Percy plunkett wrote:The answer is the database system that Alex Tunbridge had said was going to be set up.Why did it not happen,was it too expensive,did RP LTD not allow us to use their software,did we need separate facilities,was there no room for two.Everytime we bought a ticket,it would be logged so no one would miss out on big games.That was going to happen but hasn't.

I am pretty certain that was the plan but then the realisation was that if we used the RP software, RP would effectively hold the ticket money in their account, effectively controlling our cash flow.

The system is not ideal , but if we wouid have lost to Wrexham and invested £50k in a ticket system for attendances of 3,000, the warrior(s) would be criticising the club for such an outlay.

It is draining debating with people that take multiple viewpoints to suit their agenda.

Alan G Bryant wrote:

Percy plunkett wrote:The answer is the database system that Alex Tunbridge had said was going to be set up.Why did it not happen,was it too expensive,did RP LTD not allow us to use their software,did we need separate facilities,was there no room for two.Everytime we bought a ticket,it would be logged so no one would miss out on big games.That was going to happen but hasn't.

I am pretty certain that was the plan but then the realisation was that if we used the RP software, RP would effectively hold the ticket money in their account, effectively controlling our cash flow.

The system is not ideal , but if we wouid have lost to Wrexham and invested £50k in a ticket system for attendances of 3,000, the warrior(s) would be criticising the club for such an outlay.

It is draining debating with people that take multiple viewpoints to suit their agenda.

So how much would it cost us to set our own up and maintain it?.

Percy plunkett wrote:

Alan G Bryant wrote:

Percy plunkett wrote:The answer is the database system that Alex Tunbridge had said was going to be set up.Why did it not happen,was it too expensive,did RP LTD not allow us to use their software,did we need separate facilities,was there no room for two.Everytime we bought a ticket,it would be logged so no one would miss out on big games.That was going to happen but hasn't.

I am pretty certain that was the plan but then the realisation was that if we used the RP software, RP would effectively hold the ticket money in their account, effectively controlling our cash flow.

The system is not ideal , but if we wouid have lost to Wrexham and invested £50k in a ticket system for attendances of 3,000, the warrior(s) would be criticising the club for such an outlay.

It is draining debating with people that take multiple viewpoints to suit their agenda.

So how much would it cost us to set our own up and maintain it?.

I haven't the first clue , but in all but 2 of our 30 year history it has not been needed, so I guess it was not a priority,

We need to look at it positively and say it will be needed on a regular basis,especially if we are serious about trying to get in the playoffs this season or next.We shouldn't spend everything on players' wages and bonuses for the management but invest in this now while there is some finance available.Then this problem of fans missing out can be solved,if not completely,but greatly improved.

with regards a new ticketing system I would want to see the costs and balance it out against the benefits before deciding whether or not it is worthwhile. Even so it may be a case of guessing what the future needs are likely to be. Will my crystal ball be better than anyone else's?

I think we can probably acknowledge that we wont be getting a decent ticket system for a number of reasons.
However, my immediate concern is that multiple priority routes for the same person are no longer available. Whether that means we are left in a low tech solution of scissors, hole punches & marker pens then so be it. We can never allow this to happen again and the same ticket issuing protocols need to be in place whether it's Manchester or Macclesfield.
Some valued fans have missed out and that has to be prevented.
The whole issue of ticket priority routes needs looking at ready for next season. They can tweek the details, but what mustn't happen again is that some people claim large numbers while some get none.
Whatever needs doing to that end needs to be done, even if it's unpopular with some.
It has taken the shine off the whole thing for me.

newgroundrodney wrote:I think we can probably acknowledge that we wont be getting a decent ticket system for a number of reasons.
However, my immediate concern is that multiple priority routes for the same person are no longer available. Whether that means we are left in a low tech solution of scissors, hole punches & marker pens then so be it. We can never allow this to happen again and the same ticket issuing protocols need to be in place whether it's Manchester or Macclesfield.
Some valued fans have missed out and that has to be prevented.
The whole issue of ticket priority routes needs looking at ready for next season. They can tweek the details, but what mustn't happen again is that some people claim large numbers while some get none.
Whatever needs doing to that end needs to be done, even if it's unpopular with some.
It has taken the shine off the whole thing for me.

Instead of getting all 'unshined' on a message board now is the time for action. Write up your issues, your recommendations to address them and send the report into our fans owned, massively supported by volunteers, club.

Whilst your at It, you could also write to QPR and let them know how all 'unshined up'you are by the fact you can only manage to get to a handful of their games per season (because their 'loyalty' system locks out their fans because 'more loyal' fans buy tickets for every game as they are 'entitled' (even when they have no intention to go to games and they then sell them on social media). That must be so frustrating to loads of genuine QPR fans every many many times every season.

Personally it's taken the shine off for me everytime that QPR have a match. Get it sorted QPR!!!

Fourthousand wrote:

newgroundrodney wrote:I think we can probably acknowledge that we wont be getting a decent ticket system for a number of reasons.
However, my immediate concern is that multiple priority routes for the same person are no longer available. Whether that means we are left in a low tech solution of scissors, hole punches & marker pens then so be it. We can never allow this to happen again and the same ticket issuing protocols need to be in place whether it's Manchester or Macclesfield.
Some valued fans have missed out and that has to be prevented.
The whole issue of ticket priority routes needs looking at ready for next season. They can tweek the details, but what mustn't happen again is that some people claim large numbers while some get none.
Whatever needs doing to that end needs to be done, even if it's unpopular with some.
It has taken the shine off the whole thing for me.

Instead of getting all 'unshined' on a message board now is the time for action. Write up your issues, your recommendations to address them and send the report into our fans owned, massively supported by volunteers, club.

Whilst your at, you could also write to QPR and let them know how all 'unshined up'you are by the fact you can only manage to get to a handful of their games per season (because their 'loyalty' system locks out their fans because 'more loyal' fans buy tickets for every game as they are 'entitled' (even when they have no intention to go to games and they then sell them on social media). That must be so frustrating to loads of genuine QPR fans every many many times every season.

Personally it's taken the shine off for me everytime that QPR have a match. Get it sorted QPR!!!

ps and you could volunteer to train everyone up on your 'low tech system's and perhaps put a few shifts in sitting in the ticket 'hot seats' with the other volunteers just to show them how the exemplar of the ticketing world does it.

Alan G Bryant wrote:

Percy plunkett wrote:The answer is the database system that Alex Tunbridge had said was going to be set up.Why did it not happen,was it too expensive,did RP LTD not allow us to use their software,did we need separate facilities,was there no room for two.Everytime we bought a ticket,it would be logged so no one would miss out on big games.That was going to happen but hasn't.

I am pretty certain that was the plan but then the realisation was that if we used the RP software, RP would effectively hold the ticket money in their account, effectively controlling our cash flow.

The system is not ideal , but if we wouid have lost to Wrexham and invested £50k in a ticket system for attendances of 3,000, the warrior(s) would be criticising the club for such an outlay.

It is draining debating with people that take multiple viewpoints to suit their agenda.

I think the plan was to move to Ticketmaster in the Summer, the Dragons did, we didn't, I don't know the reasons why.
Ticketmaster is, in my opinion, a tier one solution for ticketing and is capable of doing all that we need and much more.
The system we use, Seatadvisor I would say is tier two but still capable of doing what we need with work.
Adopting Excessbee's idea of not using attendance at a game to grant priority ruling out ticket stubs would simplify things greatly but could be adapted to online sales only having priority.
Ideally any new system would be in place before Season Ticket sales commence but as this will not be possible this season, an added complexity with a simple solution though.


For me, the thing the club need to get right for the future is enabling those with priority to use that priority.
We've had three games in just over a month where we have sold out all of the tickets available for home fans, selling approaching 20,000 tickets in that time.
For every game some people who wanted tickets did not get them for one reason or another some of whom had priority which they just could not use or maybe it's that they did not find the sacrifices necessary to use their priority justified for the reward.
We need a better system for those people first and foremost and maybe there are simple answers out there such as using a local call centre for the next Man City type match? That may be cheaper than reconfiguring the ticketing system.
Having said all that, we have sold approaching 20,000 tickets in just over a month with a very high success rate and we have a ticketing system that is adequate for over 90% of our matches.

Amberexile wrote: For me, the thing the club need to get right for the future is enabling those with priority to use that priority.

That's the whole thing in one sentence.

Amberexile wrote:

Alan G Bryant wrote:

Percy plunkett wrote:The answer is the database system that Alex Tunbridge had said was going to be set up.Why did it not happen,was it too expensive,did RP LTD not allow us to use their software,did we need separate facilities,was there no room for two.Everytime we bought a ticket,it would be logged so no one would miss out on big games.That was going to happen but hasn't.

I am pretty certain that was the plan but then the realisation was that if we used the RP software, RP would effectively hold the ticket money in their account, effectively controlling our cash flow.

The system is not ideal , but if we wouid have lost to Wrexham and invested £50k in a ticket system for attendances of 3,000, the warrior(s) would be criticising the club for such an outlay.

It is draining debating with people that take multiple viewpoints to suit their agenda.

I think the plan was to move to Ticketmaster in the Summer, the Dragons did, we didn't, I don't know the reasons why.
Ticketmaster is, in my opinion, a tier one solution for ticketing and is capable of doing all that we need and much more.
The system we use, Seatadvisor I would say is tier two but still capable of doing what we need with work.
Adopting Excessbee's idea of not using attendance at a game to grant priority ruling out ticket stubs would simplify things greatly but could be adapted to online sales only having priority.
Ideally any new system would be in place before Season Ticket sales commence but as this will not be possible this season, an added complexity with a simple solution though.


For me, the thing the club need to get right for the future is enabling those with priority to use that priority.
We've had three games in just over a month where we have sold out all of the tickets available for home fans, selling approaching 20,000 tickets in that time.
For every game some people who wanted tickets did not get them for one reason or another some of whom had priority which they just could not use or maybe it's that they did not find the sacrifices necessary to use their priority justified for the reward.
We need a better system for those people first and foremost and maybe there are simple answers out there such as using a local call centre for the next Man City type match? That may be cheaper than reconfiguring the ticketing system.
Having said all that, we have sold approaching 20,000 tickets in just over a month with a very high success rate and we have a ticketing system that is adequate for over 90% of our matches.

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/20 ... nt-091118/

This is relevant but has to be looked at in context of priorities for our club - it comes at a cost.

' ...this is a significant investment in the club's infrastructure'

And with (hindsight) I wonder if the soon departing Chairman (and the fans of Notts County) may have wished to put monies elsewhere.

My point all along is that our fans can't just demand something in isolation - there are others that suggest other things are more important to them/our club - all within a finite budget. Real world stuff.

Agree with that fourthousand hence suggesting there might be cheaper options when compared to a full blown IT migration or upgrade.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are looking at a chunky 6 figure sum but have come to that guesstimate by scaling down from my experience of much bigger projects.
I also notice that they are passing some of the additional transaction costs onto the fans.

Amberexile wrote:Agree with that fourthousand hence suggesting there might be cheaper options when compared to a full blown IT migration or upgrade.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are looking at a chunky 6 figure sum but have come to that guesstimate by scaling down from my experience of much bigger projects.
I also notice that they are passing some of the additional transaction costs onto the fans.

That is the level of discussion that needs to be had.

Furthermore I would anticipate a lively debate on 'transaction costs' should they ever be presented to our fan base.

Fourthousand wrote:

Amberexile wrote:Agree with that fourthousand hence suggesting there might be cheaper options when compared to a full blown IT migration or upgrade.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are looking at a chunky 6 figure sum but have come to that guesstimate by scaling down from my experience of much bigger projects.
I also notice that they are passing some of the additional transaction costs onto the fans.

That is the level of discussion that needs to be had.

Furthermore I would anticipate a lively debate on 'transaction costs' should they ever be presented to our fan base.

That's an interesting question for sure.

The usual way of charging for SaaS ticketing systems is a percentage of the ticket cost plus a transaction fee, so the club will likely be charged in this way for the service from whomever.

Those costs need to be covered from the overall revenue of the club.

It seems that Notts have decided to take the percentage charge against the P&L and pass the transaction fee onto the fans.

If we go down this road, I would explain it in this way at an open meeting and ask for a show of hands as a first indicator of fans' preference.

Exile 1976..............I emailed Newport County Trust .............Contact Us......sent messages first asking for 3 tickets I wasn't sure of the entitlement ie Trust member , Silver Card member and Mon Building Society Instant Access account holder since 2014 for which I was assured the club will get another £54 MBS gives the club a percentage of the interest of that account. every December or so they told me yesterday. I did get an acknowledgement from the emails but only ie ..........we will reply etc --but I got nothing after twice. The reason I asked for 3 tickets was because I have two older brothers , Arthur and David Bassett who actually saw the 1947 ?? match when County lost 0-3 at Somerton Park with ex POW Charlie Turner in Goal and Eddie Carr Man city had Frank Swift in goal. .Actually my first was County 7 Aldershot 0 when George Roffi scored 4--------------My first regular season was 1950 Happy days !! ------My Brothers Arthur is 84, David is 82 and I'm a mere lad of 80.
Come on the Port !! Bob Bassett