An Empty Sell Out
Liverpool have sold all of their tickets for tomorrow night's Champions League game in Porto but there is absolutely no chance of the away end being full.
All 2,500 tickets were snapped up but if 2,500 Liverpool fans make the trip to Portugal it'll be the biggest shock of the season.
In fact, I'd expect no more than 1,000 to make it over with most choosing to sit at home and watch the game on TV with their £36 ticket sat on the sideboard gathering dust.
The ones who have bought tickets but don't go are, to use a euphemism, "playing the system".
They pay the price of the ticket and get another credit to their name; a credit which will then go towards entitling them to a ticket for more glamorous games should Liverpool progress in the competition.
And it is here that the "loyalty" system breaks down.
People are being rewarded for not going to the game, for staying at home when Liverpool are playing when they have indicated to the club that they will be going.
The mess is of the club's creation, of course. For some reason, they acted in good faith and came up with a system which demanded honour and honesty if it was ever going to be fair and equitable.
They should have known better.
The warning signs have been there for some time. Last season when we played Galatasaray in Istanbul, the club sold over 3,000 tickets for what was a meaningless game with Liverpool already having qualified for the knockout stages.
The more naive amongst us thought this might have had something to do with the Istanbul effect as supporters made an emotional return to the scene of the Reds greatest ever triumph.
But those of a more cynical mindset knew the score - the credit hunters had come out to play, greedily gobbling up the £6 tickets that could serve as a passport to more glamorous locations in the rounds to come.
And when those of us who travelled got to the ground on a freezing cold December night we found that the cynics were right and the romantics were wrong; there were no more than 600 Reds in our end.
Basically, a situation has been created where you get as much reward for buying a £6 ticket and staying at home as you do for paying £500 (plus the rest) to travel over a thousand miles to support your team.
And it's a situation that has to change.
As a season ticket holder I qualified for a ticket for Porto but I didn't buy one because I'm not going. Plenty of other lads have taken the same principled stand.
The problem is, plenty of other lads have decided to work the system again and they have created a situation in which our end will be half empty tomorrow night despite the fact our tickets have offically sold out.
They have paid £36 to not support their team.
And they have paid £36 to take themselves another rung up the loyalty ladder.
It is up to the club to do something about this problem because at the moment we do not have a loyalty system, we have a cheats' charter.
Maybe the time has come to look at doing what other clubs and national teams do - only giving tickets out to fans (and awarding them loyalty) when they get to the town or city where the game is taking place.
In their rare incursions into Europe, this is what Everton do. They select a prominent hotel in the city centre and ask fans to be there to collect their tickets. No show = no loyalty.
I know this system is far from perfect and it would make life more difficult for those who do travel but if the current situation is allowed to continue then the sight of half empty Liverpool ends in Europe will be a sight we will have to get more and more used to.
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Tony Barrett
Spot on as usual Tony.
Not only is it cheating the system, its damaging our reputation across europe as opposition fans will see it as our supporters not caring until we reach the later rounds.
No Show, No Loyalty. Is what it should be, because thats exactly what it is, unloyal.
At one time didnt you have to show your travel confirmation? I suppose it isn't as practical now with so many Istanbul hangers-on following us from afar but surely they could still fax/e-mail the club their travel details.
I'll put my hand up... I bought a ticket for loyalty reasons.
There is an imperfect system, but its the one we've got to deal with.
It so happens that I couldn't do this away trip but will certainly do others this season, and hopefully some quite un-glamourous ones.
Its not about the glamour at all... its just that this one is bad timing for me. However, I know that when the tickets come round for the games I can attend, I'll need to have the credits, or stand no chance.
Interesting that the club - as far as I'm aware - haven't commented on the loyalty system yet this season. I wouldn't be surprised if they announce some post-Athens changes later in the season...
It may be a good idea for RTK to raise this issue with the club??? as I know they are in dialogue with club.
That way the club will obviously become aware to the issue and maybe offer a different solution to the problem in the future.
simple answer to this - do what the other teams do and only hand out the tickets at the overseas location. also make the buyers have photo id eg passport to collect.
wrote to the club last year when i applied for barca and eindhoven tickets,and the final but didnt even get a reply,it is the same with league games ,to be honest i rarely go away in europe but a lot of friends still go but have only applied when going but after last years fiascos havent got the same enthusiasm any more
good on you for bringing this up but not sure what the answer is. i quite often get tickets for my brother who does not qualify for games and would have done the same for this one had he wanted to go to porto but would never buy 1 and not make sure someone is using the ticket.
perhaps liverpool could only give out tickets on the club organised flights/packages on away trips?
It still would not be that much of a problem if Uefa weren't such a joke though with the final allocations.
I done just what you're saying with Galatasaray away last season. It gave me a 7th credit and enabled me to qualify for a ticket for the final in Athens. My mates who didn't do this had to pay £300+ for their tickets.
Besiktas away went down to fan card holders without previous away credits.
where were all the credit hunter season tickets holders for this one.