By Tony Attwood
Back in January Untold ran the story of how Tottenham are using the EBay comapny StubHub to sell on tickets in the way that Arsenal runs its own Ticket Exchange.
The two approaches are similar, except that StubHub allows people to inflate ticket prices and charge whatever they think they can get away with. Allegations have been made that season ticket holders are making a profit out of their tickets by selling on each match individually. You can see our original story here.
Now the Daily Star, a tabloid newspaper that makes the Sun look upmarket (well, no actually it doesn’t, but the Star is pretty much down the bottom of the pile) has run this story.
Fan fury as Tottenham Hotspur teams up with StubHub to sell £1,150 Arsenal match tickets
(Actually if you want to get the full flavour of that you have to shout it out in that sort of made up London accent that people who know nothing of London use to try and show it is said by a Londoner).
The story is interesting, not just because of the way ticket prices are being inflated, and because of the notice from the Tottenham official web site that the newspaper cheekily republished:
“Tottenham Hotspur are delighted to welcome StubHub as a Club Partner to work as our official ticket resale”
(That is not the full size of the Star headline, but again you get the idea – and they did use red).
But before I come to exactly what the Star said, I think it is worth pausing and contemplating the furore over the Man City away tickets that we heard a lot about, where Man City fans refused to come to the Emirates because of the prices, and instead Arsenal fans were allowed to take over most of the area reserved for the away supporters.
Now on that occasion the media turned wholesale on Arsenal running out all the usual “most expensive club in the country” stuff (which as I have pointed out so often it isn’t, but saying this is getting boring so I won’t do the details), and showed with relish the Man City banner “£62!! where will it stop?”
So let’s hold that “£62!!” in mind as we contemplate Tottenham’s official ticket partner and its effect on ticket prices…
Here is what the Star said… (the rather odd use of capitals is their’s not mine)
“TOTTENHAM Hotspur fans are furious after the club teamed up with a ticket website selling seats at today’s Arsenal clash for more than £1,000.
“The Arsenal game is one of the biggest games of our season and that’s why demand is so high. But at a time when a large core of our fans have already been priced out of going, this just adds insult to injury.”
Tottenham in reply said,
“This new system will provide our supporters with a safe and secure way to buy and sell tickets to matches at White Hart Lane, providing a benefit to One Hotspur Season Ticket Holders and allowing greater access to tickets for all supporters.”
The newspaper reported that a total of 723 tickets were still for sale on the day of the game. And then provided this…
So that’s well over £1000 more than the Man City supporters were being charged for their match at the Ems, and which made them create their protest banner.
One of the issues never mentioned in the press is that Arsenal are obliged by League regulations to sell tickets at the same price to away support as they would to home support, and the Man City price reflected this. The Tottenham system however allows tickets to be sold at any price.
By comparison tickets for the FA Cup semi-final are £40, £50 and £60.
Tottenham.
Top of a league.
In a league of their own.
Where’s it all leagueing.
Taxi! (Make that a bycycle).
But it’s the press favourite Tottenham Tony, and you should know by now that makes it OK. As far as the media are concerned they can do no wrong, and even if they do it will probably not get any attention given to it if it shows the club in a bad light. Talking of the Spuds did anyone notice the media love in last night during and after the Benfica game, orgasms all round when they took the lead, incredible journeys and European roller coasters being trotted out willy nilly, a ‘GET IN’ from Andy Townsend as well when they scored, he did one of those in one of our matches didn’t he, oh hang on that was when the opposition nearly scored. Continued this morning on Talkshite, praise all round for their incredible achievement for their away draw, contrast that with the mocking that our 1-1 with the European Champions got. Sorry for the off topic rant but I get so angry.
OT: Arsenal to host rum tasting event
http://offlicencenews.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/14063/Arsenal_FC_stadium_to_host_rum_festival.html
OT: Both gender study of football players:
A newspaper link to the story is:
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2014/03/21/female-footballers-sprint-less/
Apparently, a “real” link to the article (which appears to not be free) is:
The results of this research have been published in the online version of Human Movement Science under the title: “Gender differences in match performance characteristics of soccer players competing in the UEFA Champions League”. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167945713001097
Townsend is a tool.
Think back to his earlier incarnation as a pundit when ITV bought the premier league rights. He had a slot entitled “the tactics truck” or some such, the premiss being that he provided analysis of a tactical nature, showing his great insight into the game.
This was so embarrassingly lacking in insight and quality that it was rather rapidly and without fanfare scrapped and he was allowed to carry on with his usual inane claptrap as a co commentator instead. Well played, sir…….
Mick, in a strange way, I am starting to take the way the media view AFC as some sort of back handed compliment. The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference, and nobody can say the media are indifferent to our club and manager. I am not saying this media treatment is not disruptive, it can be, especially when the AAA hang on every word, but it must indicate some level of respect, fear for us doing well, a desire to stop us in our tracks before we again fulfill our destiny. That, and as we know, the London based media is filled with Spuds, and the national media filled with Micky mousers.
I do not know the individuals involved, these media types may be very different away from their job, some may be scentient, even intelligent beings in their own environment, but the majority of the British media have long behaved like complete and utter tools, as has especially come to light in recent years.
For whatever reason, they simply cannot ignore Arsenal, their reporting is usually negative, despite a few nice tributes today…but as far as I am concerned, if wenger or the club annoy or offend in any way such individuals, they are doing something very, very right.
The hatred inspired in the British media is the club…and managers badge of honour
Guys, as a Spurs fan I am grateful for you picking up on the club’s ‘deal’ with StubHub, this relationship is wrong in everyway and mitigates against proper fans getting to see matches. However, I’m not sure that this issue about over expensive tickets, or indeed away ticket allocations, is one that should divide supporters, as some of the comments on here seem to imply. Supporters at most Premier league clubs are being overcharged, particularly in London, to oppose this overcharging, for once we all need to be on the same side.
Not sure why you think the Arse are so picked on in the media (except by your own supporter Piers Morgan)this week in particular Wenger has received much deserved praise for his achievements
Mandy, there have even been some tributes to Arsene today on Talkshite. Unfortunately those tributes, given with their right hand, have been negated by a proportional number of insults taken by the left hand. I have just switched Durham off in complete disgust.
Proof, the BBC is staffed by idiots!
> Mertesacker has been nicknamed “BFG” by the Arsenal fans after the Roald Dahl character “Big Friendly Giant” and the German international says it is great they appreciate his efforts on the pitch.
Big Friendly Giant?
Big Fucking German!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26685046
And yes, we love him!
COYG!
Tony, where are the Spurs@ trolls?
Mick
I have said it so many times I am starting to bore myself, but what that Durtham does MUST be illegal.
Surely it has to be slanderous?
Some might say it’s just ‘opinion’ but that can’t be right.
I might have an ‘opinion’ that Tescos prices are a ‘rip off.’ (He says that about Arsenals ticket prices)
I might suggest that every Tesco shopper should get a slap round the face every time they buy something. (He says that should happen to Arsenal fans when they buy a ticket)
He’s accused us of faking injuries.
He’s accused us of deliberately trying to get a ‘card’ to manipulate suspensions.
The list goes on.
HOW THE FUCK IS THAT LEGAL.
Do you think Tesco, or any other business for that matter, would let me get away with broadcasting those allegations on National Radio, 5 nights a week, year in year out. Not a chance !!
As I said, I’m boring myself with this now, but something should be done, it just seems nobody, including Arsenal themselves seem to care enough.
Jambug
Agree totally but for some reason Arsenal do not seem concerned about it. As I said before they have not bothered to reply to my emails asking their opinions on the matter. I am not going to listen to Talkshite anymore as I will finish up smashing my radio in frustration if I do. I have even started imagining what I would do to Durham if I ever met him in a dark alley its got that bad!
What you Talkshite listeners need is an injection of eloquence:
Full Arspresser pre Che
http://youtu.be/viOih59x-JU
Thanks for that rantetta. What a fantastic press conference delivered by a fantastic manager and man.
Mick
Thanks. I always try and see full presses by Arsène as they’re the most informative for me, as well as allowing me to see what the hacks are trying to trip him up with, constantly.
It’s good that you write to Arsenal and I’m sorry you don’t get replies to what they might see as Contentious. Could it be that, as in the pressers, they’re careful about acknowledging the total and utter shit the club has faced for so many years. For starters Arsène never calls them out in bald terms these days, if he ever did. He uses phrases like Special Circumstances, which over time appears to mean Fking Bast refs allowed us to be kicked shitless, no?
Arsenal and Wenger encourage the players to not dwell on the constant cheating and kicking, but rather to play through it as best they can, as rewards will eventually come, or summat along those lines. How else could he have put up with all of that for so many years, apart from the fact that he’s used to being robbed blind, as at Monaco, for example. I think he has to play Honest Politician, and as such, and bearing in mind the response to any complaints he’s made in the past, and how they’ll be interpreted and mocked, perhaps he and Arsenal work quietly in the background trying to deal with the corrupt gambles and their ilk?
I don’t know.
I’d like to think Arsenal do their best to simply overcome…
I dream of meeting Wenger and asking him how he copes with the constant naysaying and attempted destabilisation. I dream he would acknowledge it, and then tell me how he copes. I would incorporate the ideas and concepts into my own life.
Yeah, I’m a dreamer.
Menace
I hope you see this. I wanna thank you for your comment a couple of days ago. You wrote of Watching a replay of spuds match, having read that Dean had done alright.
I waited to see who’d reply to that, and I think no one did. But I saw it and I understand your frustration. I’ll repost. Hope you don’t mind:
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/34644#comment-779348
@rantetta thanks for that.
I am a season ticket holder in block 102, and when I’ve been at matches I cannot help noticing the number of times officials converse with Arsenals opponents and let them off while Arsenal players get no chance before a card. The cheating is so blatant yet there isn’t a single media person with the courage to publish the truth. I have shown fellow gooners this cheating and they get amazed. Most watch football without ‘observing’. They probably have never been racially abused or cheated to understand the nuances of racist behaviour.
1000 matches from a man of integrity yet there will be several arseholes commenting on silverware rather than financial astuteness; sporting behaviour; moralistic integrity and healthy lifestyle. Aspects that have been introduced by Wenger into English football.
Stephen – thanks for your comments. I think the problem with the media’s approach to Arsenal is that even at a moment where Wenger reaches 1000 games some of the press are running stories about “Wenger’s worst XI players”. They can never let it stop, even for a moment. It’s a bit like when Arsenal had the unbeaten league season several of the papers ran stories saying “they weren’t invincible,” because Arsenal didn’t win the FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League.
Fancy that , the Spuds ‘fans’ out pricing and fleecing themselves. Does Rosie 47 still maintain an account
In the meantime here’s He said/She said . From….
http://www.ba-bamail.com/Content.aspx?emailid=9109&memberid=763708#.Uy09_qIzf-Y
I’d be interested to know whether other clubs are using this system. I spotted (and tweeted a photo) of a tout outside the Emirates before the Bayern game. He was bold as brass, outside the Armoury near the press entrance. If I spotted him so could the cops and steward etc. They are there every week and it is supposed to be illegal. A couple of matches of judicious arrests, prosecutions,punishments and bans and we might start to clear this up. Tickets have to be sold at face value, anything more is extortion.