Yesterday, the site Celts Are Here published an excellent article on websites which are selling tickets for the coming Glasgow derby, a match that, if we win on Saturday, is likely to become a league decider of sorts. If we win the next two, we’re as good as there, requiring just a point from the remaining two matches. So, these next games are crucial.
And it’s because these two games are crucial, and the one against our local foes in particular, that the issue of tickets has become current again. What the article was about was the websites which are selling match tickets at exorbitant rates, with some charging hundreds of pounds for a standard match seat for the game next weekend.
This is just plain wrong, and this shows up a serious problem that has to be set right.
We have, if you believe the hype, and I guess I do, between five and ten thousand on the season ticket waiting list. That’s a lot of people who cannot get into games every week. The club should have something set up which allows fans who can’t make games to trade with other supporters on the waiting list in a way that is open and transparent.
Now, let’s be honest; if you are a season ticket holder who has been unable to make a game or a non-season ticket holder who has been able to get to some of them, you know that the informal system that we have right now works perfectly well. But as will all unofficial systems, there are limitations with it and some of them are quite serious.
A system whereby fans could register with the club and log on find out if there are available tickets, because others fans cannot attend, would be brilliant. Certainly, the club can assign a cost to that and take its own 10% cut or whatever. That’s the way the world works.
It would be an innovation the supporters as a whole would welcome.
But it would not solve everything. The issue of ticket availability and the lack of a centralised site for them would go some of the way … but this other problem, the one that was raised today, is a much more significant concern.
Yet this is not a problem without a solution. These tickets are not coming from the club; the club is not selling these sites bundles of left-over tickets after all. These are coming from people who’ve already bought tickets, people who had to go through the clubs official channels are, and thus the club has a record of exactly who these people are.
So, the club needs to take action on this. The club should buy bundles of these tickets and then find out who sits in each one. It should then take action against those season ticket holders who think that re-selling match tickets in order to make exorbitant profits from follow fans is legit. It’s not. This is not the same as “spare” tickets being passed around the guys on your local supporter’s bus; everyone knows that’s a harmless thing which happens everywhere. That’s fellow fans helping each other out. This is piss-taking. This is exploitative.
Once the club has identified who some of these people are and taken action against them, it should publicise that fact on the website, as a warning to others about selling their tickets to re-sale outlets who rip other supporters off. We will not eliminate this stuff overnight and with a single shot, but the club could severely disincentivise this kind of behaviour and that’s a step in the right direction.
This is a serious issue, this is not something that the club should ignore, and especially not when we have easy solutions, and a proper fan exchange system is just one element of that.
Totally agree , it’s not right and leaves a bad taste in the mouth that their own fellow fans are ripping off fellow supporters, hopefully it’s stopped ASAP .
I bought a ticket for Monchengladbach V Celtic in Germany a few years ago through a reseller, and was denied entry on the night. I went to the stadium the following day and they said the tickets were cancelled because they were spotted for sale on eBay! So it’s pretty easy for the clubs to take action and a big risk for the buyer. Another answer is a bigger stadium!
Fuck the 10% or whatever they think is appropriate !
The club should,just for once,do something to help the fanbase out without scalping them.
Furfuxsake,they screw enough out of the lifeblood of the club as it is.
The rats reselling their tickets for any more than what is reasonable should have their books cancelled.
£50- £55 is reasonable,l would say and mibbe £70 for the really good seats at Paradise,but no more than that.
I learned many years ago that it’s not on to charge extra for tickets as we are only robbing our fellow fans.
As l was told back then…..That’s Hun behaviour !!!
On one or two occasions I gave away a couple of games on ma season ticket to friends…
They asked what I wanted for it…
Absolutely nothing says me – I wasn’t gonna make it maself so why the fcuk would I wanna exploit a fellow Celtic supporter !
PS – Off topic – But good to see that Scottish Independence Saltire Flag in amongst The Celtic Supporters at the top of the page…
We Most DEFINITELY need to claim our flag of independence that all these Sevco Huns detest with every sinew of their fibre being…
That said there are quite a few (Sevco fans – Not Sevco Huns) around here that are all for Scottish Independence…
If they’ve any sense they’ll never admit that if they’re ever down visiting Liebrox !
I live abroad and when I am back in Cumbernauld I like to get to a few games. The local CSC runs a bus to home matches, I call the club chairman to see if there are any tickets available. As a number of the guys work in the North Sea, plus others who cannot make it on the day, I never fail to get one. What you do is pay for the holders bus ticket plus your own and that is enough. No charges for the ticket. Easy Peasy
I’ve got a few Sevconian acquaintances and neighbours who are SNP Members and all pro Indy.
They are pretty articulate and can indulge in a rational Social, Economic and Political debate on why they’re pro Indy.
However they are staunch Monarchists.
The dichotomy is that when I’ve questioned a few of then about the existential events of 2012 and the Survival & Victim lies
they suddenly appear like rabbits caught in the headlights and freeze. Their brains go into stasis and they repeat parrot like, almost word for word, the ,comforting lies they were provided by the SMSM, THE SFA and the SPFL regarding the same Club nonsense.
Even attempting to take them, step by step, through the whole sequence of events and asking why they had to change the name of the Club and pointing out the inevitable consequences of Administration doesn’t sway them, it’s an article of faith for them. They still live in the denial stage.
I’ve given up trying to persuade them but at some point reality is going to bite them oan thir erses.
The real World outside of the biased, bigoted West of Scotland knows the truth. The paper trail is there
Liquidation happened and is recorded for posterity in Legal Judgements.
Any chance of getting an edit function on the blog.
My last post is all over the place.
Looks like a monochrome patchwork quilt.
Agree that tics shouldn’t be sold over FV (although club are doing same thing with their corp hospitality £360 for a ticket lunch and 2 pints!).
However, if there was an exchange option those of us on the waiting list for S tickets would never get one.