Selling tickets to away fans!

TUFC4EVER · Post by **TUFC4EVER** » 27 Nov 2013, 05:04

Club At it again!

It seems that Torquay United Football Club were again selling tickets for Bristows Bench and the Family Stand to away fans knowingly, this time to Plymouth Argyle fans. Like last season when they played Bristol Rovers, Argyle fans went into reception and got tickets for home areas whilst telling staff they lived in the Plymouth area and were Plymouth fans.

Why is this going on? Are the club run by brainless oaths???? The number of Argyle fans in home areas numbered around the 50-70 mark. Not as vocal as Rovers fans but a few were ejected by the response team in the ground. People in the bench were not happy at having away fans clap, stand and cheer as Argyle scored. Why do the club persist on saying away fans are not allowed in home areas but continue to sell home tickets to them. Itâ€™s not as if they accidently sold tickets to them, it was intentional. If Argyle wanted more tickets then give them another block next to the away fans or part of the Pop-Side.

Something for Mr.Candy to address and the directors as well for that matter.

stefano · Post by **stefano** » 27 Nov 2013, 10:00

TUFC4EVER wrote:Club At it again!

It seems that Torquay United Football Club were again selling tickets for Bristows Bench and the Family Stand to away fans knowingly, this time to Plymouth Argyle fans. Like last season when they played Bristol Rovers, Argyle fans went into reception and got tickets for home areas whilst telling staff they lived in the Plymouth area and were Plymouth fans.

Why is this going on? Are the club run by brainless oaths???? The number of Argyle fans in home areas numbered around the 50-70 mark. Not as vocal as Rovers fans but a few were ejected by the response team in the ground. People in the bench were not happy at having away fans clap, stand and cheer as Argyle scored. Why do the club persist on saying away fans are not allowed in home areas but continue to sell home tickets to them. Itâ€™s not as if they accidently sold tickets to them, it was intentional. If Argyle wanted more tickets then give them another block next to the away fans or part of the Pop-Side.

Something for Mr.Candy to address and the directors as well for that matter.

I will be in the Lyndhurst Stand on 1 January as I prefer it to the away end. Mind you on your argument I have got a better chance of getting a ticket at Home Park as I live in the Plymouth area!

The biggest missed opportunity last night was turning away a lot of Argyle supporters at £18+ a time when we had about 2000 spaces available. Then we go and plead poverty!

PhilGull · Post by **PhilGull** » 27 Nov 2013, 10:01

So long as they behave themselves I really don't see a problem. (Cheering when they score is bad form)

Post by **Dave** » 27 Nov 2013, 10:03

What makes you sure the club intentionally sold tickets for the home sections to argyle fans ? As we all know there are Torquay fans living in Plymouth and Plymouth fans living in Torquay, a difficult situation for the club to control to be fair.

Edit, just re-read the o/p, the answer to my question is in there. :Oops: However I will ask, how do you know that happened, did the argyle fans tell you this, or our staff.

tufcgiants · Post by **tufcgiants** » 27 Nov 2013, 10:05

Would probably help if our own fans showed up

royalgull · Post by **royalgull** » 27 Nov 2013, 10:22

should have given them the whole stand of Bristow's Bench and maximised our income from a big game.

tufcgiants · Post by **tufcgiants** » 27 Nov 2013, 10:23

royalgull wrote:should have given them the whole stand of Bristow's Bench and maximised our income from a big game.

Wouldn't have been a bad shout, or given them the family stand as there was nobody in it anyway.

Is it just me or did we once give Plymouth the whole pop side? Or was that another club.

Post by **Dave** » 27 Nov 2013, 10:26

disagree there, had the club given them the bench it would have pissed off season ticket holders and regulars who use that stand, had the given them the popside same result, short term gain=potential long term loss. Think the club got it spot on and couldn't have done any more.

royalgull · Post by **royalgull** » 27 Nov 2013, 10:28

forevertufc wrote:disagree there, had the club given them the bench it would have pissed off season ticket holders and regualers who use that stand, had the given them the popside same result, short term gain=potential long term loss. Think the club got it spot on and couldn't have done any more.

this is the obvious problem with my throwaway comment.

difficult balancing act, we had a crowd of 3800 last night, don't think all ticket helps that midweek as well and the fact we're rubbish but Argyle could have sold 2000-2500 tickets easily, at what point to we suck up our pride and say ok we need that extra 1500 people's ticket money?

Post by **Dave** » 27 Nov 2013, 10:41

Agreed, it's a difficult situation to be in, being Tuesday night, poor league form and all ticket didn't help, however any decision has to be made for the long term good of the club, not the short term. Turning over large parts of the home ends to a local rival is bad P.R for a start and how many fans would have turned their backs on the club for doing that, ok in the case of Plymouth not many.

But now think if that had happened and been a success, imagine the same scenario but this time Exeter are coming to town and we've say have just agreed to give the popside up for City fans, that one single act could potentially destroy what fan base we have left.

Plymouth Gull · Post by **Plymouth Gull** » 27 Nov 2013, 11:21

royalgull wrote: this is the obvious problem with my throwaway comment.

difficult balancing act, we had a crowd of 3800 last night, don't think all ticket helps that midweek as well and the fact we're rubbish but Argyle could have sold 2000-2500 tickets easily, at what point to we suck up our pride and say ok we need that extra 1500 people's ticket money?

You say this, but they did only manage to sell the 1500 the day before the game, so I'd be surprised if 500+ fans didn't get tickets - it isn't like they had ample opportunity to get some.

I do agree though it is difficult to get the balance - if we had given Pompey and Argyle more tickets we could be looking at an extra £15-20k.

gullno4 · Post by **gullno4** » 27 Nov 2013, 11:26

more money for the club! don't see an issue!

wodger of awabia · Post by **wodger of awabia** » 27 Nov 2013, 11:41

forevertufc wrote:Agreed, it's a difficult situation to be in, being Tuesday night, poor league form and all ticket didn't help, however any decision has to be made for the long term good of the club, not the short term. Turning over large parts of the home ends to a local rival is bad P.R for a start and how many fans would have turned their backs on the club for doing that, ok in the case of Plymouth not many.

But now think if that had happened and been a success, imagine the same scenario but this time Exeter are coming to town and we've say have just agreed to give the popside up for City fans, that one single act could potentially destroy what fan base we have left.

Yes, & the family stand was half empty which was only to be expected, as families have children who have school the following morning. I expect that also some of the elderly supporters will not come to a match on a cold November night. If it was the Police who insisted that it had to be a Tuesday night, all ticket fixture,( thereby costing TUFC thousands of pounds ) then why not have the game during half term. In any case it's about time that some of the smaller ( almost trouble free ) clubs took on the Police & insisted that popular fixtures were played on Saturday when most supporters are free to attend. After all, if you were organizing a pop concert then you would not expect the Police to tell you that it had to be on a Tuesday night in November!

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 27 Nov 2013, 12:03

wodger of awabia wrote: Yes, & the family stand was half empty which was only to be expected, as families have children who have school the following morning. I expect that also some of the elderly supporters will not come to a match on a cold November night. If it was the Police who insisted that it had to be a Tuesday night, all ticket fixture,( thereby costing TUFC thousands of pounds ) then why not have the game during half term. In any case it's about time that some of the smaller ( almost trouble free ) clubs took on the Police & insisted that popular fixtures were played on Saturday when most supporters are free to attend. After all, if you were organizing a pop concert then you would not expect the Police to tell you that it had to be on a Tuesday night in November!

Now come on, Wodger - your suggestions are sensible and logical. You don't expect the Fixture List ever to be logical, do you ?? I think it's ridiculous playing a local derby on a Tuesday night - it should have been scheduled for a Saturday or Bank Holiday.

With reference to postings about allowing Argyle fans more tickets, Andy Candy explained the difficulties in the logistics of doing this (policing, upsetting season ticket holders etc) at the time of the Portsmouth game. My personal gripe was that I overlooked the fact that you couldn't buy tickets on the day of the match and so had to buy tickets on-line. On top of the extra admission charge, there was a £2 'administration fee' for using my DEBIT card. I know there's usually a charge for using Credit Cards but this is the first time I've been charged for using a debit card. I will get my tickets earlier in future - lesson learned !!

hector · Post by **hector** » 27 Nov 2013, 12:06

wodger of awabia wrote: Yes, & the family stand was half empty which was only to be expected, as families have children who have school the following morning. I expect that also some of the elderly supporters will not come to a match on a cold November night. If it was the Police who insisted that it had to be a Tuesday night, all ticket fixture,( thereby costing TUFC thousands of pounds ) then why not have the game during half term. In any case it's about time that some of the smaller ( almost trouble free ) clubs took on the Police & insisted that popular fixtures were played on Saturday when most supporters are free to attend. After all, if you were organizing a pop concert then you would not expect the Police to tell you that it had to be on a Tuesday night in November!

There was a full league programme last night, so unlikely the game could have been switched to half-term. It seems that most games last night were, if not derbies, localish affairs e.g. Cheltenham v Bristol Rovers.

It seems short-sighted to me though, that in an era when money is tight and clubs are struggling, local games are not played when you could much more easily maximise revenue on a saturday. Maybe another 1000 would have come had it been played at the weekend, instead of us playing away at Scunthorpe which probably will not be much difference in the crowd, had it been played last night or on saturday.

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