Contrary to the belief by some on the JustArsenal website that I’m not a true Gooner (based on my correct opinions we would regress after Mr Wenger left and wouldn’t have the mentality to deal with the pressure of a title race), I actually attended the Emirates for the first time in September 2010 – we lost to West Brom 3-2 !!!
I have a red membership, the cheapest membership you can have but living In Plymouth, Poole, York and Wales, it allowed me to target one game a month.
How it works is that every season I’m essentially paying 30 something pounds to have a chance of buying tickets a month before the fixture takes place.
You are buying access to a few thousand seats not yet sold. It works though.
I have two memberships, one in my name and one in a friend’s name which I use to take whoever wants to accompany me for the day.
So, for over a decade, a yearly direct debit of approx 70-80 pounds goes to Arsenal, one of those standing orders you forget exists.
This period, of course, coincides with not the most successful in our history.
So naturally last campaign, where we were top of the League the majority of time, suddenly everyone wants a seat.
Is it morally right that a loyal customer now misses out to supporters only jumping on the train when things are going well?
No, but that is what happens at a big club.
I can accept a number of tickets going on sale at a certain time and being beaten in a queue.
What I find hard to stomach is the change in policy that now all red membership tickets will be decided by a ballot!
My chances of getting a ticket are now based on trusting my name to be drawn out of a fictional tumbler.
That makes it hard to organise dates as essentially you have to wait if you were successful before making plans. Logically the more ballots you enter, your chances increase.
So far, I been part of every ballot and so far, …. nothing
It’s not Arsenal’s fault, they had to alter the procedure as serious laws were being broken, and as usual the minority ruin things for the rest of us.
To those not familiar, how the system should work is your membership is like a credit card, what games you pay for are registered to that card. That card essentially gets you into the stadium without you needing a paper ticket.
As long as you memorise what area, block and seat your sitting in, there is zero reason for any steward to interact with you.
Some of course see this as a business opportunity and take liberties.
I have been in the local Costa and watched a man pull out multiple cards essentially lending them to clients who then meet him afterwards to give the card back.
Of course, the scheme is, where he’s paid say 40 pound to watch Arsenal vs Bournemouth, he’s now charging over 100 pounds and making that profit on every card.
The Ballot is intended to prevent that type of activity, but it hurts those who have done nothing wrong.
Paying 80 pound a year just to qualify to be able to give them further money is one thing.
Now, I’m paying 80 pound a month just to participate in essentially a raffle where the odds are not in my favour.
Even if I’m lucky, my name might pop out of the hat once a season.
So, I’m giving Arsenal 80 pound a year for potentially the right to buy one match?
Arsenal never bothered any correspondence to explain this change of policy, which essentially means I’m now paying for something drastically different to what I originally purchased with them.
Nor is there any benefits based on loyalty.
They simply don’t have to possess any customer service skills, because if I cancel my direct debit there’s thousands more in the queue.
I guess ‘non-negotiable’ principles didn’t apply to us fans?
Any other red members?
I love to hear your thoughts.
Dan
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Shitty new system.
It would be brilliant to vote with our feet.
Theprevious system wasn’t perfect but it worked and there were no complaints from the fans.
I think u will cancle my membership now. Like the article writer I am a red member and go the the occasional match. But no point anymore
DAN, Sincerely, my hear t bleeds for you and for the modern era football fan , as we are no more than inconsequential, invisible pawns in a corporate chess game dominated by the Kings ands Queens(in chess terms) who run football and who own and run clubs.
Even the players, are merely fabuously rich and talented mere pawns too, in the respect that they only have power over their own lives, but are equally helpless to change things for thr better FOR EVERYONE. All the powr is with hideous, human only in anatomy, scumbagcorporate thieve s who decades ago STOLE the sould of football. And we, suckers that we are, have gone along and been willingly conned too.
Some more perceptive folk have long seen this and warned us all.
But if someone simply doesn;t care they are being conned and that the soul of wthat they love is then STOLEN and no longer belongs to them, then sad to say they pay the PRICE of the loss of footballs soul.
I have long know all the above; it was easy to see happening. All any of us needed to do was open our eyes, our ears and engage our brain. Sigh!
I’m red too, Dan. I understand why the ballot has been introduced, but it’s pretty frustrating to say the least.
I’ve seen some fans on twitter (sorry X) announce their joy at being successful in every game they’ve applied for! How unfair is that? Surely if you’re successful one week, you shouldn’t be allowed to apply for the following game? So then it would give everyone else more of a chance, as they’re still accepting new red memberships. I’ve been unlucky in all of the 5 games I’ve applied for.
I managed to pick up 2 tickets up on the Exchange for the Community Shield (more by luck than judgment haha!). And thanks to a couple of ST holders transferring their tickets over to my son and I when unable to attend (we’re going to PSV next week), I wouldn’t get to the Emirates this season, so am really grateful to them both!
So for that reason, as well as the ticket exchange, I still think it’s worth renewing each year.
The tickets for the Sheff Utd game come out tomorrow 🤞🏻, but with how it’s gone so far, I don’t hold out much hope!
Arsenal are increasing the price of their season ticket by five per cent next season – and it will include four games fewer than 2022-23. So me and my other two friends am paying more for less games, I have been a st holder for a very long time, and I am put into a ballot for CL games at home as well, the only winners are Arsenal.
👍
OG sue back again 👍
Missed your post till now mate ,don’t leave it another 6 months .
Regarding Dans article ,I would rather watch my local TBH ,which I’ve been doing for years .
Professional teams are so out of touch from the working man (women )I would rather watch them on TV (illegal streams at that ).
Each to their own though .
Hey Dan, cheers. How are you? Hope you’re still holding your own on here. I signed up for the FPL league – you’re doing well, I’m a little behind 😆
Think I was top on the fantasy league after last week what’s you’re team name ?
You know me I always hold my own on JA 😂
Same old with the usual suspects,you should stop by more and get back into the fold on here ,shame some of the oldies have disappeared (or got banned 🤣)
Off to sleep mate ,don’t leave it so long next time 👍
Dan, it’s not only the red ticket system that’s changed, but so has the rules for season ticket holders.
First of all, the amount of games covered by said season tickets has been reduced, while the price went up.
Secondly, the season ticket has to be used via an app that has to be downloaded onto ones phone.
This, of course, makes it impossible to give to anyone else, as I did with Jon Fox previously.
The club has also introduced a ruling that if one misses four games, then their season ticket is taken away – however, the new system does allow one to put it back into the system for resale and if it’s sold, that money is taken off the price of the following season ticket price – if it isn’t sold, the club informs one of that AND it doesn’t count as part of the four missed games mentioned above.
Also, one can name individuals who are on the red or silver list, as friends who they can pass said season ticket on to… if they agree to it!!
BUT the drawback for me is that it has to be like for like, so I can only nominate anyone over 65.
I don’t understand how the example you used can happen under these circumstances but our old friend PHIL (remember PAL?!) was telling me this story :
Some friends of his, who sit behind him, we’re invited to another friends executive box and they accepted, putting their three season tickets back for resale.
Later in the week, they received a phone call from someone who sits behind them, asking why they missed the game, to which they explained all of the above.
They were then told that the people who sat in their seats, had paid a tout £150 per ticket!!!
He immediately ran the club asking how this could have happened and The Arsenal just didn’t want to know!!
No matte how hard the club try to get these scumbag touts out of the system, they always seem to find a way to overcome it.
I feel for EVERY fan who cannot get a ticket.
You can still use paper tickets to get in, when I transfer tickets for friends, I tell them print off the PDF as it will be quicker
Didn’t know that, thanks.
No problem, paper tickets are better, during the Forest home game, we got in with no problem, I hate tech, I am a technophobia man, I get so angry with my PS5, my controllers have bite marks on them when I keep getting killed, my girlfriend tells me I have issues, As a former soldier when I play war games like COD, I go mad when someone throws a grenade about a hundred metres with great precision, I scream you can’t do that and my girlfriend calmly whispers to me “Free your mind”. Don’t know why I shared this but hey ho. Off to see Ricky Gervais at the London Palladium tonight.
Lucky got! About RG I mean not the army!
Also welcome back Sue – so good to know your alive and kicking.
Looking forward, hopefully, to seeing your posts again 👍😁
Missed your posts Sue and welcome back. Don’t be a stranger!!
Useless new system does not work I have entered every ballot and got a no at least with the old system you could get a few tickets.
Oh and ticket exchange seems broken too.
Ticket exchange is awful, do you get mimecast preventing you from accepting the transfer, Arsenal box office are piss poor for solutions