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Fulham do a Bolton
Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 6:35 pm
by jimbo
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 663270.stm
Fulham have asked Uefa for more tickets for the Europa League final in Hamburg, after selling out their entire 12,650 allocation in under four hours.
Fulham claim the scarcity of tickets for the game against Atletico Madrid is due to "unprecedented demand".
But fan groups have blamed a decision to let season ticket holders buy up to four tickets for the 12 May final.
"We are lobbying for more tickets, fans should register with us," said Fulham's communications director Sarah Brookes.
Uefa, European football's governing body, was unable to comment on Fulham's appeal for more tickets on Wednesday.
The Craven Cottage club has 10,000 season ticket holders but the decision to allow them to buy up to four tickets each could mean that some regular supporters miss out.
606: DEBATE
Should Fulham get more tickets for the Europa League final?
Tickets went on sale at 0700 BST on Friday, less than 12 hours after Fulham booked their place in their first ever European final with a 2-1 win over Hamburg.
And Fulham supporters' club spokesman John Aitken, 50, described the club's ticketing policy as "a joke."
"It is always a constant battle, we have been in the Premier League for 10 years and got to a European final, we are established, but the club are acting like we are still in the old third division," said Aitken.
"They took about £1 million in a morning, surely the computer system should have told them that they needed to hold some back for other season ticket holders?"
Mr Aitken, who predicts Fulham could have up to 20,000 supporters in Germany, said he missed out on tickets, despite being a season ticket holder and going to the club's ground on Friday morning.
"I went down to the office to collect tickets for the West Ham game, but they said I had to apply online for the Europa tickets By the time I got home and logged on they had already sold out," he said.
Fulham say they had no choice but to sell as many tickets as possible, pointing to the fact that they have not sold out a single away ticket allocation during their historic 18-game European odyssey.
"We had a limited window to sell off our tickets and if we didn't manage to sell them all then the club would have taken a million-pound financial hit," continued Brookes.
"We apologise, of course we apologise if anyone has missed out, but this really is an unprecedented level of demand - we have never sold out an away ticket allocation so quickly.
Fulham's European adventure
Fulham's Europa League journey has taken them all over Europe
"We have asked fans to register with us if they don't have tickets and we are lobbying Uefa for more tickets."
Uefa confirmed both sides have been allocated 12,650 tickets for the final, with a further 14,000 available to the general public.
Many of the general public tickets are likely to have been bought by fans of Hamburg, who would have been hoping to see their team triumph on home soil, before they lost to Fulham in the semi-finals.
4,600 tickets go to the local organising committee, while the 6,100 tickets available to the Uefa associations and commercial partners make up the expected 49,000 capacity of the Hamburg Arena.
"We are looking at ways to help genuine supporters and season ticket holders who may have missed out and we will do all can to help and sort out any anomalies," said Brookes.
"But I am confident that the vast majority of fans who have followed us through thick and thin over the years will be with us in Hamburg."
I know, let's let season ticket holders buy 4 tickets each therefore shafting a large number of our regular fanbase. Sounds familiar.
Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 6:58 pm
by screech powers
Should have had a voucher system for those that have been to their previous Euro aways, then season ticket holders . I do sympathise with the club though as now there in the final , there all coming out the woodwork . Shocking allocation though.
Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 7:01 pm
by jimbo
It's the usual thing for finals though isn't it? Once all the tickets have been dished out to corporate folk there's hardly any left for the fans. Seems a bit silly to me having finals in grounds that only hold 40k.
Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 7:03 pm
by thebish
yeah - glad we weren't in it really - would have been a disaster getting to the final - bullet dodged there I think!
Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 4:50 pm
by rockthereebok
Yeah, the ticket allocation isn't great. But 4 x 10,000 = the vast majority of the stadium. Got to feel sorry for those who've missed out... Silly, silly decision.
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 12:21 pm
by hisroyalgingerness
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8669657.stm
Hmmm...fancies kicking on does he? If a tidy £100m of that were to be put into Fulham I reckon we'd soon have two very distinct halves of the table.
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 8:03 pm
by Bruce Rioja
Oh I'm sure he'll remember only too well how quick a football club can get through that little lot. How much did Tigana get through?
Personally I reckon he's had enough and he's off, and who can blame him if he is?
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 8:05 pm
by Tombwfc
Not likely I don't think, he's trying to sell up and get his money back as it is.
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 9:46 pm
by hisroyalgingerness
I reckon at the very least he'll write the debt off for em, let some sheik come in and take em forward maybe? Agree with you Bruce he'll pretty much enjoy his retirement, but I would still be surprised if none of that money found it's way into the coffers of Fulham FC
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 10:02 pm
by boltonboris
hisroyalgingerness wrote:I reckon at the very least he'll write the debt off for em, let some sheik come in and take em forward maybe? Agree with you Bruce he'll pretty much enjoy his retirement, but I would still be surprised if none of that money found it's way into the coffers of Fulham FC
As would I, although I was reading that they were aprroximately £150m in debt.. If he writes a sizeable chunk of that off, it'd be as good as a cash injection
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 10:22 pm
by Bruce Rioja
boltonboris wrote:hisroyalgingerness wrote:I reckon at the very least he'll write the debt off for em, let some sheik come in and take em forward maybe? Agree with you Bruce he'll pretty much enjoy his retirement, but I would still be surprised if none of that money found it's way into the coffers of Fulham FC
As would I, although I was reading that they were aprroximately £150m in debt.. If he writes a sizeable chunk of that off, it'd be as good as a cash injection
Cards on table? He couldn't give a flying feck about Fulham FC. All he's ever been interested in is the absolute fortune that the land that Cravern Cottage sits on is worth if he can sell it off for property development. I do recall going to what was meant to be the last ever night match at CC before they moved to Loftus Road the last time that he was trying to flog it. The stands behind either goal are as temporary as that thing that we stuck in front of Normid that I half expected a dualling contest to break out in front of at half-time.
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 10:30 pm
by boltonboris
Bruce Rioja wrote:boltonboris wrote:hisroyalgingerness wrote:I reckon at the very least he'll write the debt off for em, let some sheik come in and take em forward maybe? Agree with you Bruce he'll pretty much enjoy his retirement, but I would still be surprised if none of that money found it's way into the coffers of Fulham FC
As would I, although I was reading that they were aprroximately £150m in debt.. If he writes a sizeable chunk of that off, it'd be as good as a cash injection
Cards on table? He couldn't give a flying feck about Fulham FC. All he's ever been interested in is the absolute fortune that the land that Cravern Cottage sits on is worth if he can sell it off for property development. I do recall going to what was meant to be the last ever night match at CC before they moved to Loftus Road the last time that he was trying to flog it. The stands behind either goal are as temporary as that thing that we stuck in front of Normid that I half expected a dualling contest to break out in front of at half-time.
Isn't it protected in a similar way to Portsmouth.. I don't mean that it's a listed building, I mean that wahetever happens, the deeds to that land stipulates that it MUST be used for nothing other than Football?
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 10:42 pm
by Bruce Rioja
boltonboris wrote:Isn't it protected in a similar way to Portsmouth.. I don't mean that it's a listed building, I mean that wahetever happens, the deeds to that land stipulates that it MUST be used for nothing other than Football?
I think (therefore I don't actually know) that the listed part is this piece of magnificence designed by Archibald Leitch - and if it's not then it should be!
Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 4:07 pm
by blurred
Generally awful decisions all round from Fulham, up to and including the laughable 'Can we please have more tickets, UEFA'?
Putting them on sale at 7am the day after they'd won? Stupid.
Not putting any form of loyalty in place? Stupid
Allowing people to buy more than one ticket? Stupid
Whingeing about it to all and sundry afterwards? Stupid
Yes, we know you don't take many to Wigan or Burnley or just about any other domestic away, and only just over 1,000 went to the semi-final, but you've got to expect people to make a huge effort for a European final. Would the club turn down an allocation for Wembley because it was above their average attendance? No. Ridiculous joke of a decision all round. Why the rush to sell them all on Friday morning? You wouldn't get the physical tickets from UEFA until at least the Monday to send out, so why not just start selling them from then? Plenty of fans missing out on this one, although there's hundreds being shifted on through the forums in the last week, so hopefully the majority of those who 'deserve' to go will get themselves sorted.
Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 11:05 pm
by Tombwfc
There you have it, Diego Forlan hates England.
In other news, while the media go's crazy over poor little Fulham falling short against European giants, lets all remember.....
Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 12:36 am
by Prufrock
Gutted for 'em Was an OG from Hangeland too.
Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 6:35 am
by H. Pedersen
Heartbreaking end to a great adventure.
Somebody needs to explain to me how the people of the Mediterranean, descendants of the mighty Roman Empire, ended up being such a whining little bunch of pussies.
Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 11:26 pm
by finlayson
Just imagine the chaos if it had been Bolton vs Rangers in the UEFA Cup final at Eastlands!
And they thought there was trouble with Rangera & Zenit!!!
What a disaster that would have been!
Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 10:58 am
by perfan
finlayson wrote:Just imagine the chaos if it had been Bolton vs Rangers in the UEFA Cup final at Eastlands!
And they thought there was trouble with Rangera & Zenit!!!
What a disaster that would have been!
Lisbon drew Rangers after they beat us so it wouldn't have happened.
Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 3:06 pm
by 2399
A Man My Grandmother knows went (From Australia)