Saints are now getting down to the last thousand or so tickets left for the League Cup Final against Manchester United at Wembley, but were the tickets allocated fairly to the fans ?

A recent poll on The Ugly Inside showed that around 49% thought that the way Saints allocated the tickets for the game at Wembley was completely fair, 23 % thought it was ok, another 22% thought that it was not fair and 6% thought it was terrible.

But how right was the poll and have Saints fans been treated fairly by the club ?

I would say that in essence Saints got it right, season ticket holders were guaranteed a seat and that is only right and there would not be too many football fans who regularly attend games who would argue with this, indeed it is the way that all football clubs prioritise ticket sales for big matches such as these, with the argument being that season ticket holders are the people that pay up front and therefore commit themselves to going in not only all weathers but all season if the team is doing badly or not.

At least every Saints fan has had the chance to be a season ticket holder and be guaranteed a ticket, our opponents Manchester United have far more season tickets holders than their allocation, that means that there will be many who will not get their chance to see their team at Wembley, at least not through their club's official channels and then there is the many thousands who also attend ther matches week in week out who are on a waiting list to even buy a season ticket .

After season ticket holders it is the turn of the Saints members for tickets, again this is only fair, I must admit I think that charging members £25 for the privilege is a bit steep in my opinion and the fee should have been less as after all most seasons there is virtually no advantage in being a member apart from the odd home game or two.

Saints have painstakingly offered members tickets on a number of home games purchased basis and this has taken a lot longer than it should, no one outside of the club really knows how many season ticket holders or members there are, but given that they have now decreased the initial total of games needed by six, it seems they could have got through the members a lot quicker.

So it would seem that by the time the allocation sells out which is likely to be either today or certainly tomorrow, members with only three home purchases to their name will have got a ticket.

That being the case there cannot be much cause for complaint amongst the supporter base, after all attending three home games out of a total of 12 Premier League games, 3 Europa League, 3 League cup and 2 FA Cup, is not exactly die hard support.

But there will be supporters who slip though the net and could be deserving of the chance of a ticket.

There are those who do not live near the City anymore and cannot get to home games, but they have perhaps attended away games, some provision should have been made for them. A fan living in say Yorkshire may have only got to one home game but could feasibly have travelled to both Manchester games, both Merseyside games, Sunderland and the League cup semi at Anfield, that would be a total of 7 games but only one would have counted on his membership number and he may not get a ticket.

Another group who would feel aggrieved is long term supporters who have not gone this season, I feel a lot of sympathy for this section of the supporter base, I know many who have watched Saints year in year out but for one reason or another usually, work, financial or family reasons they have not been able to renew season tickets or go in recent years and now they have no chance of getting a ticket.

As I said I do feel a lot of sympathy for people in this position, however the harsh fact is that any football club has to give priority to those who are regulars now and as i say I know many who have been to hundreds of games in the past but just not lately and are going to miss out.

So the answer to the original question is that yes Saints in the main have been as fair as they could be, yes there are several tweaks to their membership scheme that they need and should make, including perhaps a points based system to include away games, but overall there is not a lot they could have done differently, apart from perhaps put in some sort of structure to award away games or previous season ticket holders, given the low number of games members needed to buy a ticket, that would not have been too difficult.

So most Saints fans at Wembley who bought tickets from the official allocation will be there on merit in terms of games attended this season and that is good.

Of course there will be some who have bought tickets and have passed them on to others, something that is technically illegal, all we can hope is that those who have done that have done so in an ethical way, that means that they have ensured that the person they have passed the ticket on to is a good supporter, that they have not given it to a mate so he can take his girlfriend who has never been to a game for instance.

Cup Finals are about the true fans and every cup final sees a true fan miss out, yes we would all like to share the occasion with a loved one, but the fact is that everyone who has a ticket should be there on merit, this is a football match not a trip to the theatre.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 11:22 - Feb 15 I think it’s fair. It’s always a bit of a gamble at the beginning of the season whether Saints will get to a final and this is where a season ticket or membership prove their worth. I think it's incredible that it's gone as low as people with only 3 home game attendances! It seems difficult to offer preferential access to people who used to watch Saints, but I agree that some kind of recognition of attendance at away games should be added in future. We have season tickets, but have been able to get a couple of seats in the corporate area. We won’t be able to wear colours but have been able to use our season tickets to get tickets for a couple of friends who don’t live in Southampton and have been to a lot more away games this season than home games.

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Bettwsresident added 11:53 - Feb 15 The key issue was the specification for 'home' games. Had it been any games it would have been fairer.
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JDawg added 11:55 - Feb 15 I think generally it was fair and expected, however not including away games is unfair. If anything you are showing more support by going to an away game than a home game. I did think League Cup games would count more as well. The membership thing is a bit of a con as well. If it hadn't been for the Europa bundle I wouldn't have bought it, but I'm on the database and they know how many games I've been to! All worked out in the end, got my tickets this morning when my 8yo's allocation came up. They had even managed to find some Category 2 tickets to make available! Buying tickets not to go to the Arsenal FA Cup game was the best £20 I ever spent! :)

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Jesus_02 added 12:02 - Feb 15 To contextualise my comments I have a ticket and am looking forward to going However, I think overall it has been done badly, not taking into account fairness as people will have mixed opinions on that. It was rightly seen by many as a way of selling additional memberships and eeking out a bit more money from supporters (extra 200k?). it’s a bit of a low blow TBH. People that committed to a membership at the beginning of the season may think twice and only purchase one when it’s necessary as there was absolutely no benefit in making that commitment then. The poor level of customer service and the website (normally grudgingly accepted) also came home to roost for some people I know. Administrative failures that had previously been masked resulted in many people simply not having purchases correctly attributed to them. This coupled with the policy of not retrospectively attributing purchases creates a “computer says no” attitude and underlines the lack of connectivity with the fans. The biggest issue for me is that the over complex staging of eligibility. People simply want to sit with people they know and have been forced to make a judgement call on when to buy tickets based on eligibility. It’s been an exercise in dividing fans for the maximum financial gain. I am a little ashamed to say that I decided not to take my son because I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of seeing saints in a final and his eligibility criteria was less than mine. I can’t very well buy a single ticket elsewhere in the stadium for a 9 year old! It’s a call I resent being forced to make. We are a family club, a community club, that’s “The Southampton Way”. We lose that and we have lost the club IMO

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Butty101 added 12:07 - Feb 15 Ive not been to enough home matches to get a ticket, family life dictates that i can no longer go every week and watch a lot of millionaires chase a ball round. I am looking forward to going into town to watch it, Should be a cracking atmosphere.
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schatfield added 12:12 - Feb 15 Jesus_02 thats one of the best replies I have seen on this forum yet. You are 100% spot on.
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davepid added 12:15 - Feb 15 I think a simple and fair way to allocate tickets after season ticket holders would be to base it on all games attended this season . That would give your Yorkshire supporter a level playing field. Incidentally if you live in Yorkshire you probably also went to the Hull, Burnley games and probably Leicester and Stoke ( both less than 100 miles from Leeds). So a total of 10 games attended. Finally, let's remember a season ticket costs £600 plus, so it represents a big expense for many fans , I suspect.

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SaintNick added 12:56 - Feb 15 Jesus makes some good points, although i would say that sitting with people that you want to sit with cant be changed, you cant bump someone up the queue just because someone who has more games to their name wants to sit with them, there is no way round that situation other than wait till tey become eligible
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the_saint added 13:08 - Feb 15 I had to laugh a couple of my mates were bragging about not needing a season ticket as they got tickets from there mates for away games Man Utd aresenal ect, anyway guess who not got a cup final ticket.
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Posh_Saint added 13:30 - Feb 15 I'll be one not there but think in general it's been done well enough. The thing that annoys me more than anything though is the allocation itself. If Man U have the same amount then that's 25k plus that go elsewhere, corp etc etc which ruins it for some of those people you mention who can't get there. How many were there for the Johnstones ? They make enough money out of it anyway so need to cut those going to Corp to rip fans off even more and give more to each club.

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SanMarco added 13:32 - Feb 15 I think it was pretty fair on the whole but agree that away games should have counted + the EFL Cup games (those that went to Sunderland and Palace surely deserved a x2 increment). Also Jesus' dilemma with his 9 yr old is something that should have been avoided - I know you can't allow for all eventualities but parents with kids is a fairly obvious one. I wrote to the club about the touting of tickets obtained through Saints and they agreed it was wrong but had no plans to do anything about it.

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SaintBrock added 13:37 - Feb 15 I tend to think the same way as davepid on this, the whole thing should have been based on total games attended. Obviously ST's start with 19 so it would not be unfair to them but differentiating between EFL and all the other home games attended is just not fair and away games attended surely must take precedence over home games attended when equal in number simply because it takes far more of a personal and financial commitment to flog up to SoL or TM or other far flung places to support the team whereas making the occasional pitch-up at SMS from Totton or Woolston requires no effort whatsoever.

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retnim added 13:51 - Feb 15 I am an 'exiled' Saints fan living near Manchester. The allocation process had a certain logic, but was unfair to us northern fans. In my case I had managed to attend 6 away games but only 2 home fixtures. Many other Northern Saints have similar records. We asked the club to reconsider and give away games equal status, but were met with a brick wall and a complete refusal to engage. As a result of the policy, members who attended 3 games have been given priority over members who attended 8. We are also left with a bad taste in our mouths by the high-handed and uncaring attitude of the club

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Whiteknight added 14:08 - Feb 15 I think it has been ok but could have been better. Season ticket holders should of course get first preference and then members. However, I think that it could have been improved by doing a couple of things: 1) Counting all games - simple 2) Publishing the criteria at the beginning of the season (just in case) - simple 3) Finding some way of allowing people to get seats together - actually quite complex to make it fair and to avoid touts.

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Cjay80 added 14:28 - Feb 15 I agree all games should have been included. The travelling fans are noisy and valuable in bringing the team extra motivation. I have had to purchase membership to qualify and wait for the 3 game minimum criteria so I can take my daughter who is a MASSIVE fan, but, we have our tickets, almost at the back but we will be there and we cannot wait.
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kingolaf added 14:39 - Feb 15 Completely fair in my opinion. But then, I would say that, I got a ticket.
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highfield49 added 15:37 - Feb 15 I think that the club and the league can do something to put a halt on the secondary ticket sales vultures. If they know who purchased a ticket and have a record of the seat location within the stadium it's not difficult to warn purchasers that any tickets advertised for sale on these sites will be invalidated and resold, with a new code, to someone who actually wants to go to the match. It wont completely stamp out the abuse but it could certainly make life much more difficult for the parasites. it would also make most individuals much more wary of paying a lot of money for a potentially invalid ticket.

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rjh added 15:44 - Feb 15 I managed to get a ticket for myself and two sons. I think it is fair. I live in Middlesbrough and have only managed three home games so got mine this am. Also been to away games at Sunderland, Hull, Leicester and the semi final at Anfield. Much fairer than for the JPT when season ticket holders could get an extra one which meant people who had never been to a match could go ahead of me just because they knew a season ticket holders. Incidentally I don't think my 3 Wembley tickets have cost that much more than my Ines for Hull. I always thought I would have a chance of getting one given our capacity relative to the allocation.

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aceofthebase added 16:01 - Feb 15 Members with 3 games can certainly get a ticket but inevitably the seat will be up in the gods where you will be lucky to see the action in the nearest goal. I will be up there and as a septugenerian I hope my heart survives the climb, and to think as a lad I was right behind the goal at Villa park when Denis Law kneed the only goal in the semi-final.
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CaptainLa added 16:59 - Feb 15 I live in Cornwall and had managed 4 home games when the criteria for purchase was announced. I had also been to Arsenal efl and Liverpool efl away together with a trip to Milan. The club announced that tickets for Arsenal and West Ham home would count so I bought those as well. Given that meant you only had to have attended two home games before the announcement to now get a ticket it's not bad at all really. Looking forward to a great weekend in London!!

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rjnsec added 17:29 - Feb 15 Not a member, but currently attended 10 home games, so looks like l will have no Cup Final ticket. Attended all the EFL home games too !
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legod7 added 21:42 - Feb 15 rjnsec When the tickets first went on sale the club said that if anyone attended home games this season and weren't members then they should buy a membership and the games would be added to it.
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saintmark1976 added 08:38 - Feb 16 I have been fortunate enough to have been to the old Wembley four times with the Saints, yes age does have some advantages. I have not applied for a visit to the new stadium so have no axe to grind. The question being asked is not the correct one in my opinion. It should be "what the hell has happened to the missing tickets". The capacity is 90000. We get 32500 and I assume United the same. On that basis there are 25000 "spare" tickets.This is not the F A Cup so the old excuse of tickets going to F A representatives right down to county level should not apply. With my cynics hat on I would suggest that somebody is going to make some serious money here bearing in mind that United have a world wide following. Once again the genuine fans of both clubs have been royally shafted. I never thought I would say it but bearing in mind the relative difference in our ground capacities I have more sympathy for Uniteds fans on this occasion. Frankly the system of ticket allocation to the club's stinks in my opinion but thus it ever was I suppose.

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retnim added 08:53 - Feb 16 Whoa, tickets now available for away fans. Perhaps the club did listen after all. Credit to SFC where it is due. Better late than never.
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CaptainLa added 10:01 - Feb 16 Yes, members with 3 away games can buy from 1200 today. Excellent news.
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