Saints have sold their entire allocation for the trip to Ashton Gate but disgracefully they wont get any more tickets.
Saints have sold out over 2,000 ticksts for the trip to Bristol City on the 26th November less than a week afterthey went on sale, the away allocation is a meagre 2,200 in a ground with a capcity of approximately 21,500 and an average gate over the past few seasons of only around 14,500.
The reason for such a low allocation is that Bristol City fans did not like the fact that away supporters could be allocated the entire East End, as indeed Saints where and filled for a Carling Cup tie in 2003.
The home fans considered that this end, once the traditional home end should be at least partly occupied by home fans, so we will have the absurd situation for this game, where Saints would have sold probably double this total, yet about 700 City fans will sit in the other half of the East End, leaving not only about 1,500 empty seats in that part of the ground, but about 6,000 more in other areas, replicating the issues faced at the tail end of last season at the likes of Brentford and Plymouth.
Of course for many teams that visit Ashton Gate 2,200 seats is plenty enough, indeed it was for us on our last visit just under three years ago, however there are times when teams bring a bigger away following and this is one of them.
However in some respects this is no different to the situation at St Mary's when the Northam End has been full in the away section but 7-10,000 seats empty in the rest of the ground, surely in these hard times with clubs struggling to make ends meet, they should be making sure that every supporter who wants to see a game can do so, not turning people away whatever side they support whilst thousands of seats will remain empty.