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.