In the warm aftermath of Saturday’s win over Fulham, I enjoyed a few drinks on Saturday evening and caught up with some old acquaintances (whose names have been changed to protect the innocent), including a number of others who also have season tickets for Newcastle United.
The discussion quickly moved from Bruno’s last gasp to the ticket sales at St James’ Park.
Me and the boy are in the ‘Family Enclosure’ on Level 7. He turns twenty next month and when he came of age I braced myself for the club to tell us that we were no longer welcome in that part of the ground. I expected this because it had already happened to a buddy of mine, but when it did, the boy sitting behind us was exactly the same age and he and his father were not confused.
That was the start of the 2023/24 season and there was no rhyme or reason why my mate and his son had been given more expensive seats in what I consider a worse part of the ground, while the two in the row behind me on Level 7 had been allowed to keep their seats.
When the 2024/25 season arrived, with my son being 18 at the time and later 19, I felt quite apprehensive. However, we were off the hook, so to speak, there was no correspondence from the club offering us an alternative seat, with the renewal process continuing as it had for the past decade and more.
I have to admit that my fear wasn’t just about the possibility of being asked to move. The real issue was whether an alternative would be offered at all, in the sense of season tickets for Newcastle United.
Fast forward to Saturday night and one of my old acquaintances, let’s call him “Glen,” told me that he and his son, now 18 and turning 19 in December, had both moved out of the Family Enclosure at the beginning of this season. They now sit in Leazes End, paying a total of £1,127 for the privilege, as opposed to the £966 they would have paid if they had kept the seats they have occupied in the Family Enclosure for the past twelve years. When Glen’s son turns 22, the price will rise to £1,526 for the two Newcastle United season tickets at current prices.
While Glen made representations, first explaining that they did not want to move and then highlighting the inconsistencies in treatment, the counter officials were less than helpful and shrugged their shoulders with the kind of answer you get when the computer says no.
Glen loves the view from his new seat, but is often obstructed by the tourists with their mobile phones who are constantly on their feet trying to capture images that Sky often replicates within minutes of the final whistle. “This is the future, the club doesn’t care and I can’t see it not happening to you,” Glen said.
Then I met ‘Ken’ and ‘Martin’, who told me about their experiences.
Their Newcastle United season tickets are located in the Milburn Paddock, Level 1, so very close to the pitch. The club contacted them at the start of the season and informed them that they would be moved from their normal seat to the Platinum Club for the UEFA Champions League matches at no extra cost. Sounds too good to be true. Well, if you consider the Platinum Club as an upgrade from where they usually sit, although maybe not everyone would.
For the match in Barcelona, the two sat three rows and at least six seats apart. Despite their protests to the club, the box office was convinced that they had to move and that they had no choice. When they asked the reason for this, they were told that their seats were needed for business customers. I’m not kidding.
It’s getting worse.
Martin told me that he was sitting next to someone who openly admitted that he was there solely to watch FC Barcelona, and lamented the fact that Lamine Yamal was not in the park. Ken said that while the guy next to him was “good,” he left well before Gordon’s goal “to beat the traffic.”
For Benfica, Martin said he couldn’t stomach the same palaver, so he agreed to transfer his ticket to Ken’s daughter. To his surprise it cost them £15 and again their seats were not together, Ken’s daughter several seats away from him, also in a different row.
The result is that neither of them will bother to attend Bilbao or PSV matches. Martin said if we get to the knockout stages he might go, but for now the Champions League doesn’t appeal.
Why is this leave important?
Personally, I think this is the thin end of the wedge. We all know how difficult it is for Newcastle United members to get tickets during the voting. We all know the schools in Dundee. Last week there was a photo on Twitter showing a group of Benfica fans in what I would consider the home front, decked out in their red and white regalia. Season ticket holders cannot transfer their ticket without official channels or leave their seat unoccupied more than five times per season without their ticket being cancelled, and if someone cannot attend for any reason they may not resell or transfer their ticket more than ten times. Otherwise, the club will initiate a steward investigation, with who knows what outcome.
I consider myself lucky that I have a season ticket. Despite attending most home games in the 1980s and early 1990s and traveling all over the country supporting NUFC, I never had one until the boy reignited my enthusiasm for football and since 2012 we have only missed it through work, holidays or illness, ranging from sharing a pack of gummies in the ground to drinking copious amounts of pints before and after the match.
Like countless others, it’s a habit, where what happens in the park for ninety minutes is only a small part of the ritual, but I wonder: for how much longer?
#season #tickets #Newcastle #United #long