Away allocation for home play off game

User avatar
CountryRoyal
Hob Nob Super-Addict
Posts: 10697
Joined: 12 Aug 2011 13:44

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by CountryRoyal » 02 May 2017 16:49

I'd be very surprised if we didn't sell this out tbh.

Royal_jimmy
Hob Nob Regular
Posts: 4948
Joined: 10 Aug 2011 10:44
Location: Planet Earth

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by Royal_jimmy » 02 May 2017 18:39

handbags_harris
Royal_jimmy We've always given teams 2,100 tickets for the playoffs and I cannot see it changing this time around


See above. Wolves were given 4k. Wigan would also have been given 4k had their support shown sufficient demand. Burnley didn't get given it despite requesting because we'd sold tickets in the other half, ditto Cardiff for Burnley.

The club will base their decision on both historical evidence and current demand, and the evidence as far as I'm concerned is clear - this season we have averaged between 2k and 3k STH's not showing PER GAME for whatever reason. While the playoffs obviously engender optimism and excitement, the fact remains there is a relatively high level of antipathy within the supporter base despite the comfortable top 6 finish. We only offered half to Burnley in 09 when supporter apathy at this level was at an all-time Madejski Stadium era high, and even in 2011 when optimism was arguably at its highest since 2008 we comfortably failed to sell out. Average reported attendance this season is consistent with previous playoff campaigns, however actual attendance is lower, and this will undoubtedly have a bearing on the club's decision.

What I expect the club to do is offer the usual half South Stand allocation, assess the demand from home support and make a decision on the remaining half of the South Stand once the opposition club has inevitably requested it. I stand to be corrected, but my gut feeling is if we don't offer the away club 4k, I don't believe we'll sell out.


With our big day tripper and glory hunting fan base we will fill it easily as long as we don't get spanked in the first leg. Even still, why should the club give the opposition club an advantage of a bigger away support in a massive game for the sake of 40 or 50 grand in match day revenue

handbags_harris
Hob Nob Regular
Posts: 3793
Joined: 10 Jul 2005 12:57

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by handbags_harris » 03 May 2017 12:42

Royal_jimmy With our big day tripper and glory hunting fan base we will fill it easily as long as we don't get spanked in the first leg. Even still, why should the club give the opposition club an advantage of a bigger away support in a massive game for the sake of 40 or 50 grand in match day revenue


Even though the evidence suggests otherwise? Particularly since the first PL period? Had this been 12-18 years ago (post Elm Park, pre-PL) I'd have agreed, but since 2008 we have had 203 matches at this level in league, cup and playoffs at the Madejski and managed just 13 x 23k+ attendances (and only one of those was 24k+, West Ham in Dec 2011). 10 of those 13 x matches, the opposition support had the whole of the South Stand. Only for Birmingham in 2009 (last day), Palace in 2012 (last home match) and Burnley in 2014 (last day) was the home support allocated half of the South Stand. The demand simply hasn't been there. And if you want to go further back, even the Tranmere playoff home leg in 1995 was 1800 under capacity.

What the club do is obviously open to conjecture, but based on the historical attendance and demand evidence that is easily retrievable, coupled with the decisions the club has taken in the past my hunch, as I stated yesterday, is that they will supply half of the South Stand to the opposition, assess demand, and make a decision from there. They'll want to fill the stadium because the club, quite frankly, is a business. Put yourself in the club's shoes - easy for you to say "screw £35k's worth of income" in a one-off game, but that's a month's wages for a squad player even after accounting for VAT. Why would the club turn that down in a one-off match when the outcome of a playoff match is far from certain regardless of how many away supporters there are?

User avatar
Silver Fox
Hob Nob Legend
Posts: 25701
Joined: 15 Apr 2004 10:02
Location: From the Andes to the indies in my undies

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by Silver Fox » 03 May 2017 12:47

I'd suggest that the club attempting to sell home south stand tickets for the Wigan game means they're hoping our fans will be interested in getting involved in the playoffs

muirinho
Hob Nob Regular
Posts: 2075
Joined: 20 Jan 2016 12:10

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by muirinho » 03 May 2017 13:02

Silver Fox I'd suggest that the club attempting to sell home south stand tickets for the Wigan game means they're hoping our fans will be interested in getting involved in the playoffs


The difference being of course that they knew Wigan wouldn't take them up. Which isn't likely to the case with the play-off game, particularly if it's Fulham given distance.
I'd suspect it will be half stand allocation, followed by wait and see - with both home and away demand being looked at before deciding who gets the other half of the stand.


User avatar
LWJ
Hob Nob Addict
Posts: 7543
Joined: 10 Aug 2007 09:59
Location: Hobnob Prediction League Champion 2011/2012, 2020/2021

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by LWJ » 03 May 2017 14:13

Pretty sure we only gave Wolves and Cardiff half the south stand

User avatar
RG30
Hob Nob Addict
Posts: 5919
Joined: 26 Jul 2005 20:42

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by RG30 » 03 May 2017 14:17

Wolves had the entire South Stand

User avatar
Vision
Hob Nob Addict
Posts: 5052
Joined: 15 Apr 2004 20:53

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by Vision » 03 May 2017 14:45

handbags_harris
Royal_jimmy With our big day tripper and glory hunting fan base we will fill it easily as long as we don't get spanked in the first leg. Even still, why should the club give the opposition club an advantage of a bigger away support in a massive game for the sake of 40 or 50 grand in match day revenue


Even though the evidence suggests otherwise? Particularly since the first PL period? Had this been 12-18 years ago (post Elm Park, pre-PL) I'd have agreed, but since 2008 we have had 203 matches at this level in league, cup and playoffs at the Madejski and managed just 13 x 23k+ attendances (and only one of those was 24k+, West Ham in Dec 2011). 10 of those 13 x matches, the opposition support had the whole of the South Stand. Only for Birmingham in 2009 (last day), Palace in 2012 (last home match) and Burnley in 2014 (last day) was the home support allocated half of the South Stand. The demand simply hasn't been there. And if you want to go further back, even the Tranmere playoff home leg in 1995 was 1800 under capacity.

What the club do is obviously open to conjecture, but based on the historical attendance and demand evidence that is easily retrievable, coupled with the decisions the club has taken in the past my hunch, as I stated yesterday, is that they will supply half of the South Stand to the opposition, assess demand, and make a decision from there. They'll want to fill the stadium because the club, quite frankly, is a business. Put yourself in the club's shoes - easy for you to say "screw £35k's worth of income" in a one-off game, but that's a month's wages for a squad player even after accounting for VAT. Why would the club turn that down in a one-off match when the outcome of a playoff match is far from certain regardless of how many away supporters there are?


Isn't the combined Play-off revenue split equally between the 4 participating clubs (albeit the winners always forego it) or is that just the final?

Nameless
Hob Nob Addict
Posts: 8851
Joined: 23 Aug 2013 12:25

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by Nameless » 03 May 2017 15:19

I believe semi final revenue is pooled and split 5 ways (after expenses, which obviously rack up hugely..)

The final revenue is split 3 ways and traditionally the winners don't take their share.


User avatar
genome
Hob Nob Legend
Posts: 25180
Joined: 08 Jul 2012 13:29
Location: Universe

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by genome » 03 May 2017 18:59

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/article ... 03826.aspx

South stand will be available to home fans.

User avatar
tmesis
Hob Nob Regular
Posts: 2780
Joined: 16 Aug 2013 20:26

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by tmesis » 03 May 2017 22:09

handbags_harris
Royal_jimmy With our big day tripper and glory hunting fan base we will fill it easily as long as we don't get spanked in the first leg. Even still, why should the club give the opposition club an advantage of a bigger away support in a massive game for the sake of 40 or 50 grand in match day revenue


Even though the evidence suggests otherwise? Particularly since the first PL period? Had this been 12-18 years ago (post Elm Park, pre-PL) I'd have agreed, but since 2008 we have had 203 matches at this level in league, cup and playoffs at the Madejski and managed just 13 x 23k+ attendances (and only one of those was 24k+, West Ham in Dec 2011). 10 of those 13 x matches, the opposition support had the whole of the South Stand. Only for Birmingham in 2009 (last day), Palace in 2012 (last home match) and Burnley in 2014 (last day) was the home support allocated half of the South Stand.

Home support had half of the south stand for the entire 2nd half of the 2005/6 season, IIRC. A play-off game will sell out, barring a bad defeat in the 1st leg.

The demand simply hasn't been there. And if you want to go further back, even the Tranmere playoff home leg in 1995 was 1800 under capacity.

That's the Tranmere semi-final where Reading fans were given half of the away end, I take it, due to a low take-up of tickets from Tranmere fans?

secks
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: 05 Jul 2008 07:51
Location: Hackney Wick

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by secks » 04 May 2017 10:03

genome http://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/play-off-tickets-on-sale-sunday-7th-may-3703826.aspx

South stand will be available to home fans.


2 Per S/T holder, and all members with over 25+ points at once - that's going to be mayhem on Sunday!

Forbury Lion
Hob Nob Subscriber
Hob Nob Subscriber
Posts: 8635
Joined: 14 Apr 2004 08:37
Location: https://youtu.be/c4sX57ZUhzc

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by Forbury Lion » 04 May 2017 13:47

Winchester Royal £20s plenty should only be used if our opponent reciprocates.
Isn't there a rule that you have to offer away fans tickets at the same price as home fans?


handbags_harris
Hob Nob Regular
Posts: 3793
Joined: 10 Jul 2005 12:57

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by handbags_harris » 05 May 2017 12:55

tmesis
handbags_harris
Royal_jimmy With our big day tripper and glory hunting fan base we will fill it easily as long as we don't get spanked in the first leg. Even still, why should the club give the opposition club an advantage of a bigger away support in a massive game for the sake of 40 or 50 grand in match day revenue


Even though the evidence suggests otherwise? Particularly since the first PL period? Had this been 12-18 years ago (post Elm Park, pre-PL) I'd have agreed, but since 2008 we have had 203 matches at this level in league, cup and playoffs at the Madejski and managed just 13 x 23k+ attendances (and only one of those was 24k+, West Ham in Dec 2011). 10 of those 13 x matches, the opposition support had the whole of the South Stand. Only for Birmingham in 2009 (last day), Palace in 2012 (last home match) and Burnley in 2014 (last day) was the home support allocated half of the South Stand.

Home support had half of the south stand for the entire 2nd half of the 2005/6 season, IIRC. A play-off game will sell out, barring a bad defeat in the 1st leg.

The demand simply hasn't been there. And if you want to go further back, even the Tranmere playoff home leg in 1995 was 1800 under capacity.

That's the Tranmere semi-final where Reading fans were given half of the away end, I take it, due to a low take-up of tickets from Tranmere fans?


Yes they did, after a mad rush from supporters to snap up HST's in order to guarantee their chances of a ST the following (first ever PL) season. This left the "casual" supporter just 2000 tickets to buy in the South Stand. In other words, the demand in 2006 was unprecedented because of the novelty value of it all. We don't have that level of demand any more, as witnessed in 2007/08 and 2011/12 when actual attendances were demonstrably lower than 2005/06.

In any case, the club have actually been wise having offered STH's the chance to buy 2 x tickets each. Had they gone with their usual 1 per STH I think we'd have struggled. I hadn't considered this scenario before because we've never done it before (presumably because we had too many STH's to guarantee 2 x tickets per STH). So, having travelled the road to Damascus and seen the other side, I now think we'll sell out :P

Re Tranmere, that is indeed the Tranmere SF where Reading fans were given half of the Town End. 1800 empty spaces does not account solely for the number of empty Tranmere spaces in the Town End as the away element of the Town End that was vacant simply could not hold that number.

Forbury Lion
Hob Nob Subscriber
Hob Nob Subscriber
Posts: 8635
Joined: 14 Apr 2004 08:37
Location: https://youtu.be/c4sX57ZUhzc

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by Forbury Lion » 10 May 2017 11:36

Elm Park Kid
handbags_harris Attendances in the Playoffs at the Madejski:-

2001 - Wigan - 22,034 - half of South Stand given to opposition (pre-structural segregation) - average attendance 12.6k
2003 - Wolves - 24,060 - whole of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 16k
2009 - Burnley - 19,909 - half of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 19.9k
2011 - Cardiff - 21,485 - half of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 17.7k

Given the three occasions we've only given half the South Stand to the opposition has led to between 2k and 4k empty seats, and the attendances so far this season averaging 17.5k, I'm not sure the demand will be there for us to justify opening the "home" section of the South Stand and so I'd be surprised if the whole of the South Stand didn't to go to the opposition as all three clubs will undoubtedly fill it.


Do you not think this will be one occasion where the owners may consider the impact of double the number of away fans on the match atmosphere? Is the advantage to the away team really worth the few quid we'd get in gate receipts?
Some of the best atmosphere's experienced at the Madjeski have been at games where the away end has been packed with away fans - it's not a coincidence.

A stand half full of empty seats isn't going to be inspiring anyone, including our own fans.

User avatar
John Smith
Hob Nob Regular
Posts: 4717
Joined: 20 Jan 2010 23:47
Location: Astronauts The New Conquistadors

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by John Smith » 12 May 2017 12:28

Forbury Lion Some of the best atmosphere's experienced at the Madjeski have been at games where the away end has been packed with away fans - it's not a coincidence.

A stand half full of empty seats isn't going to be inspiring anyone, including our own fans.

For me, the best of recent times was Bradford in the Quarter Final replay. Electric that night in Y26

Forbury Lion
Hob Nob Subscriber
Hob Nob Subscriber
Posts: 8635
Joined: 14 Apr 2004 08:37
Location: https://youtu.be/c4sX57ZUhzc

Re: Away allocation for home play off game

by Forbury Lion » 12 May 2017 13:02

John Smith
Forbury Lion Some of the best atmosphere's experienced at the Madjeski have been at games where the away end has been packed with away fans - it's not a coincidence.

A stand half full of empty seats isn't going to be inspiring anyone, including our own fans.

For me, the best of recent times was Bradford in the Quarter Final replay. Electric that night in Y26
Same again would be great, although I'd book the acrobatic pitch invader for half time entertainment instead of during play and no unnecessary pitch invasion at the end.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Zammo and 139 guests

It is currently 28 Mar 2024 12:26