Loyalty points 'controversy'

Loyalty points system. As we know already the new system will award supporters who have been attending games home and away in very recent seasons (only the last four seasons will count for loyalty points starting from the 2012/13 campaign) and will roll on with each passing season so that it's always rewarding fans who are going to games here and now. In other words fans who currently have disposable income to afford to go to games. The issue is that the fans who have been going for say 10, 15, 20 years but recently due to work or family have not been so active will lose the privilege of 'cherry picking' matches to attend. The argument is, consistent loyalty over a decade should continue to be awarded rather than only appeasing the ones with the cash right this second. Although to counter that argument the club would say that it's only fair that if you're loyal and attending games in recent seasons then you should have the same right to get tickets to big games because how could you possibly compete against someone with 1000 points?

In a discussion on Twitter someone cited 'cartel' in reference to supporters that have accumulated a hefty amount of points meaning they will never fail to get a ticket for say Arsenal, Chelsea away or for a game like Stevenage in the Cup. Although some fans might not attend frequently and cherry pick games  many that have built up a substantial amount of points over 10 years + still go to games consistently. But then how could the club possibly appease them also? They can't. This system is geared towards the present rather than the past. They will lose a big percentage of their points and find themselves competing with fans who haven't been attending as long as they have.

There's no right or wrong way to support Tottenham in terms of attending games. Some of us can, some of us can't. People who have only recently started to attend home and away games are no lesser supporters than the ones that have been going for ten years. Everyone has to start somewhere. Still, the same should apply for the ones that have spent a life time attending but not very recently who will lose the ability to be awarded because they can't find their way to games as often as they've love to. Equally so the ones that have been attending for an age and continue to do so who will be on a level pegging come 2013 with only the recently active ones. Some of our fans consistently attended matches up and down the country when we were utterly woeful (the 1990s anyone?) so should loyalty still be awarded rather than it being reset? Have they not earned the right to be prioritised?

What are your thoughts on all this? Fair? Not fair? Is the club looking after its legacy supporters or just the ones who have cash in their wallets?

Is this the reason Spurs form is so poor?

Aaron Lennon has complete control of the team stereo on match days. Nobody else gets a look in. I can only shudder at the thought of his musical tastes having seen plenty of photos of him at parties, baseball cap on back to front, dancing with an urban flavour and rude swagger.

Strictly no Chas and Dave, Barry Manilow or McNamara’s Band for our wee Aaron. He's got way too much street cred to associate himself with music that was made before he was born.

I have this image of a dressing room dance-off with Dawson breaking it down with mad floor skills as he body pops his way to victory against Zokora's mash-up of Usheresque fluidity and silky leg movements. Beats listening to ABBA.

In other news:

Ghaly is gone. I’ve always swayed from one direction to another with this guy. His attitude and arrogance was toxic, his abilities mediocre. He had one or two fine performances, but other than the game away to Chelsea in the Cup and the pitch-side dentistry that made you gasp he wasn’t exactly consistent. Shirt throwing aside, the Birmingham transfer fiasco summed up his tenure as a Premiership player. In his head, he was brilliant. Maybe if he was signed when he was in his early 20’s, we might have developed him into a worthy squad player (then again, us and developing don’t particularly go hand in hand).

The swaying I was referring to concerns some comments I made a few weeks back relating to the boo-boys who managed to change the mind of Redknapp during a game, sending Ghaly back to the subs bench rather than bringing him on. He’s been working his socks off in the reserves, so it’s possible he has managed to grow a little in maturity. We’ll never know. Al Nasr have him now on a 3-year contract. Maybe the fact he has moved there and not to any other continental top flight league sums up what most think of him.

The club has also announced that the price of season tickets will be frozen for up to two years (long enough for relegation and promotion back up to the Prem, hey Daniel?). So, that includes the reduction of VAT at 15% for seasons 2010 and 2011 meaning you’ll pay less for it than you did this season. Levy must be finally shifting those copies of the Opus he’s got stacked up in his garage. Don’t under estimate the power of car boot sales.

The freeze on season tickets has been introduced as a thank you from the club for our ‘continued and exceptional loyalty’ and to help ease the financial burden that nobody appears to be immune from at the moment. Looks like I have no choice but to continue my suffering.

Season Ticket prices, 2009 (allegedly)

East Lower Block 26 now £865 from £799 + 8.26%

West Upper Now £1150 from £1050 + 9.52%

South Lower Block 32 Now £635 was £579 + 9.67%

South Upper Block 40 Now £750 was 679 + 10.46%

Freeze on season tickets? Like fuck. Expect to pay about £675 if you stand in Block 34 next to me. Prices appeared on the online booking site earlier today even though they are not meant to be announced for a while yet.

Ticket Fiasco continued...

The League of Lilywhites continues to make the voices of the little people heard. No, not midgets, not that I have anything against them. You just don't seem to see many of them at White Hart Lane. In fact, I don't think I've seen midgets at any Premiership game. They must dislike football. Which is a bit off IMO. I mean, fair enough, they are too small to play the game at a professional level but that doesn't mean they have to turn up their noses at the game altogether. Supporting a club, no matter how big or small, still reaps rewards. Unless you support Leeds. Anyway, I'm not talking about midgets I'm talking about Spurs fans. All little in the shadow of the dark Emperor, Levy.

Here's some damning evidence picked up from GG.net that disgusts me so much, I puked with anger, then licked it up unapologetically only to re-puke it:

You will recall that, when THFC switched their ticketing operations from Seatbooker to eticketing.co.uk, the primary reason given for this change, was the fact that 'they were finding it difficult to sell single seats'. They [THFC] stated that people tended to select single seats, leaving odd empty ones here and there - which, they claim, they could then not sell. Therefore, they chose to do away with seat level selection and, instead, went for an option where you can only select the block...then hope for the best. Great.

Well, sorry THFC, but it looks like Seatbooker would've been able to negate this problem. Take a look at this webpage - one which highlights the problem, and then advertises the fact that they have a solution;

http://home.seatbooker.net/doc_98.html

Again, yet more proof (as if it were ever needed) that THFC took this regressive decision based on one reason only - cost. eticketting.co.uk are able to spread the cost of such operations across their client base, thus making it cheaper to administer, on THFC's behalf. The service now provided is no more reliable, and the experience no more pleasant than that which we received via Seatbooker (bless their cotton socks).

Look at the shambles at receiving ST's this year? Utter joke. Penny pinching THFC at it again - insulting the intelligence of those who pay handsomely through the turnstiles. Not only do they see no harm in providing us with an even worse service than last season, but they now take our money a full SIX weeks in advance - a completely unjustifiable step. Pure and utter greed Shame on you.

No wonder we make so much f*cking profit - the club/company is cutting admin costs all over the place, yet - at the same time, using OUR money to make interest for the company. Maybe we do need to be taken private - remove this ridiculous desire to squeeze every single penny out of the 'loyal support' which they claim to never take for granted. I wouldn't mind if I thought my money - and their profit - was going towards a lovely environment to watch football in. But it isn't - it's still the same decrepit White Hart Lane which has remained virtually unchanged for over 10 years. 'A decision will be made in [insert random mm/yyyy]' they say - yet more prevarication.

~ SM

Money is being drained out of us like a blood thirsty vampire suckling on a pretty girls neck. We (we Spurs fans) are the pretty girl. Yes, we maybe dressed up in a short little number with black heels, but we are in no way asking for it, just because we're walking down a dark alley. See, for all the 'We have money' hype the club spins, what they fail to reference is the fact that its actually our money and it's being spent in the interest of the club and not for our interest. We are the club and the club should be doing us a service, not a dis-service.

The vampire needs to be staked. And I'm happy to step forward as Buffy. In fact, I see myself having more in common with Faith. Rougher round the edges and more unpredictable. Levy continues to open hellmouths, without any suggestion of remorse. It's time to bring a stop to the impending apocalypse.

Spurs Ticket Fiasco

Saturdays home game friendly against Torino will be infamous for what happened off the pitch rather than on it (a 2-0 win to follow on from a 4-2 win against Orient). Seems our ticket office are struggling. First the Seatbooker fiasco and now its all gone Monty Python down at the Lane.

Below is one poor souls account of what happened:

How come in a week when they knew they had this problem they did not let people pick them up instead of giving out bullshit info on the phone and not answering?

On game day they why did they not use all their facilities to hand for the tickets? instead of using 5 windows for what looked like about 5-10,000 people trying to collect?

Will i get a refund for missing a 3rd of the game, the goal from keano and wasting my time on phonecalls, texts and queing in the backing sun? Will I F**K!!!

And what will I do about this? will i abandon going to the Spurs and make a protest? will i form a group to moan at the tickets office and demand some kind of payback for what happened? of course i wont, ill just take it on the chin like i have to and get F**K all for all that waste of my time missing a large portion of the game.

What made matters worse is both my best mates had their eldest Son at their first Spurs games and this was their experience! they go to que in the Sun and miss 30 mins of the match. If this is the shape of ticketing to come at Spurs then we are in for a messed up season. How can it be that hard to organise sending out some tickets for gods sake.

What really miffed me on top of all this was that they que for buying tickets on the day was about a 10% of the que to get pre-paid tickets so i would have been better off just turning up and buying them. And also the woman in the membership office said this to me when i moaned about having pre-paid and not receiving them "have you got proof you have not received them?" in a stern billigerent way. How the F**K do you get proof that you never received them? errr they never came through my door like those other poor sods stood out there missing the game.

Sorry to rant on like this, but today was just total bollocks from a ticketing point of view and i hope its not like this for the rest of the season. Let us pray not anyway.

Phew!

Some fans have received tickets for the Arsenal game and have yet to get their Sunderland away through the post. No defined order or clear process seems to be present. Its as shambolic as a defence with Gary Doherty at the back.

Also, I have yet to receive my season ticket. That's correct. Nothing in the post with a week to go before the season kicks off.

Has Levy finally taken assertive action?

'We cherish our loyal support'

The League of Lilywhites is in full swing. Yes, currently, there is only me, but that's fine. Once the football seasons erupts into action there will be plenty of opportunity to recruit. In the mean time, its a case of scouring the Spurs forums for like-minded fans who are not easily blinded by merchandise and the like.

One such fan is Sheikh Ma Nuggets. Honorary member of the League of Lilywhites. The following is from a post at Glory-Glory.co.uk:

Attendance figures to dip below "99%"

Right, first off - the "99%" is a figure gleamed from the various chest-puffing exercises that the club prides itself in carrying out - 'we have sooo much support'. Essentially, 99% (or 98.x%) is a fantastic, highly respectable and not easily rivalled figure.

But I have my doubts about whether this shall remain, for this season anyway.

As we all know, the club introduced a new ticketing system for this season. It's rubbish. The club tried to brush aside various criticisms, stating how the change would carry with it 'a better experience' (load of tosh) and that 'the system would be far more robust and reliable' (more tosh)

The system - as has been demonstrated - is no more reliable, and the experience is no more enjoyable than which was provided by Seatbooker. In fact, it's worse; you can't even see how many tickets are available, and you don't even know if your payment has been processed (after clicking it for the fifthteenth time) How the hell is that an improved service?

We all know why Seatbooker was dropped - it was a case of cost. eTicketing.co.uk are able to deliver the same (well, minus choice) service, as they are able to spread their costs across their client base - unlike Seatbooker. Think 'Tesco' and you're not far off the scent. So don't be fooled that THFC plc gave two hoots about the "customer experience" at all - that's just bullshit put out to drive through the changeover. Were we ever consulted about "customer experience"? No - there you go.

And so we see how well the games are selling - or not, which would be more accurate.

Take for example Everton at home, now I know this will just be anecdotal - but that game has now gone on General Sale. 'So what' I hear you say? Well, last season, I distinctly remember that this game did not reach General Sale - and, in fact, was sold out within a matter of days. Now, of course, there has been the undeniable farce of people not getting their membership (CRN's) packs in time - and it would be wrong to discount that as a contributing factor - but I think the problem will perpetuate right through the course of the season. THFC plc don't think fans care about choice - well they will soon learn that we do. Very much so.

Sure the "big games" like Arsenal will sell out - but that's simply because people don't necessarily care where they sit - just as long as they are there. But as for the smaller, less attractive games? I fear it will be a case of 32-33,000 – which, across the course of a season, would drop our much heralded attendance figure down to around 90%.

This will turn out to be a rather expensive lesson to THFC plc – that is, unless they take some drastic action mid-season. But I can’t see that being so, as you’d have to imagine we are locked-in to at least a 12mth contract with eticketting.co.uk. The club took a regressive step in ‘falling into line with it’s contemporaries’ – hardly worth forking out all the extra cash we have done for the ‘Gold/Silver/Pleb’ memberships?

But then, will this be as expensive a lesson as I first thought? Remember, THFC plc love you so much that – from this season (and probably every one following) they will make claim to your monies a full SIX weeks prior to the event actually talking place. That’s an increase of two weeks – nice. So, while the club come out with their ‘we cherish our loyal support and don’t ever take them for granted’ bullshit – they see no harm in making extra interest in YOUR money, for no valid reason but pure greed.

I'm sure the interest made will cover dinner dates at the Ivy for Levy and family.