Should NUFC copy on Newcastle United away tickets? Manchester City initiative on away tickets | OneFootball

I wonder whether with Newcastle United away tickets, our club should follow the lead of Manchester City?

By chance I saw this announcement (see below) from Manchester City on Tuesday morning.

It was announcing details of their ticket allocation for the match at St James’ Park on Saturday 28 September.

Just like NUFC distributing Newcastle United away tickets and pretty much every other major club with theirs, Manchester City use a loyalty points basis when it comes to deciding who gets away tickets.

However, what Manchester City do, which I was unaware of, they take five percent of each away ticket allocation and only season ticket holders aged 18-25 can buy these.

So with Newcastle United giving them 3,204 tickets, around 160 of those tickets only 18-25 year old Man City fans can by.

With the endless debate(s) around Newcastle United away tickets, one of the issues is how younger season ticket holders can compete for away tickets,, especially if they haven’t had family help in terms of building up a high number of loyalty points.

The endless conundrum is, that you need a certain number of loyalty points to get pretty much any away ticket (apart from a very small number that the club now ballot for those who didn’t have enough loyalty points each away game), but to build up your loyalty points, you need to get tickets to away matches…

Personally, I think what Man City do with their away tickets, should be copied by NUFC with Newcastle United away tickets, in terms of a small allocation only for 18-25 year olds.

Again, only my point of view, but I would also make available a similar small allocation for each away match to Newcastle United members. The odds of getting away tickets would be minute but at least it would be some hope (where currently there is zero) for all of the NUFC members of having the chance of potentially getting the very odd away ticket, even if only around 150 tickets (or less) were allocated to members each away match.

(***I was also interested to see below in the Man City announcement that all away tickets for this Newcastle match would be paper tickets. I thought the norm now was moving towards digital tickets home AND away? Maybe regular NUFC away travellers can put me right. Also, in the Man City announcement I can see no threats to take away loyalty points and/or season tickets if anybody is caught out using an away ticket that wasn’t sold directly to them by their club)

Manchester City official announcement on Newcastle United away tickets – 3 September 2024:

‘The Club has received an allocation of 3204 tickets, including 16 wheelchair bays and a number of tickets for ambulant supporters.

All tickets for this fixture will be issued as paper tickets. Tickets will be posted to the lead purchaser via Royal Mail Tracked 48 post, approximately 10 days prior to the fixture.

All of the away section at St James’ Park is now a safe standing area.

Juniors under 15 must be accompanied by an adult over 18.

From this allocation, the following groups will receive tickets for this match: Season Ticket Members, Seasonal Hospitality Members, Owner, Board of Directors, Football Management, Players, Club Officials and Staff, Former Players, Club Partners and the Man City Supporters Club.

18-25 year olds

‘Similar to previous seasons, Season Ticket Members aged between 18 and 25 years old (based on supporter’s age on 1st August 2024) can purchase from an exclusive allocation of away match tickets on the first day of sale.

However, for the 2024/25 season, to help improve the purchase journey, the Club will assign the 5% allocation for 18–25-year-olds to a specific block in the away section.

Fans with the necessary ticket points to be able to buy in the first window will be excluded from this allocation and can select a seat in a location of their choosing.