It’s becoming curse.
Loyalty points – if the Ticket Office don’t swindle you out of them through human error or computer error (which for those of you watching in black and white are the same thing by the way) then they are the preserve of the fortunate. Not as in ‘lucky’ but as in those with the means and the opportunity to attend games regularly enough to earn the lucrative quantity that’ll at any rate let you be in with a shout.
My beef, believe it or not isn’t with the touts. Forget the notion that they somehow serve a purpose. I don’t roll with that. They are bottom feeders simply perpetuating a cycle of greed. Billy’s got his hands on two Corporates for Wembley but Billy doesn’t wanna get his paws grubby turning them into a few hundred quidoleons. So he he flogs them to some ‘Orrible who is in the grubby paws business. It’s like that Circle Of if thing they had in Lion King.
No, my issue is with the Clubs themselves and the manner in which they marshal the whole shebang. Unofficial forums, message boards and blogs have been warned off – and threatened with the consequences of – tolerating ticket exchange/reselling. Yes, in law it is illegal. I grasp that, but in the vast majority of cases the tickets moving about in this manner are a tiny, tiny quantity, ‘traded’ at face value. The whole process is more centered about fellow fans helping each other out than a commercial enterprize.
But whilst the bloke with a spare for ‘so and so away’ is under scrutiny from Interpol, stadiums up and down the country are providing pavement space for ticket touts actively plying their profitable trade in broad daylight.
There are plans, dreams, hopes and schemes galore doing the rounds for new stadia. Demand is high and the light is burning brightly masses. But who will be occupying the largely uncomfortable shiny new squares of plastic in this brave new world of Naming Rights? And how much will they be paying for the pleasure?
It’s time for the Clubs to develop a common strategy to cut down on the quantity of over charged chumps watching games and fill these super size stands with real fans paying face value.
Please watch this show HERE tomorrow on C4. Thank you.
