Why the Newcastle United Cup Final scheme needs to go | OneFootball

OK, let’s start with full disclosure – I am a Newcastle United fan who now has my ticket for the League Cup final.

This is not a shameless brag but, I think, a worthwhile caveat before I go on to attack a system that, ultimately, worked out in my favour.

It was a stifling, anxious wait for many Mags between the euphoria of the second leg win against Arsenal and the actual details of ticket allocation the following Monday, but when the announcement finally arrived, it should have come as little surprise.

Anyone who keeps an eye on what they’re signing up to, should have been aware that the cup scheme open to Newcastle United season ticket holders, explicitly stated at the point of its launch that participation in this scheme would be a factor used were we to reach any final. The way it has worked out is ostensibly fair, but I have to say it needs be done away with, for two main reasons.

Firstly, I think there is a consequence of this development that is stunningly obvious. Any season ticket holder who has either declined to sign up for these cup schemes, or has passed tickets on to others (officially) when they can’t attend, will now take absolutely zero risks.

Just about every person will sign up for the scheme for every cup and drag themselves along to every game, whether they are feeling ill, about to go on nightshift, or are subject to one of the many good reasons someone may find themselves unable to get to St James’ Park on a random midweek night at the height of winter.

This sense of forced attendance will, in my opinion, be poor for the atmosphere and even shows a certain degree of bias, as anyone living outside of the area suddenly has to sacrifice a few days annual leave if they want to avoid being locked out of Wembley.

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Ultimately though, the victims of this that will be hardest hit, are among the long-suffering Newcastle United members.

I have attended many games in the various cups in recent times in my usual season ticket seat and the faces around me tend to be notably different for games outside of the Premier League.

How many people were taking a rare opportunity to see the team that night?

An opportunity that could now be severely diminished as cup final FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) reduces the member allocation for any game to the kind of miserable odds that exist for a typical Premier League game?

If anyone isn’t aware, the ballots were oversubscribed this year for a midweek match with Wimbledon and a Sunday kick off with Bromley.

This brings me to point number two: there is absolutely no need for this cup scheme to exist, other than as an added convenience for Newcastle United fans wishing to take part in a consequence-free manner.

I’ve said this before, but there is a fault at play, in the echelons of Newcastle United ticketing. I believe the people employed there have business degrees/backgrounds and have taken the perfectly reasonable business approach of assessing the nearest market competitors approach and have applied certain cherry-picked aspects of what they do, to their own model. The problem is, football isn’t a normal business.

Liverpool, Chelsea and Man Utd all need to take a novel approach to their cup finals because their extensive fan base has a need to share around the various degrees of success, having spent the past three decades or more harvesting cups. If you’re in your forties you’ve had at least five chances to see your team lift the league cup, the FA Cup and various different levels of European trophy. A minimal number of fans at Newcastle United have seen the club win a pot of note and the older you are, the more hard yards you’ve put in to experience a series of crushing disappointments.

In my opinion, the existing loyalty systems of away points, followed by season tickets, then memberships, would be a valid means of allocation. By all means, use attendance at games from the cup run as a means of sub-categorising things, but it certainly shouldn’t be the only deciding factor. Another reason these clubs lean hard on such schemes is because they have to find ways to blackmail, browbeat and trick their legions of plastic fans into attending the unglamorous games in the early stages of cup competitions. As stated above, we have folk desperately trying and failing to get into first hurdle matches against League Two opponents.

I’m not naive enough to think that, were United to start racking up the trophies in the decade ahead, we wouldn’t have a similar issue with the lesser games reducing in interest. That’s the point where you have to get creative and move around the percentages to allow more for Newcastle United members, reward for cup diehards and whatever other criteria is flavour of the month at the time. The time isn’t now because that’s what they taught you in Marketing Analytics 101 when comparing the business models of the major supermarkets.

I can’t complain about this particular process because it was laid out from the off. However, I would strongly urge the club to reconsider for the inevitable raft of consistent future success, to avoid creating a closed shop to a greater extent than the one we already have. If you’re not careful you’re going to end up having to build a bigger ground.