Cambridge Ticketing Fiasco

[Roverthechimp]

9 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Of course it is, they are the root cause of this whole sorry shell of a football club. But they aren’t going anywhere. Whereas a CEO can, and eventually will feck off.

However, I would wager the owners have had zero input into these ridiculous policies. It’s Swag’s path of least resistance to hit his revenue targets. Another CEO could well take a totally different approach to hit them. We just need to find out, and quick.

Poorly formulated targets can be both catastrophic and humorous (sick/dark)

If Swag is given the instruction/target to cut costs then that matters for him to keep his job or be paid off.

i once had a project where the owner offered me a huge bonus and long contract if I could generate a profit within 12 months at a leisure facility where customers paid a yearly fee in advance. No restrictions on what or I could or couldn’t do and no formulated goal/plan for year 2 and onwards.

Easy - cut all maintenance/service except those that would breach any legally binding agreement with customers. 
I get paid having achieved the owners target and pisspoor owners would then look at my long contract and probably formulate a new, specific goal, raise prices for the reduced number of customers whilst holding (or even cutting) costs further to “match the new reality”

Sadly I am not SW - I informed the owner of foolishness in his offer and the business is thriving 15 years later having grown steadily and established a reputation for service alongside an ambition to improve the quality of services each year or within a realistic timeframe 

edit: corrected autocorrect 🤣

Edited December 19, 2023 by Roverthechimp

[rigger]

I received an E-mail from Christina Hayes this morning, in reply to my question about the digital ticketing. The response was well reasoned and acceptable, up to the point were she stated that the Rovers were changing to the digital system, to keep up with the majority of other providers who where also going down the same path( or words to that effect).

[Mike Graham]

24 minutes ago, rigger said:

I received an E-mail from Christina Hayes this morning, in reply to my question about the digital ticketing. The response was well reasoned and acceptable, up to the point were she stated that the Rovers were changing to the digital system, to keep up with the majority of other providers who where also going down the same path( or words to that effect).

Meanwhile…

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/14/cash-payments-rise-in-uk-as-people-seek-ways-to-manage-budgets

[simongarnerisgod]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

I received an E-mail from Christina Hayes this morning, in reply to my question about the digital ticketing. The response was well reasoned and acceptable, up to the point were she stated that the Rovers were changing to the digital system, to keep up with the majority of other providers who where also going down the same path( or words to that effect).

so we will see more of this digital b*****s????i was of the opinion that trying to fill your stadium was a good ambition,this will just empty it

[wilsdenrover]

2 hours ago, rigger said:

I received an E-mail from Christina Hayes this morning, in reply to my question about the digital ticketing. The response was well reasoned and acceptable, up to the point were she stated that the Rovers were changing to the digital system, to keep up with the majority of other providers who where also going down the same path( or words to that effect).

Why does it matter whether we’re keeping up with other providers??

 

[Rogerb]

2 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Why does it matter whether we’re keeping up with other providers??

 

Lemmings off a cliff

[Gav]

Go on then I'll bite.........

In every walk of life these days we use digital, from tax returns, to pensions, to airline tickets, holidays in Benidorm, brfcs forum, car parking, cinema, restaurants, even my elderly parents use digital, why such a furore over a match against Cambridge in 3rd round FA Cup? 

Disclaimer - I haven't read all the thread, so apologies if I'm missing the main point, 

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Gav

[rigger]

3 minutes ago, Gav said:

Go on then I'll bite.........

In every walk of life these days we use digital, from tax returns, to pensions, to airline tickets, holidays in Benidorm, brfcs forum, even my elderly parents use digital, why such a furore over a match against Cambridge in 3rd round FA Cup? 

 

The furore is more to do with the way the change to the system was comunicated to the supporters, and the lack of confidence that poor comunication has instilled, rather than the actual change.

[wilsdenrover]

7 minutes ago, Gav said:

Go on then I'll bite.........

In every walk of life these days we use digital, from tax returns, to pensions, to airline tickets, holidays in Benidorm, brfcs forum, car parking, cinema, restaurants, even my elderly parents use digital, why such a furore over a match against Cambridge in 3rd round FA Cup? 

Disclaimer - I haven't read all the thread, so apologies if I'm missing the main point, 

 

The main point, I believe, is not digital being an option but it being the only option.

[Gav]

Fair play gents, much the same as usual then.....

[Mattyblue]

The club has said that if a fan turns up to the ticket office in the run up or on the day they’ll be turned away and told to go online. Strange way for a club with 20,000 empty seats to behave.

Some older folk have taken to the digital revolution no problem, plenty others haven’t - they don’t have a smart phone, they don’t even have the internet, so why can’t they just call into the ticket office and buy a bloody ticket? 

Interestingly looking at places like Facebook and Twitter, mediums that are normally chocka with folk backing the club over ‘negative, moaning Rovers fans’ there has been a universal thumbs down. 

[jim mk2]

How to lose longstanding and loyal fans without trying - refuse to let them in

Many folk who hate "digital" - not just older people - won't bother going. This is plain stupidity on the part of the club

Network Rail have had to backtrack on their ticket office closure plan after strong protests, including from trade unions.

Do Rovers fans care enough? 

[simongarnerisgod]

how does this effect away fans,id`e have though cambridge will bring a couple of thousand,do they have to print their own tickets

[rigger]

5 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

how does this effect away fans,id`e have though cambridge will bring a couple of thousand,do they have to print their own tickets

no they will get hard copy tickets

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, Gav said:

Go on then I'll bite.........

In every walk of life these days we use digital, from tax returns, to pensions, to airline tickets, holidays in Benidorm, brfcs forum, car parking, cinema, restaurants, even my elderly parents use digital, why such a furore over a match against Cambridge in 3rd round FA Cup? 

Disclaimer - I haven't read all the thread, so apologies if I'm missing the main point, 

 

I'm NOT even going to bite i'll just shake my head and utter a few words.

[simongarnerisgod]

10 minutes ago, rigger said:

no they will get hard copy tickets

lol,thats sums up blackburn rovers commercial dept

[tomphil]

After the digital ticket experience i had recently with ticketmaster do not anyone tell me it's easier or less hassle, it's a load of bollocks with a load of potential drawbacks.

Order online and pay - that's digital enough - tickets arrive through the letter box having paid for that service and helping keep people in jobs. They are printed on paper which is both recyclable and comes from renewable's - environment box ticked.

Hand tickets to various people who want them, go to event, go in, enjoy show.

But oh no....

Can't even be bothered going through all the download this, verify, sign up for that malarky then get there and there is a glitch meaning some walk in unchecked whilst others have to queue for an hour before Q code can be scanned.

Peoples options should never be taken away but even more so where the supply outstrips demand 5 fold and you are going to decimate in even further.

Plain stupid and no doubt hidden behind the netzero cult were as usual lemmings wanting everything easy but can't be arsed looking at the real driving factors.

The amount of jobs the digitalization And AI of everything will cut in the very near future is horrific.  

Edited December 19, 2023 by tomphil

[arbitro]

It's this one size fits all mentality that I object to. There was no discussions with any of the supporter groups, it has just been foisted on everybody (except away fans and freebies, freebies which those making the decision benefit from) without exception. And I already know of a few who simply are not going to bother going, in fact one told me he won't be renewing his season ticket such is his annoyance.

Just give people a choice. It's not a difficult concept to grasp, they should just swallow their pride, admit they have misjudged the situation and give us the option. However I expect some over inflated egos might just get in the way.

[simongarnerisgod]

we could end up with a crowd lower than that league cup game against wimbledon in the 1980`s especially if the website starts playing up,which is quite possible😄

[SuperBrfc]

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

The club has said that if a fan turns up to the ticket office in the run up or on the day they’ll be turned away and told to go online. Strange way for a club with 20,000 empty seats to behave.

That is absurd, it really is. This, for a Club that is apparently in need of all the income it can raise, if the talk of the restrictions on the morons in Pune is to be believed.

Somebody mentioned the other day how Fielder's vision was to have an empty stadium on match days, with fans watching the match via virtual reality and being able to 'go' wherever they wanted in the ground during the game.

I don't think he was alone in having that vision. The way the Riverside has been shut for cup games over the years, the Blackburn End recently and now this, I think the car salesman has the same idea.

Fans watching from home using VR headsets and the savings that can be made from an empty stadium, are the stuff of dreams for somebody like him.

[tomphil]

The metaverse is the future some are driving hidden behind netzero but in reality just a coup by the silicon valley billionaires.

Meanwhile in an old industrial town in Northern England Jack and Jim who have 100 years Rovers support between them but never had the need for a smartphone can't get in a game like they normally do.

So they'll not bother.

[SuperBrfc]

18 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Only one of those clubs have categorically stated they have no ambition of promotion.

Put venkys in charge of any other club and see how full the ground is.

Absolutely no reason we wouldn't be able to bring in 17-18 thousand a week with decent people running the place and actual ambition.

Exactly. I see some fans of other clubs give us stick about empty seats and they talk about how they would back the team through "thick and thin" and how we have "shit fans" etc.

I would like to see how they would fare having to endure 13 years of a Venky circus, where there has not been one ounce of ambition shown from the hierarchy, where a flow of chancers have walked through the doors and where the fans have been taken for fools since minute one of the takeover.

Owners ignoring us being inside the top 6 for two consecutive January's. Then the CEO, months after finishing 7th, openly announcing that the aim is to avoid relegation and to develop players. Openly disputing the manager's ambitious view of the 'project'. They'd all put up with that, would they?

Look at how the likes of United, Everton and West Ham fans have been rallying against their owners recently. That's after having spent hundreds of millions of pounds on signings. United, over a billion! 13 years of these bastards would finish a lot of those fans off. Never mind PNE, Dingles and the like.

It's very easy for them, as outsiders, to give it large when they have no idea what damage has been done to the club and the fan base since 2010. They aren't living it.

I fully agree with your last paragraph too. Decent people who care, coupled with a bit of ambition and we could reach 17-18,000. As it stands, we are lucky to still get as much as we do, imo. Fair play to all that still attend regularly.

[Hasta]

2 hours ago, rigger said:

no they will get hard copy tickets

I wonder if there will be no sales on the day to away fans?
That would take the piss if the away ticket office was open.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Hasta

[Waggy76]

1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

we could end up with a crowd lower than that league cup game against wimbledon in the 1980`s especially if the website starts playing up,which is quite possible😄

I hope , there are more Cambridge fans than Rovers , 2 fingers up to the half wit who dreamt this up...

I will go to the pub for the afternoon!

 

[tomphil]

Never going to be a normal crowd for this they never are at most places and here about half the regulars usually turn up. No doubt with this latest stupid trick they are playing it'll turn 5/6k into 3/4k gate.

Very odd when every penny is supposed to count then turning away c10/15 grand and saving about 400 quid in paper, ink and staff.

Very typical of the overall clown show though.