So we are now aiming to play Oldham on a Saturday - got that from their website, not ours mind.
Likely attendance?
How many were at the abandoned game? (the club have been asked but won't tell us)
Less, all those who have lost their ticket (can't resell those on police advice)
Less, all those who can't make it and don't ask for a refund (can't resell those tickets)
Less 500 extra people who would probably come now the game is on a Saturday.
The club have come up with this political euphemism "on police advice" (we won't be selling any more tickets)… can someone come on here and tell us what that actually means? Did the police propose such a high policing bill for any extra tickets that we'd have lost money? Are we appealing the decision now the game is on a Saturday? Does this mean our ground capacity is now 7500? Why are Oldham having less problems with the police, despite virtually the same capacity?
Oldham sell their tickets online to supporters anywhere in the country - isn't it time we did this? Maybe Oldham have an infrastructure left over from their Premiership days. There are lots of people who for all sorts of reasons, want to be able to buy tickets late and spontaneously without having to drive to Spotland; others who don't want to have to queue for family tickets on the day; many people who might sometimes come to Spotland who don't live in Rochdale (there's actually a lot of good will towards Rochdale amongst people who aren't supporters of any particular club). Extra hassle puts people off. We need these 5 games a season supporters, and these type of supporters are easily put off when they read something on the official website that implies the only way of buying (and then exchanging!) a ticket is to come in person to the ticket office. Like ain't like that anymore, families are busy, a flush of activities competing for their time and money, several kids doing different things. Decisions are made at 10pm in front of a computer, the moment they have to think about taking time off work to go to Spotland during office hours, they just don't go.
To match our Championship ambitions, isn't about time we put in place a more professional system? Everybody in the commercial entertainment business sells seat tickets online. Except us. I know people who put on events for 100 people and know nothing about the internet who set up online ticketing, because they know they'll sell another 10%. That's the difference between a play-off place and just outside. All it takes is a phone call to Ticketmaster, and you get this: https://www.eticketing.co.uk/oafc/default.aspx (£3 postage/booking fee - cheaper than a drive to Spotland for many, and crucially 60 seconds of your time).
Oldham are selling all 10,800 seats for the Huddersfield game and talk about "maximising income streams" - meaning allocating seat numbers, and giving the smaller section of the Rochdale Road End to away fans as well. In this way, the police allow them to sell every seat in the ground, they reduce their police bill - and it's not all-ticket.
What's our capacity? 10,249, but we will be restricted to, maybe, 6500 for a Saturday game against our nearest neighbours - wtf?? Unallocated seating must be the key, and you have to conclude that the police are not happy with the way we are distributing our tickets and organising the stadium for sides with a large travelling support.
We can dither through this season knowing there are not that many sides who'll fill the away stand - but what if, what if we sneak into the play-offs, peak at the right time and find ourselves in the Championship? Much better to get this system sorted out now, iron out any problems this season when we don't have this issue every other match, just in case we find ourselves, once again in dreamland.
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