Newcastle United ticketing issues – A deep dive with this analysis

I try to be as balanced as I can when making comments on other articles on The Mag – sometimes I will make a tongue in cheek reference to something or other, but by and large, I try and play it with a straight bat, even if I do stray into politics from time to time!

A recent article by Jack Watt, ‘Newcastle United Ticketing Shambles – Thousands of Fans Make Feelings Known’ prompted me to respond by saying ‘whilst I’d agree that the website is difficult to navigate, having used it in the past several weeks, I had found that it works and that when I’d had occasion to call the ticket office, I’d got through without much fuss and the person I spoke to was helpful and courteous’.

That is my genuine experience.

Jack’s article referred us to the results from the recent NUST (Newcastle United Supporters Trust) survey but didn’t really report on its findings, instead giving us a link to go and look at the survey results ourselves. I therefore decided to take a peek via the link and from what I read, it seems there is a lot of work for the club’s hierarchy to do.

The survey was open to both NUST members and non-members, receiving 5,394 total responses between 27th August and 4th September. There was a good mix of season ticket holders and NUFC members.

In terms of satisfaction with digital ticketing at SJP, 20% were dissatisfied and 15% very dissatisfied. So basically one in three not at all happy with that aspect. That’s pretty stark. Whilst the majority of fans’ most recent match day experience of digital ticketing at SJP seemed satisfactory in that they either had no issues or despite a longer queue than normal, they got to their seat before kick-off,.

Whilst almost half of those surveyed were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the Newcastle United ticketing website, with over 40% not having their issue resolved if they had occasion to contact the ticket office direct. That’s staggering in this day and age.

Even worse, over 70% said if they’d emailed the ticket office, they didn’t receive a response and the vast majority who called the ticket office on the telephone had a wait of over an hour, lots of people reporting waiting more than two hours. The problem seemed less acute if attending the ticket office in person, although there were still some people indicating that they’d had to wait over an hour and in some cases, more than two hours before being attended to. This is even more damning given that two in five weren’t getting their issue resolved.

In terms of digital Newcastle United ticketing, the survey concludes that although many supporters are using the digital system without problems (myself included), there appears to be a problem in the Strawberry Corner and parts of the Gallowgate and East Stand.

All of this is exacerbated by what the NUST survey has found, namely, the club does not appear to have sufficient resources and systems to support those encountering issues at peak times, either on matchday or between games. The conclusion? Must do much, much better.

The survey went further and asked about the ballot system for members.

Again, nearly half of those surveyed were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied and in terms of value for money, nearly three in five reported that it was ‘worse than last season’. Issues highlighted were timeframes associated with the ballot making travel arrangements for those living away from the area problematic to arrange at short notice, the uncapped number of memberships leading to a reduced chance of success, lack of transparency, inability to select a preferred seating area, pricing and the club’s stance on rewarding loyalty which seems to have been compromised in an attempt to build the fanbase.

Even the merchandise provided to members seems to have gone backwards, although as a ST holder and non-member, I personally haven’t missed the key ring!

Whatever folk might think of the NUST, they have at least highlighted another serious concern amongst season ticket holders and members and are urging the club to look at this.

For the club, getting the commercial side of things right is a prerequisite, considering the straitjacket of FFP.

With the level of resources the club has and the ambition our new owners have shown, they need to tackle the issue of chronic under resourcing in the ticket office. Putting pressure on what I would assume to be staff earning a relatively low wage isn’t the answer, although previous owners have done exactly the same.

HTL