Away membership

A hybrid points system where a season ticket holder who goes to at least half a dozen away games or an exile who goes to 75% of away games are virtually guaranteed to get Harrogate scarce away tickets seems fair. Yes, season ticket money is the lifeblood of the club but so is the away support, which PH often mentions as a selling point of the club and also contibutes to performance which can lead to higher income for the club from promotions or cup runs etc. Shelling out for a season ticket should be respected, but other forms of support should be valued too. Ok, not too many away games haven't gone to general sale this season, but what about if we're up there next season? Tell me there won't be a scramble for Cambridge, Stevenage, Sutton, or even Colchester away if we're needing points for automatic promotion. £300 odd gets you discounted tickets for twenty three home games a season, a bargain if you live locally. The discount should be enough without getting first dibs on EVERYTHING else. A hybrid points system heavily weighted in favour of the season ticket holder and years of loyal away support is fair and anyone who thinks otherwise is just being selfish..

Bin the 1878, which doesn’t really add any great value, and properly look at a scheme for shift workers.  

Bring in an away membership scheme, £50. Allocate points.

Season ticket = 500pts
Away membership = 100pts
Home ticket = 10pts
Away ticket = 5pts

Stagger the ticket sales based on points, eg:

Anyone on 600+ pts
Anyone on 500+ pts
Anyone on 100pts
Anyone on 50pts
General release

That way people can accumulate points in any way they like, weighted towards giving money to the club, it rewards those with the biggest outlay and those who regularly go away.

Couple of potential issues - implementation would be the obvious one but the existing scheme already has that function so that’s a major hurdle overcome already. Another would be people buying tickets for aways just to get the points with no intention of going, but let’s be realistic, that isn’t going to happen - this isn’t the England national team where the benefit would be access to World Cup/Euros tickets worth tens of thousands.

Quoted from ska face

Season ticket = 500pts
Away membership = 100pts
Home ticket = 10pts
Away ticket = 5pts

Stagger the ticket sales based on points, eg:

Anyone on 600+ pts
Anyone on 500+ pts
Anyone on 100pts
Anyone on 50pts
General release
.

So to have enough points to be in the first round of sales you need a season ticket, no different to how it is today.

You’d also need an away membership, which means people who pay £350+ up front for a ST and go away will be at the front of the queue, as it should be. (Or a ST and attended 20 away games, or even an away membership and attended 100 away games, technically).

I can see the argument for this but the problem I have is that you're essentially treating some ST holders as second class, which seems a bit counter-intuitive if you want to keep encouraging new people to buy season tickets. If you stump up the cash, you should have an equal chance as every other ST holder to get an in-demand away ticket. If you introduce a loyalty scheme, new fans might not get the chance to experience a big away day which would be a shame.

Then again, I do share some of the frustration that some loyal fans weren't able to get a Brighton ticket. Perhaps a loyalty scheme could be introduced solely for one-off games such as play-offs and cup games? I think that would get the balance right.

Have we not chewed this to death more than once
We have a away membership system it’s called a season ticket unfortunately there will always be times when demand is greater than supply and the more success we have the more the frequency is going to rise

Quoted from ska face

Bin the 1878, which doesn’t really add any great value, and properly look at a scheme for shift workers.  

Bring in an away membership scheme, £50. Allocate points.

Season ticket = 500pts
Away membership = 100pts
Home ticket = 10pts
Away ticket = 5pts

Stagger the ticket sales based on points, eg:

Anyone on 600+ pts
Anyone on 500+ pts
Anyone on 100pts
Anyone on 50pts
General release

That way people can accumulate points in any way they like, weighted towards giving money to the club, it rewards those with the biggest outlay and those who regularly go away.

Couple of potential issues - implementation would be the obvious one but the existing scheme already has that function so that’s a major hurdle overcome already. Another would be people buying tickets for aways just to get the points with no intention of going, but let’s be realistic, that isn’t going to happen - this isn’t the England national team where the benefit would be access to World Cup/Euros tickets worth tens of thousands.

It's a dear enough do as it is. Now I'd have to shell out £50 each for me and the kids to go away after our Season tickets. We have very few times when demand outstrips availability. How many league away ends have we sold out this season just to sth?

Like Is say I'm not sure the investment in getting everyone subscribed to a scheme and launching/running it would justify the true demand season in season out. Lets not lose sight of the fact the club make very little so I understand from selling away tickets for league games so could you justify the ROI without significant cup progress each season.

There are a few regular travellers who miss out to people who don't go away or home that often, don't have a season ticket and seem to turn up at places like Notts, Wrexham, Harrogate, Brighton and other sell out away trips.

I have had a season ticket many years. Through relegation out the league and all the non league years. I worked in Liverpool when we were relegated but still renewed for the first season of non league football even though I couldn't make quite a few games that season.
When demand outstrips supply it will always be a bone of contention for those that can't get tickets, but remember this, I kept supporting the club in those dark days when there were thousands of spare tickets left over every week. Does my loyalty out Trump yours?

Yep, undoubtedly time for this.

I’ve stated before:

1000 points for season ticket holders of current season
500 points for the season prior
250 for the season prior

10 points for a home cup ticket

5 points for an away ticket - simply due to the fact there’s less money that goes to GTFC

5 points for every £100 spent in the club shop (could have double points weekends around Xmas and all sorts)

Staggered ticket release.