It’s a difficult one. I know we’ve done it to death a number of times on here, but everyone will always want a system that favours themselves over the majority so they can go when they choose to. Unfortunately that’s not how life works. We’re fortunate that we have high points and do use things like annual leave to go to games, I appreciate it’s not for everyone and does cost us lots of our disposable income. I think lots of it has been driven by new teams, small allocations and those we’ve not played for a long time. Also when we know it will sell, there is more of a ‘fear of missing out’ mentality. If we don’t go up in the play-offs, then I can see lots of them being much lower points than this season and more games going to general sale.
I am also again going to defend the supporters clubs. I know it’s widely thought on here that I have skin in the game, but the truth is I’ve not been a member of W&L since before Covid. They are very different now to then and are run by different people, but they do put lots of money in to sponsor games and players and like any of the box holders who also get priority, they get more for giving more as in many walks of life. I also know the club have tightened up on them only allowing season ticket holders and generally I believe lots of those do go to almost all the games and will have high points anyway, but takes some of the hassle out.
There are exceptions of course, so I do understand others frustrations when they miss out, although I suspect if they removed the SC allocations, the points they sell at would be similar it would just mean them sorting their own instead of through a SC. There were also no complaints of course for L&W and N&B in L2 when nobody else wanted to go, I’m sure the stick they get is because they were the first ones in the new era. I don’t think I’m being too dramatic when I say that bond forged between the players then and the clubs, was a small part responsible for togetherness and that the club wouldn’t be in the same position it is today without those early green shoots of recovery and success. Arguably SC’s are less important now than they were then, but memberships are a group of like minded who regularly travel together.
For those complaining, if you genuinely think it’s that easy then why not pay to join your local one? I do know that some of the smaller allocations where spaces are limited, that clubs have limited their allocation to those who have travelled with them the most in the past, so it’s not just asking for as many tickets as they want and are allocated a maximum uptake, but if you go with them regularly, you can enjoy the benefits of guaranteeing on those smaller allocations.
