Liverpool supporters will be very aware that getting tickets to watch the Reds is anything but simple and it feels like as each year passes, it becomes harder to get your hands on elusive matchday tickets.
Now that the new Anfield Road End stand is being built, there are many fans who have been waiting on the season ticket waiting list for many years – hoping that they could soon get their hands on their own golden ticket.
In a post about rising ticket prices on the club’s official website, it looks like we may have been handed our first real insight into how many will become available: ‘The expansion will see around 1,000 new season tickets allocated and more than 3,000 new general admission tickets per game for the Members sale’.
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Writing as a member who hasn’t missed a game at Anfield since 2011 (excluding COVID-related empty stadiums) and has been on the waiting list for a season ticket since 2001, this easily missed detail is both alarming and exciting.
After 22 years of waiting for a season ticket at Anfield and currently sat 1243rd in the list, there’s now panic over what seemed like a fair assumption that next year could be the year that the dreaded members sales would finally be a thing of the past and the stress-free life of a season ticket holder was about to begin.
Hearing that there will be 3,000 more chances of attending each game for members is good news but it’s clear here that the club is prioritising members over season ticket holders, something which may be assumed as a positive update.
However, as you have to pay anything from £10 – £20 yearly just to become a member, then purchase every ticket individually (if you ever get the chance to build up your history enough to qualify for the sales) – the club make money from members than offering season ticket holders every ticket for a combined price that is less than purchasing each game individually, with no renewal price added on top either.
The club can distribute tickets however they please but by allowing and enticing more and more members, they make a lot more money than offering the members who go every week a season ticket.
By allowing more members and making more money, they make it harder for those members to actually attend the games meaning that a stadium expansion has to be focusing on getting more into the stadium – rather than rewarding the members who have attended games for many years and invested more into the club than season ticket holders.
It’s hard to know what the right cause of action should be but a brand new stand should be housing more than 1,000 new season tickets – instead the club are prioritising making more money from new fans than rewarding those who have been waiting for over 20 years.