He might say because it was a computerised ballot it couldn't have been rigged - but anyone with any programming knowledge, will know any given piece of code will only give what it's been asked to do, so it can be rigged at that point.

 

also, this statement also proves he's been lying and knew he had something to lie for - since the announcement he has said there was over 30000 people on 6 credits and 4000 people on 7 or more. Yet now he's had to play a numbers game (imo, probably thanks to the lad on rawk he did the php program and had these figures a while back), he's had to retract that and say the figure were 27000 and 3300. Something has gone on here, somebody has f*cked up and only a full and clear audit of that ballot will show what has happened. Because the numbers do not add up - 1 in 3.5 people with 6 credits did not get tickets.

Think you might be nit-picking a bit there. It's quite possible he was generalising the numbers initially, not expecting the kind of reaction to this there has been in certain quarters, whereas now he's being more specific.

 

What I don't get in the conspiracy theory is why bother hack the code to give more tickets to one postal code than another? What is people's belief of the motivation of Parry to go, presumably personally (given the vitriol being fired his way on this) and exercise his own code hacking skills to get all the members of, for example ynwa.tv, not to get tickets for the final? I just can't see how the conspiracy theory adds up to anything. There's no point to it.

[MFletcher]

No doubt there's a pub somewhere in Liverpool where every single fancard holder there was lucky enough to get a ticket.

 

It's our allocation from UEFA that has caused these problems. No doubt the club have contributed to it with their lack of transparency, but that has now come after the depth of fury at their refusal to "enter the number's game". If we're going to protest against anyone, we should be protesting against UEFA and their obvious determination to get as much money as possible into the kitty at the expense of ordinary fans. What's worse is that they sell 9,000 to "neutral" fans. The vast majority will end up on the black market, as will a number of corporate seats. Milan won't take up their allocation either.

 

What baffles me is why they don't offer ANY remaining tickets to the clubs and if one doesn't take their allocation, the other club get it. It would enable proper segregation of the supporters. But no. They're so concerned that the "football family" of suits, their workers and people who'll give them money get sorted that the ordinary fans can **** right off.

 

It's disgusting. The problem will only get worse as UEFA and clubs attempt to get more money from different sponsors, thus increasing the tickets allocated to them for any final. Pretty soon we'll have an official supplier of toilet paper for the club toilets, an official supplier of washing powder for the kits and an official gardening partner for the pitch. Dutch fans were made to go into stadiums in their underwear because UEFA wouldn't allow them in wearing clothes which bore the name of a Dutch brewery. Why? They had an official partner who were a beer company. I think it was Alan Green who commented that he was forced to take the label from around his water because it wasn't the same kind as the official partner.

 

It's a dreadful problem, but there is nothing the ordinary fan can do. We should console ourselves that our fans are determined and passionate enough to take the tickets from the underserving and get into the stadium. The fees will be extortionate, but if we win the memories will make the price seem small. I'm sure fans who spent £500 on a ticket to Istanbul didn't really care how much lighter their wallet was in the moments following Jerzy's save.

 

I don't for one second believe that ticket touting is acceptable. I think the people who sell the tickets for extortionate prices should be sent to jail. But its the way of the world and, as I said, we'll vastly outnumber that Milan fans in the stadium and can have a direct influence on the team as they chase Number Six (see YNWA being sung through the stadium at half-time in Istanbul).

Edited May 19, 2007 by MFletcher

[_00_deathscar]

what stil puzzles me though, is practically everyone i know who wa entered into the balot wasnt successful. its not the 1 in 3.5, its more like one in 10, and i cant get my head around that. people on here, people i sit beside at the match, people on other forums who i know all entered into the ballot, and few if any, got a ticket

 

Is the same thing as what fyds (was it?) said on here the other day.

 

According to statistics, 1 in 10 males are homosexual.

 

Go out into town, ask 100 people if they're homosexual. I'd be surprised if you even found 2 or 3...

[Maldini]

Is the same thing as what fyds (was it?) said on here the other day.

 

According to statistics, 1 in 10 males are homosexual.

 

Go out into town, ask 100 people if they're homosexual. I'd be surprised if you even found 2 or 3...

 

FWIW I reckon that stat is a myth too. 9000 tickets were sold to the general public in a ballot and 9000 (i think) were taken out so UEFA could have bigger ads. Those two problems are as big as the club's allocation, but having said that the way the club handled it was well off the mark, even the PR was a disaster, they must have known there'd be a reaction like this, but they didn't react to it, if Parry had released this statement before the ballot it would have prevented a lot of the problems.

 

--------

From The Echo:

 

TOM HICKS and George Gillett today announced a review of Liverpool?s ticketing policy for major finals following the fans? outcry in the build up to this week?s Champions League clash.

 

A concerned Hicks says the American owners intend to deal with the situation as a matter of urgency having been inundated with appeals from frustrated fans.

 

Liverpool?s decision to include season ticket and fancard holders in the same ballot for an undisclosed number of cup final tickets - unofficially believed to be around 7,000 of the pitiful 17,000 allocation from UEFA - caused consternation among die-hard fans.

 

There were unprecedented protests outside Anfield last weekend.

 

This was noted by Hicks, who said action would be taken to prevent a similar problem in future.

 

 

Story continues

 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

?Unfortunately we have no control over how UEFA allocates to the clubs, but what we did at Liverpool didn?t run as smoothly as it should have done,? admitted Hicks.

 

 

?George and I have made a commitment to review the whole process for the future.

 

 

?I think it will be an increasing challenge as we move into the new stadium and have even more season ticket holders.

 

 

?We have to figure out how to do a better job.

 

 

?We need to understand how the allocation is worked out too and do what we can to have more influence on that process.

 

 

?George and I have received hundreds of e-mails from disappointed fans.

 

 

?We hear them and we feel for them and we will review the situation for them.

 

 

?I know there?s nothing we can do for this year, but we know Liverpool fans will find their way to be entrepreneurial and creative in order to see their team.

 

 

?I still expect to see 30,000 Liverpool fans in the stadium, not 17,000. I know we will have the loudest support in the stadium.?

[MFletcher]

Regardless of what anyone says, Gillett and Hicks really are making the right noises.

 

Did anyone see the level of debt the Glazers have saddled on United? 663M apparently - with 62M in interest payments a year.

Edited May 19, 2007 by MFletcher

[Rimbeux]

Regardless of what anyone says, Gillett and Hicks really are making the right noises.

 

Did anyone see the level of debt the Glazers have saddled on United? 663M apparently - with 62M in interest payments a year.

 

 

Yeh, just look at how they are holding them back...

 

 

 

their business can afford it

[Will]

that seems to be everyones experience too wayne. parry picks up on it a little in his statement when he mentions anecdotal evidence or whatever - but the thing is, he does need to account for it imo, because it seems far more than coincidence. He might say because it was a computerised ballot it couldn't have been rigged - but anyone with any programming knowledge, will know any given piece of code will only give what it's been asked to do, so it can be rigged at that point.

 

also, this statement also proves he's been lying and knew he had something to lie for - since the announcement he has said there was over 30000 people on 6 credits and 4000 people on 7 or more. Yet now he's had to play a numbers game (imo, probably thanks to the lad on rawk he did the php program and had these figures a while back), he's had to retract that and say the figure were 27000 and 3300. Something has gone on here, somebody has f*cked up and only a full and clear audit of that ballot will show what has happened. Because the numbers do not add up - 1 in 3.5 people with 6 credits did not get tickets.

Point 1 - who would be fixing the ballot and why?

Point 2 - perhaps those were the figures for people who qualified rather than those who applied (for the 7+ at least)

[Kopfaithful]

Point 1 - who would be fixing the ballot and why?

Point 2 - perhaps those were the figures for people who qualified rather than those who applied (for the 7+ at least)

 

1. I don't know, LFC, the 3rd party agency? Why - for the benefit of all the travel agencies with fancards so they can clean up. They've been seeling tickets in blocks of 10 in the Liverpool end. I emailed one last week - he had over a hundred tickets available in blocks of 10, sold at £6k for the 10. He sent me a scan of one of the tickets - they we're LFC issued tickets (Finalist A, but he blocked out the seat and row so I couldn't send them on to LFC). There's lots of profit to be made - I would imagine someone at the external agency could have done quite well for themselve.

2. I'd need to go back and read his statement - but I'm almost certain he was talking about who qualified. For instance with the ballot nobody applied - they did the ballot regadless of if you wanted a tickets or not. When Parry was interviewed by the echo and was asked explicitly how many, he said more than 30k. He's now had to backtrack because there's been information on RAWK proving this was not the case. All along he's tried to swell the number of fans who have tickets so things don't sound as bad. He's been caught out and made to look a fool - and I think it's pretty clear that the new owners have taken a look and told him to set the record straight in an honest and open fashion.

[Will]

Parry said on 10th May "Triangle Travel have not received a single ticket for the game. No travel agent has been supplied with tickets for the Final. "

 

Those tickets could of course come from ex-shareholders, corporate (very likely as they can often get 10 tickets), players or staff as well as from the ballot

[Kopfaithful]

Parry said on 10th May "Triangle Travel have not received a single ticket for the game. No travel agent has been supplied with tickets for the Final. "

 

Those tickets could of course come from ex-shareholders, corporate (very likely as they can often get 10 tickets), players or staff as well as from the ballot

 

Parry has also said previous finals travel agents did get tickets - yet one of the lads I go with (plonky on here, so I'm sure he will confirm), has a letter from a couple of years back from Parry saying LFC don't do it. It says what suits his agenda on the day.

 

You are right the tickets could have come from corportates, they could have come from players. But I'm sure these agencies do have fan cards in order to obtain tickets throughout the season - many of the local touts operate 100+ fancards themselves. I'm sure the ballot could have been rigged in their favour - which seems very likely considering prior to the 2nd ballot about 1 in 10 people seemed to get tickets (compared to Parry's 1 in 3.5 statement). I'm not even saying Parry did this - but imo, anyone who thinks that 1st ballot was fair and random is believing what they want to believe.

[Will]

I'm sure the ballot could have been rigged in their favour - which seems very likely considering prior to the 2nd ballot about 1 in 10 people seemed to get tickets (compared to Parry's 1 in 3.5 statement). I'm not even saying Parry did this - but imo, anyone who thinks that 1st ballot was fair and random is believing what they want to believe.

He is referring to to the 1st ballot with 1 in 3.5 isn't he?

 

I don't understand why they would bother to fix the ballot if they could much more easily just assign tickets to agencies before the ballot happened - safer, easier and a much better cheat as it would all get swallowed up in the number that he has not broken down

[Kopfaithful]

He is referring to to the 1st ballot with 1 in 3.5 isn't he?

 

I don't understand why they would bother to fix the ballot if they could much more easily just assign tickets to agencies before the ballot happened - safer, easier and a much better cheat as it would all get swallowed up in the number that he has not broken down

 

Yes the 1st ballot is 1 in 3.5. In your experience, do you really think 1 in 3.5 people on 6 credits got tickets at that 1st round?

 

That would be easier if LFC knew they were agencies and if indeed it was LFC who ensure particular fancards got the tickets. But it doesn't mean the fancards are reg'd to agencies, they could just be in individual names. As I said in my previous posts, I'm not saying LFC rigged the ballot, but it is more than plausable the 3rd party who did the ballot did. As an example of the corrupt society we live in, just look at all the s*** over these TV text quizes over the last 6 months or so. Corrupt as hell - and why? Because the 3rd party thinks people (and the TV companies they running them on behalf of) won't and can't find out. If somone at the 3rd party who did the ballot is taking a back hander, he may think there is no way anyone, including LFC, can find out - or the type of money involved is worth the risk. As I say, the evidence points to 1 in 3.5 people did not get tickets from the 1st ballot - but yet that number of fancards did get lucky (I think that is without doubt, the lad from RAWK also proved that I think). So which fancard holders got the ticket, because it isn't the lads who go the game?