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4 months ago
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Newcastle United travel to Arsenal later this month.
The NUFC fans heading to the game, once again treat in a shocking way by those making the decisions, the Saturday game moved to an 8pm kick-off, making it impossible to get a train back to Tyneside after the match.
However, they are not the only Newcastle United fans to have been treat in a shocking way.
I am talking about Newcastle United members.
To say the ballot system for home tickets is a ‘little’ frustrating, is understatement of the year.
Everybody understands that demand exceeds supply but the way the Newcastle United owners are behaving towards members is beyond disappointing.
Not so long ago, Darren Eales admitted that it was possible that a member could apply for every match this season and not get a single ticket. Every ballot for each match is a separate event, so no matter how many or how few tickets you have previously ‘won’ in previous ballots this season, everybody has the same chance for the next ballot. The NUFC CEO also admitted that whilst some members up to that point had not received any tickets at all, the club’s records showed that a small number of members had got tickets for every match.
Applying in the ballots is even more of a lottery because you can only pick one option / category, so you don’t know how many tickets are available in the category / price point you have applied for. After each ballot you have no idea of whether 1 per cent or 99 per cent of those in your category got tickets. There is also no way of saying you will take any ticket in any category, or any ticket up to a certain price. You make your one choice, not having a clue what your chances are, nor do you find out this afterwards.
No system will be perfect and not everybody will be happy, due to demand exceeding supply.
However, Newcastle United have to be doing far far better.
At the moment, the likes of Arsenal are shaming the NUFC owners when it comes to transparency with their members.
The table below shows the percentage chance of success for each ballot across the games that have been balloted so far this season for Arsenal fans, plus how many fans were able to buy tickets for each of the matches via their ticket exchange.
For transparency and fairness, the Newcastle United owners owe the NUFC fans at the very least to do the same as Arsenal.
If they refuse to do so, then the natural assumption of most Newcastle United fans will be because they have something to hide, something they don’t want supporters, especially those paying for NUFC memberships, to see.
Arsenal official site – Explaining how Arsenal members can try and get tickets via ballots and their ticket exchange, followed by their statistics for each home match this season in terms of percentage success rates (for each ballot) and how may fans were successful in getting tickets via their ticket exchange:
Overview
To ensure fairness and equal opportunity, tickets for home Premier League fixtures this season will be sold via a ballot system exclusively for Arsenal Members.
Here’s how it works: For each match, we provide our Members with a designated window to enter the ballot. You can choose to register individually or as a group, as long as all members in the group meet the necessary requirements. There is no rush to enter, you can enter at any stage during the registration window and your odds of success remain exactly the same.
To assist you further, we have created a comprehensive How-to-Buy guides that provides detailed instructions on navigating the ballot system. If you’re a Silver Member, click here for information about the Silver ballot. For details about the Red ballot, please click here. Families looking for seating in the Family Enclosure can find the relevant information here. And of course, for our disabled fans who require disability access, we have a dedicated Disability Access ballot. You can access the details here.
Ticket Exchange
Once the ballot has been run, the Ticket Exchange service opens, which allows Season Ticket Holders and Members who are unable to attend the game to sell their tickets to other members. To ensure that tickets are being used by genuine Arsenal supporters and members, we are making a change to the way that ticket exchange will operate. Effective from the Liverpool Premier League ballot on 15 December 2023, Ticket Exchange access will initially be limited to members who were unsuccessful in the ballot. The Exchange may open to other members ahead of the game; this will be communicated on a match-by-match basis via the relevant ticket information page.
23/24 Ballot Success Rates and TX Statistics
The table below shows the percentage chance of success for each ballot across the games that have been balloted so far this season:
Conclusions:
For transparency and fairness, the Newcastle United owners owe the NUFC fans at the very least to do the same as Arsenal.
If they refuse to do so, then the natural assumption of most Newcastle United fans will be because they have something to hide, something they don’t want supporters, especially those paying for NUFC memberships, to see.

 
