Of Liverpool’s allocation of 17,095 tickets for the final in Athens, only around 11,000 tickets went to fans.
Around 6,000 tickets were eaten up by corporate season ticket holders, players, former players and the largest chunk by ex-shareholders of the club. Rick Parry revealed the figures today – and our feeling, as is the feeling amongst the vast majority of our members on the forums is that this is nothing short of a disgrace.
Of the remaining 11,000 – around 3,300 tickets were guaranteed for the reds who had attended at least 7 Champions League ties (which would include at least one away game) and the remaining 7,700 went in to the ‘magical’ ballot. The ballot were, seemingly, if you knew people in the ticket office you (allegedly) stood a very good chance of getting a ticket.
So what do you think. Is it right that the likes of ex-shareholders – who have arguably already been sufficiently financially compensated and actually have no stake in our club at all – should have tickets ahead of fans who brave all weathers, phone lines and ticket queues?
We would argue that the touting fiasco has been caused explicitly by these ‘wealthier’ fans – many of who never had any intention of travelling to Athens but instead ripped off a fellow Liverpool fan and made a few quid.
Not good enough – New rules from next season please Gillett and Hicks – and as far as we’re concerned the only thing that should qualify you for tickets is your dedication to the club – not the size of your wallet.
That`s why the “steaming”happened at Athens.Its all too easy blaming UEFA(oh its security failures at Athens or the stadium was inapropiate) BUT if you Liverpool fc treated you own fans with more respect and gave your fans all the tickets in the same way as AC Milan would`ve given to their fans,they might of behaved better.
personally i think the european games are different from the premier league in that the fancard and attendance is the chance for fans who may or may not be on the season ticket waiting list to get to matches.
the 6,000 tickets that were given to shareholders, ex-players, etc. seems excessive but probably runs along the same lines as UEFA and the fact about half the tickets were kept by them.
you may find in future that the qualifying game will be better attended or atleast sold out to get a 7th stub. this could leave the club running a ballot for all tickets.
personally 75,000 – 80,000 capacity should be minimum requirement for a stadium for the final.if liverpool and man utd had been in the final how much would tickets have gone for? they could have filled 200,000 stadium.
big game tickets are always going to be sought after and maybe the answer is to have ID on tickets to stop touts and give real fans the chance to see there teams and not how rich you are or who you know
a pathetic number of tickets for our most needed support.
Well im 14 and for my 15th birthday i was supposed to be going to athens but i could not get tickets…..
i think we should have been given much more than the 17,000 tickets we were given and the fact that people close to the club managed to use 6,000 tickets is rediculous! surely there isnt that many people!!!
hopefully the fans that r going to be there, will give the team all the support they need.
I understand it was stated by Rick Parry that the ticket office was not responsible for the ballot, it was an external company that provided the service, so I would find it very hard to believe that they could “fix” it, personally I was drawn out of the ballot, but I certainly couldn’t afford to go so one of my mates who’s a fellow red snapped my hand off, I’d rather see the ticket go to good use.
Chris, the tickets for shareholders were indeed contractually agreed. It doesn’t necessarily make it fair.
I indeed don’t have any ‘proof’ concering the TO but have heard plenty of stories at first hand to suggest that there was a lot of ‘luck’ about.
Finally I know about a dozen people who have managed to get their tickets in this country for less than the ridiculous internet prices but at generally around £200-£350 each. All of them bought them off various ex-shareholders.
Lastly I agree the ticketing issues has caused a few fans to ‘turn on the club’ but you can hardly blame them. I think some fancard holders who ‘attend’ more games than some season ticket holders (struggling EVERY game to get their ticket) have taken a lot of unfair stick off ST holders.
A lot of fancard holders would pay double what a season ticket holder does to get hold of one.
I bet not one ST holder would fancy swapping places with a FanCard holder who attends all the games.
hundreds of people are travelling from bulgaria withouth tickets. thousands from around the world will be there on same status. i don`t care that i don`t have ticket as long as i am there. 20 000 tickets will be there on the streets because they are in the hands of people that are NOT liverpool fans. they want to sell. i hope for some luck to be there inside and watch stee gee lifting the 6th.
you`ll never walk alone – bulgarian reds
I’m gutted not to be going to Athens, got my last exam on the 22nd and my parents wanted to get me flights and a ticket as an early 21st birthday present, but we have to think reasonably and intelligently about it.
11k went to fans, it’s by no means great.
The tickets that went to ex-share holders were contractually agreed in return for them selling their shares, if they hadn’t sold then there’d be no take over and maybe we wouldnt be going to as many finals in the future.
As for the ‘scandal’ of people in the ticket office hooking their mates up, I’m yet to see any proof. ‘MY MATE GOT ME 10 TICKETS!!!!’ posted on the LFC forum does not constitute evidence of wrong doing by the club.
As for this ‘wealthier fans are selling them on to make money’, I think you just made that up cause it sounded sensational. Again, let’s have a bit of proof rather than ‘i think it might happen so it’s the case that it did’.
Overall, the ticket issue has been really disappointing. It’s disappointing that UEFA didnt give us many, it’s disappointing that so much of the allocation has leaked away. But even more disappointing in my view is the way fans have turned on the club and decided management have done wrong, simply because they feel disappointed and a few wa**ers have posted sh*t on the forum to wind them up. There’s NO evidence that anything untoward has gone on. Either find some, or drop it.
Well more importantly now is the game itself,I,m not going i am dead broke. But I have one thig for Mr Benitez. On wednesday I would chioke the mid field not giving their players a milli second on the ball and tire them out, then change the tempo late second half when they are tired. this is my team to start with and yes I would use counter attack because in truth they hate it! riena Defence .finnan. Agge. carra. Arbeloa Sitting infront of defence *Mascherano* garrad alonso sissoko Risse. Lone striker to tire out milans defence and maybe get a penalty “Bellamy”
I’m interested in the comment that the majority of the 6,000 tickets doled out to the ‘special ones’ connected with the club went to ex-shareholders. Why??? And how many of the 6,000 were actually paid for?
How many were the staff allowed? One ticket per person I hope, but that probably wasn’t the case. I agree that priority should be given to those who attend the matches, particularly when it’s pi**ing down in mid-week for a carling cup game.
But one thing will never change – money goes to money and money buys influence.
Never mind – watch in on the box again I suppose!!!