Waiting list hits 70,000...

[liveabiglife]

So, I'm stood watching my lad at footie training and I get chatting to this other dad, who lives down in the midlands now, but is from Formby. We get talking about Anfield, how often we can get tickets, etc, and he tells me about his brother, who knows a guy (yeah, OK, so maybe I got sold a line - just maybe ;-) ) who span a yarn at the ticket office and got a season ticket.

 

As someone among the many on the waiting list, I didn't know whether to be p****d off or inspired. Deciding that inspired was the way to go I call teh ticket office and spin a variation on a theme. "That's impossible!" says the woman on the line, as I tell her that I'd heard it was possible. At this stage I'm partly relieved - (a) because otherwise what's the point of a waiting list and (b) I don't have to think up an excuse for my wife as to quite why I just parted with a load of cash we don't have spare .

 

But then comes the line to end all lines... "We have 70,000 people on the waiting list and haven't issued a new season ticket in three years" "Did you say 70 - as in 7 zero?" I ask. "Yes" she replied. I didn't know whether to exclaim "that's bo***x" or call Hicks and tell him he needed some new Stadium plans - I'm guessing his number's listed on 118-118?

 

I don't know whether you can circumvent the waiting list or not, but come on, if you are gonna get your staff to lie, let's at least teach them to lie realistically!

 

But here's the question - does anyone - including the club - know how big the list is? Is there any point in holding out any hope of getting one? I get tickets through the supporters club I'm in, and they are fantastic, so I can't really complain, but I still want my own ST, as do loads of other people. So will this new stadium cut it? WIll it give those who wait the prize they've been waiting for?

 

Seriously, if this new stadium doesn't get rid of the list then what the f*** did we load the balance sheet with a s*** pile of debt for? If we get debt and everyone on the list doesn't get an season ticket, I will be majorly p****d off!

[Cobs]

i think 71,000 is plenty for us

 

 

dunno if that waiting list figure is close to true but i bet there's stacks on the waiting list who currently regularly go anyway.

[Will]

The new stadium will not clear the waiting list, and nor should it try to

[MFletcher]

I'm sure a fair few on the waiting list put themselves on years ago and wouldn't be able to afford/attend the matches necessary to justify the outlay due to a change of circumstance.

[liveabiglife]

dunno if that waiting list figure is close to true but i bet there's stacks on the waiting list who currently regularly go anyway.

 

I agree - I go to about 10 or so games a season but want to go to them all!! Maybe I'm just greedy.

[liveabiglife]

The new stadium will not clear the waiting list, and nor should it try to

 

Why not?

[MFletcher]

i think 71,000 is plenty for us

dunno if that waiting list figure is close to true but i bet there's stacks on the waiting list who currently regularly go anyway.

 

To be fair, I think we could have justified 80,000 to give us the biggest club stadium in England. We should be able to fill it if we have proper pricing arrangements and levels of tickets based on where you're sitting etc.

[AE]

I have been on the waiting list for 8 or 9 years.

Personally i don't have the time or money to go now. I don't even make European matches and I hardly missed a home game for 5 or 6 years.

I am hoping that in a few years that will change and I can regularly take my son, but I would need the club to sort out the mess that is our season ticket allocations.

[Cobs]

I'm sure a fair few on the waiting list put themselves on years ago and wouldn't be able to afford/attend the matches necessary to justify the outlay due to a change of circumstance.

totally

 

71,000 stadia = what - 55-60k season tickets?

 

i reckon that will clear the list

[AE]

To be fair, I think we could have justified 80,000 to give us the biggest club stadium in England. We should be able to fill it if we have proper pricing arrangements and levels of tickets based on where you're sitting etc.

 

 

I can remember a couple of UEFA cup games with around 28,000 and 33,000 and then we got Celtic and tickets were like golddust.

 

That being said I think most people have cottoned onto the "voucher" system and therefore tickets would be sold for all games, it would be a question of how many byums on seats we actually got at some games.

[Cobs]

To be fair, I think we could have justified 80,000 to give us the biggest club stadium in England. We should be able to fill it if we have proper pricing arrangements and levels of tickets based on where you're sitting etc.

not sure we'd fill 80k regularly

[MFletcher]

I could do with getting myself on the list soon actually.

[AE]

totally

 

71,000 stadia = what - 55-60k season tickets?

 

i reckon that will clear the list

 

be just like the geordies then

 

60k ST

3k away fans?

5k Corporate

 

3k the rest to fight over.

 

Unless of course the club did a "buy back" scheme for the STs that couldn't make the game.

That way we could all see Pompy, Middleborough, Bolton......

Edited January 28, 2008 by AE

[MFletcher]

This is true regarding the numbers. If we get 62,000-odd into the stadium for one of the games, it won't look as "empty" in a 71,000 seat stadium as it would in an 80,000 seat stadium - where effectively a quarter of the seats wouldn't have someone in them.

 

I am of the opinion that 80,000 would allow for much cheaper seats for those who can't necessarily afford the outlay at the minute. Yes, the view wouldn't be ideal but you'd still be able to see your team play for a price that would be reasonable.

[Cobs]

I could do with getting myself on the list soon actually.

been on it for nigh on 10 years myself, had a season ticket within that time but i imagine by the time comes around for the new stadium to be delivered my life will be such that i can't justify the time/expense of it.

[MFletcher]

been on it for nigh on 10 years myself, had a season ticket within that time but i imagine by the time comes around for the new stadium to be delivered my life will be such that i can't justify the time/expense of it.

 

This is the thing for me as well. I'm only 19, so - at this moment in time at least - I could fully justify taking a season ticket and flying over before and after the game. Yes, it would be expensive but I'm not in a position where a mortgage etc. has to be paid for.

 

By the time I'd get a season ticket, I'll be a few years old and will have much more financial responsibility than I do now. I'm not sure I'd be able to justify the costs of a season ticket, plus numerous flight and rail tickets to get to Anfield to begin with.

 

The best thing is probably to put myself on the list and cross the "can I afford the time/expense?" bridge when I come to it.

Edited January 28, 2008 by MFletcher

[liveabiglife]

I am hoping that in a few years that will change and I can regularly take my son, but I would need the club to sort out the mess that is our season ticket allocations.

 

Totally. Ticket allocations full stop, I reckon. The woman who runs the supporters club I joined is incredible - voluntarily she regularly sorts out about 150 people with tickets, taking up entire days of her own time. I'm always thanking her because every time I stand on the Kop with my lad, listening to him sing at the top of his voice, watching him jump up to touch the flag, and chatting all the way home about the match, I wonder what could be better.

 

Whether I get a season ticket or not I'll cherish these times, but I can't help thinking there should be an easier way. Without the supporters club, I'd get about two games a season. With them I get about 10, and for that I am really grateful, but if I had a season ticket I'd get them all.

 

And yet I stand next to people who spend the whole 90 minutes slagging off the players and moaning about how cr*p we are. I get annoyed when we play badly, but standing on the Kop, watching it all unfold in front of me, stood next to my son, will never cease to be special. Win or lose. And I'm stood there thinking "f*** me, do you realise how lucky you are to even have the opportunity to come here week after week?"

 

If half the stories you hear are true, then the waiting list is a joke, and if you know someone who's mate's aunty's cousin knows the cleaner in the ticket office, then you're sorted. Ok, I trivialize, but you get the idea.

[Barnesy_10]

Parry said it was 70k on the waiting list in one of the interviews he did around the time it all kicked off about how the organisation for ticket sales went for Athens,,,

I have been on it since the fan card got released... the problem there was that there was a simple 'check box' on the application to say you wanted to be added to the waiting list...

I assume the majority who applied for fan cards would have ticked the box.

[Guest Kaizer]

Parry said it was 70k on the waiting list in one of the interviews he did around the time it all kicked off about how the organisation for ticket sales went for Athens,,,

I have been on it since the fan card got released... the problem there was that there was a simple 'check box' on the application to say you wanted to be added to the waiting list...

I assume the majority who applied for fan cards would have ticked the box.

 

That check box was no longer there when I got my fan card.

[liveabiglife]

That check box was no longer there when I got my fan card.

 

It came off a while back, I think. I had to write in to get on the list. I reckon they should write to the entire list and invite them to remain on it - i.e confirm you want to stay on it, and if we don't hear from you, matey, you are off, kind of deal. That would be about the only way to sift out the couldn't care less and can't be bothered's, imo.

[growler]

out of the 70k, how many would take one if offered one in 5/10 years time? Really, you are probably looking at 35,000 buyers.

 

Also, when we get our new stadium, with an extra 25000 seats, even if 20k of that were new season tickets, that still leaves a significant number on the waiting list, which is great.

 

Why is it good? Ask anyone who owns a shop. You want a queue at your door, you wnat people waiting to be served, not walk in and get what they want, when they want.

 

I heard that man u have pretty much exhausted their waiting list because of the increase in prices, the glazers etc. That is a concern, as when a ticket comes up, it doesn't get resold, or worse, when a block of tickets come up, they don't get sold.

 

I hope they re-allocate seats when the new stadium opens too.

[liveabiglife]

Why is it good? Ask anyone who owns a shop. You want a queue at your door, you wnat people waiting to be served, not walk in and get what they want, when they want.

 

I appreciate that, but I know a whole bunch of people who haven't jumped on the list because they can't see the point as they don't think they stand a chance of getting one anytime in their lifetime. Add to that the people who just go when they can but haven't really thought about a season ticket and, even if you took up the whole list in the new stadium, you still have your demand.

 

The ones who didn't see the point before will likely sign up on a list if they think they will be near the front, and the ones who never really thought about it will still buy from match-to-match as the fancy takes them.

 

I work in a department of 21 with 4 Liverpool fans in the midlands. One does Champion's League cos his mate can get him tickets, I do teh supporters club for CL and a the odd PL when I can get them, and the other 2 don't even try cos they have never managed to score any. If they thought their odds were better, they'd jump on a list.

 

I don't think demand will disappear if the current list is satisfied. The new list would most likely be shorter for sure, but it'd still be there.

 

Supply and demand is more complex than having a long list of interested parties - demand is only worth something if you can convert it when supply becomes available. The danger is that you start to believe your own hype to the point where you don't notice that your list isn't worth the paper it's written on. I wonder if some in the club have got that o that point - Parry for one. Obviously, football is a more partisan market, and there will always be a core who will step up and consume at least some of the supply, but the trick is to manage it so that you don't make people disillusioned or just p*** them off so they can't be ar**d.

[surf]

The new stadium will not clear the waiting list, and nor should it try to

 

I'm not sure i agree with either of those statements.

First of all, how big is the waiting list really? True, there might be 30,000 (or whatever) people on there, how many are really going to buy season tickets if they're offered to them? The waiting list is inflated with people who've signed up but won't use the opportunity because circumstances have changed - they've left town, they're out of money, they prefer playing golf, whatever.

 

Secondly, i think we should build as big a stadium as we can fill. If we can fill 90,000 stadium week in week out, then we should build one.

It gives more fans a chance to see the game and generates income.

[Will]

Secondly, i think we should build as big a stadium as we can fill. If we can fill 90,000 stadium week in week out, then we should build one.

Totally agree with the first statement. I just think that there is no way we would fill a 90k stadium week in week out. No way on earth. 70k will be a challenge I think (not impossible, but certainly not straightforward)

[Guz]

How big is the PTS waiting list? Is that about 5k? I'd say if everyone on that was offered PTS almost all would take it up which is different to a lot of people on the seasie waiting list who are probably duplicate applications, moved away, go regularly anyway, have been passed down a ST, just ticked the box while getting the fancard etc.