I set an alarm early this morning, to remind me that tickets for the play-off final were going on general sale online at 5-00pm.
So imagine my disappointment when I read in the Brum Mail that we’ve sold out.
And frankly, it serves me right.
I believe the lowest level of requirement to get a ticket was that you’d attended at least three games during this season.
And that you were only entitled to one ticket, even if you were a season ticket holder.
Given that I haven’t attended a single game, well…. I just don’t deserve a ticket, do I?
For what it’s worth, I think Villa have played this ticket thing exactly right.
If you had a ST, you were guaranteed a ticket.
Why should you get two? If your mate or partner was an equally big fan, they’d have had a ST too and would be entitled to their own ticket.
So that was 20,000 plus tickets wiped out at a stroke.
Which only left 18,000 or so for those who had attended a few games.
All pretty fair in my opinion.
But it wasn’t enough, was it?
I suspect with a bit of extra hype, we could have sold well over 50,000.
Which makes Wembley’s 82,000 capacity seem ridiculously small.
It’s always been a massive bugbear of mine, that the new so-called “home of football” doesn’t have at least a 100,000 capacity.
There are clubs that have bigger capacities, let alone national stadiums, after all!
But I digress.
This is all contrary to Fulham’s stance, where apparently their season ticket holders were allowed up to five (!) tickets.
Again this makes sense, as a quick glance shows that they only get around 19,000 fans on average and even at two per ST, they might struggle to sell their allocation.
Yet they have sold out.
Which all makes me wonder where the extra tickets will go/have gone.
There are either going to be a lot of “pretend” Fulham fans at the game or Villa might end up with a lot more supporters than we think, at the ground.
Which all brings me round to my situation, where I’m in the process of trying to get a couple of corporate tickets via a neutral source.
Let me explain, before you slate me.
My stance has been that AVFC are playing this correctly and if they’ve sold out, it’s my tough luck.
People who have attended deserve a ticket more than me.
I’ve also said that as much as I want one, I’m not going to go out of my way to get one.
I don’t think I’m going to get a ticket but even if I do, I’ll refuse to pay any exhorbitant price for it.
Don’t get me wrong, I could afford it.
But I refuse to, through principle.
It’s a disgrace that money affords you some kind of entitlement when it comes to footy.
So while I’m half-heartedly looking for a ticket if things just go right, so I’m not actually that bothered if I get one either way.
Let me do the sums here;
I smoke.
I like a drink while watching the game.
I like a comfortable seat, where I can go for a leak and get back in a minute.
I don’t want the hassle of travelling down to a shithole stupidly chosen area of London that will host the game.
And travelling down there would involve the whole weekend off, when I have work to do.
As opposed to the camerarderie of the build up and the game itself.
And the fact that I can say “I was there”.
My conclusion is that I’m getting too old for the dancing and jumping up and down stuff, which is what I enjoyed the most about actually attending the games.
All the hassle of getting there and back isn’t worth the effort for 90 minutes.
And that seat, sat in a nice comfortable area on the halfway line is in no way better than my seat at home.
Then add on that I’m not looking at a load of ants, if I watch it on the telly.
Do I need to mention the replays, after I missed it the first time?
So while I’m not madly bothered either way, God, I really want to go.
Yes, I’m a glory-hunter, I’m afraid, if it comes down to attendance.
But hey, I run a Villa site, which hopefully gives me a bit of credit.
Er, yes I’m a glory hunter.
Fair play to those who have tickets and hopefully it’ll be a great day 🙂
Wasn’t aware you hadn’t attended a game this season. However had you of mentioned it before I had a spare ref number that could of got you a ticket.
Having said that I totally get what you’re saying about the way the club has distributed the tickets and I have to agree with you. Which is my reason for not taking up the spare ticket that I could of had and no doubt of sold for a decent profit.
There’s a number of people on social media sites that claim to of brought tickets off Fulham fans for a highly inflated price.
If the is the case lets hope it’s what happens on the pitch that makes the news and not what happened in the stands.
rowett must know derby are cost cutting next season, stoke offer him a better chance at promotion, they should be a far better bet for instant return to premiership. derby need a very good transfer window just to stand still
been reading fulhams fans thinking of the final. just to see if they are nervous or fearing villa. they are really confident, they are respectful, but man for man they know they are better, villa weakness is lack of speed at the back.
oh and they fear only grealish , they hope mcdonald will be his shadow and mark him out of the game. rest of villa midfield rely on grealish and forwards so stop grealish is key.
Your not on your own Badger, I’ve had that same disappointment on getting a ticket, we gave up 4 seats last season over the problem Villa was in, now it’s bitten us in the back side not having them. I was promised a ticket from other fans but it seems that its fell through, I like you don’t really deserve one by not attending games and its my own fault. I do buy from Villa from the shop, but that means nothing, still i might be lucky but I’m not banking on it.
My daughter might possibly have got tickets through her business that have a corporate box at VP (which, like you Badger, I prefer attending games in the box now rather than ‘standing’ in the Holte End with a seat rammed up by behind!). Anyway, as the whole family are Villa nuts, we’ve decided to have a barbecue with all the family attending and watch it on our large telly. OK not quite the same atmosphere but great seats and a memorable (we hope) family occasion – oh yes and no long distance travelling involved.
Im going to Wembley and cannot wait – Fulham fans are very confident all 5000 of them 🙂 but I remember the Wolves fans being confident too……
They say they are only concerned about Grealish, ha ha obviously not seen the Villa stats of who scores and assists, their defence is wobbly at best and we have players all over the pitch who can hurt them, let them put 3 on Grealish and leave Albert and Snograss to run them ragged.
We Can and will do this !!!
Good luck to you Saddened, You now should change your angle to Gladdened , I’m still on tender hooks if I’m going, I’ve sat and thought of the many times I’ve seen the Villa at Wembley, and also in Europe, this if I’m not going will be a big disappointment to me. But I’ve been their its your time now. I’ll just get drunk.
Bill, I change it to gladdened if we win on Saturday 🙂
I’m off to Wembley in disguise. I’ve been dieting like mad since the first Boro game so I’m stick thin, stayed out of the sun to keep me pale, and painted my big pointy nose blue on one side, red on the other.
The only thing that will give me away from pretending to be a flagpole, will be the big stiffy I get when we score!
Keep this under your hats lads!!!!!
Really made me laugh. Good luck to you Bum Bum – keep the flag flying for all of us.
P.s. I’ve temporarily removed my septum so my conk flaps about in the wind. Thought I’d push the boat out for a smidge more authenticity.
P.s. I’ve also removed my septum so my conk flaps about in the wind. Thought I’d push the boat out for a smidge more authenticity. Wish me luck!
Bum bum, how did you managed to diet, ?I just cannot stop eating junk food, biscuit curries, bacon and egg sandwich, I’ve got to loose a stone at least. got till October or its a new set of clothes.
Easy. Went out for a meal the other day and the teenage waiter had a face full of ripe yellow heads. As he was handing out the plates, he wiped his chin with the back of his hand and burst several. Have been living on distilled water until I can face eating food again. Not a diet I’d recommend!!
Is it just me, or is there a weird delay in posting on this site???? Mr Badger???
Can I ask a question bum bum? My son has just got his ticket for final, and there is a tear off corner that says “concession to be given up”. His has already been removed but otherwise intact (it came direct from Villa ticket office). Is yours the same? He is a bit worried
I don’t actually have a ticket DS. If my disguise fails, I’ll be watching on TV like Badger and Bill (are they watching with Rupert The Bear???!!!). On a serious note, I’d call Wembley on 0800 169 2007 or 0800 169 7711. I do hate organisations that refuse to publish a telephone number on their website! Good luck DS.
DS i have two tickets one for me and one for my Son, one has a corner ripped of so I think it just so they know who has paid full price or not !!
Thanks to you both, bum bum and saddened. Panic over. Yes it’s to do with whether you pay full price or not.
Had some problems with posts not appearing until later but in Badger we trust.
Last post has ‘disappeared’ somewhere LOL
Same here Bum bum, some dont to me till later on, err that would put me off food. all them yellow heads, urr.
I’m not seeing any specific problems on the site.
But the internet generally tonight is slow as toast on my Virgin 300Mb connection.
Interesting,
There are problems chap. Posts are taking over half an hour to show up…I’ll let u know if this one goes up immediately.
No. Still delays in posts appearing. Plus don’t pay for 300Mbs!!!! Even doing this site and watching hi res TV, you don’t need it. I’ve got offices of 60+ staff on 50Mbs running perfectly. Virgin ripped my folks off with that bullshit!
With you Bum Bum – have about 56MBs and it runs Sky Q on two high res tv’s and all the other tablets etc in the house simultaneously – no probs
Well I’m reading your post Bum bum and Badger and mine before your bum bum not their yet.
testing, testing.
testing again
Hey ho,hey ho 🙂
7.41am test
Have we done it?11.40.am
Nearly showtime! I’ve ran through both outcomes in my head a thousand times this week. Whilst I really want us to win I honestly could live with it if we have to stay in the championship for next season. What I’m trying to say is that the disappointment of loosing out on promotion is likely to be not as painful to bear as when we got relegated. We have improved over the last two seasons and if we can continue in that vein no matter what league we are in then personally I can accept that. But fuck it I really really really want us to win tomorrow. COYL.
My feelings are exactly the same as tekkers48. I really want us to win tomorrow, and my bank holiday will be ruined if we don’t. If we do lose though I will get over it eventually and I won’t be too disappointed with another season in the championship. Bruce will make us even stronger next season and I’m fairly confident we can get automatic promotion next season. Also that would be more enjoyable than chasing the 40 points safety which we will need along with 12 other teams. Having said that I understand the financial importance £160 million according to radio this morning if we win tomorrow. I will be able to shit through a straw come kick off tomorrow.
test.
Comments still seem delayed by a minute or so, but I don’t have a clue what’s causing it.
I’ll write a new post anyway.
Is it these new EU privacy laws Badger – problem is that you’ve not bored us all by sending us your new privacy policy LOL
Lol.
And I won’t be either.
Wordpress is suggesting that I should have some policy in place, but all anyone needs to know is that I can track your IP address and the E-mail that you post with. I only bother with that if I want to ban someone.
And that’s it.
I’ve glanced at the hosting companies’ policy and it’s just the usual.
Either way, you won’t get any rubbish from either of us, unless you asked to be updated when I do a post.
Talking of which, my thoughts on the game are up now.