It seems that every vote for Newcastle United home tickets comes with the inevitable stream of disappointed Newcastle United members complaining about their latest failed attempt to get home game tickets.
Like so many others, I feel increasingly frustrated and let down by a system that seems to promise so much, yet delivers so little.
So that led me to investigate the club a bit to see if there was actually an ounce of transparency in the process: and the results didn’t compare well with Barrack Road.
I have contacted NUFC Supporter Services to request details of the number of memberships compared to tickets available through the ballot for home matches.
I quickly received a response explaining how much the club appreciates the passion and dedication of the supporters and how frustrated we may be feeling.
Then came the blow: ticket and membership information is “commercially sensitive and not something we can provide.”
Anyone who has asked for similar information has undoubtedly received the same prepared response.
I found it condescending – obviously we don’t want commercially sensitive information shared publicly. So I wondered if perhaps my understanding of ‘commercially sensitive’ was incorrect?
A quick Google assured me that I know what the phrase means and I still don’t understand why providing paying supporters with information about their likelihood of success in a vote is commercially sensitive.
What does it mean?
Commercially sensitive information is anything that could give a company an advantage over its competitors, could relate to third party confidentiality, could cause reputational or regulatory damage, or could harm financial or strategic interests.
I have no doubt that the club’s membership program is likely to be a very commercially profitable arrangement – thousands of people are willing to pay £37 per season, or £47 if you want Mags Plus, with very little cost to the club – 25 per cent off a club tour and three retail discounts per year.
A real money spinner! With this in mind, I can see that the last point around affecting financial interests could be a consideration.
But isn’t this the same Newcastle United that wants its supporters to be the voice of the club? Wouldn’t they like to talk to their supporters and listen to their thoughts and ideas? Perhaps more importantly, isn’t this a club that “values” their supporters?
What about consumer rights for all those supporters who parted with their hard-earned money? Fairness and transparency are at the heart of consumer rights, so where is the fairness and transparency here?
You might be wondering if all Premier League clubs keep this information secret. Perhaps I am naive in thinking that we are entitled to some basic openness.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take me long to discover that other Premier League clubs actually treat their supporters much better than Newcastle United treats us. They do not keep this information secret and in fact value their fans enough to share this “commercially sensitive” information.
Arsenal
Arsenal produce a ‘Season Ticketing Review’ at the end of each season, which is easily accessible online. They include ballot breakdowns, ticket exchanges, and ticket transfers under their membership/voting system.
They also include data on the number of members who signed up in total and how many were successful through the ballot or ticket exchange, as well as more specific data on the average number of successful ballots per member.
Maybe, I thought, Arsenal aren’t as commercially savvy as Newcastle? What fools to share such data publicly!
Liverpool
But no, Liverpool – arguably one of the most commercially profitable and commercially successful clubs in the world – share similar statistics with their supporters.
Last season (24/25) they said that the chance of success in the elections for their members was five percent. Not much, you might think – but at least they’re open about it, allowing supporters as consumers to make an informed choice before paying their membership fees. They also shared other important data about ballots and membership.
What does Newcastle United have to hide?
The Newcastle United Supporters Trust conducted its own research and the responses collected revealed a success rate of 16.8 percent. Interestingly, the club disputed this figure but refused to share their data. I also dispute this figure.
Together with my five family members, we had a 15% success rate last season.
However, things have gotten worse: this season we have participated in every vote so far and have a 0 percent pass rate. That’s 60 ballots so far and we’ve been successful zero times! (The result of the vote for Man City is still pending at the time of writing)
I imagine many more fans have joined Newcastle United this summer, but the number of tickets available has not increased. Of course, I can only speculate as the club won’t provide any details. My speculative guess is that the actual number is much closer to the five percent that Liverpool have made public to their fans.
So come on Newcastle United, show some respect and transparency to the supporters you value so much.
We do not ask for trade secrets or commercially sensitive information that will be harmful to our beloved club.
We ask for data so we can make informed decisions about how we spend our money. Data that other commercially successful Premier League clubs would like to share. Why the secrecy? What have you got to hide?
Every fan understands that demand significantly exceeds supply and most supporters understand that a certain number of tickets must be made available to business and hospitality customers. It is a business after all.
But show that you really appreciate the fans and show us the respect we deserve by sharing the high-quality data with us.
If the data shows that the chance of success is only two percent, I may still think that £37 per season is worth it for the chance of one or two tickets per season, but that is my decision and every supporter should be given the opportunity to make that informed choice for themselves.
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