For a few dollars more....

[Guest couchpotato]

OF squeezing another drop out of the smaller clubs,thoughts?

OF want to charge handling fee for away tickets

[+Gringo]

Baring in mind todays costs of actually getting to a match I find this totally out of order and I sincerely hope nobody goes. Surely clubs should be helping fans to attend instead of trying to turn them away. May their greed bite them hard in their pockets. :33:

[CaleyD]

Wait a minute.....Celtic and Rangers want to operate a "priority" scheme for Away Tickets for their fans and they want the other clubs to pay for it?  That's funny  :015:

[Scotty]

simple solution - make a counter proposal to the SPL that clubs just dont sell any tickets to them.

The clubs cant do it arbitrarily as it is written in the rules that away clubs must receive a minimum of 5% of the capacity of the ground as their allocation but surely this cash grab by the OF breaks the spirit of these rules if not the rules themselves.

[CaleyD]

I just hope certain Taxi Drivers in Inverness don't get the same idea for the allocations they are given for OF matches  :015:

[starchief]

Actually that could be a good thing.  No, bear with me...if the other SPL clubs realise they're not getting the OF cash cow, then they may be persuaded to open up a top 16 league and only play each other twice a season.  That'd be a winner for me.

[CaleyD]

Well Done Falkirk, and I hope other clubs follow suit.....

http://www.falkirkfc.co.uk/club-news/ticke...-rangers-5.html

[Guest couchpotato]

was just away to post that same thing, well done indeed Falkirk for resisting this nonsense,  :clapping03: hopefully ICT will take the same tack.

[CaleyD]

As ICT will be faced with the decision to do as Falkirk have done or pay-up I thought this thread deserved to be in this part of the forum.

Personally I hope we do go the same was as Falkirk have done.  Not because paying the OF would mean us handing over between ?3000 and ?3500 per match, but on the matter of principle.  In fact, it wouldn't upset me in the slightest if the club were to give away the equivalent in free tickets to home fans for these matches to show that it wasn't all about the money.

[alternative maryhill]

Admirable piece of bluff-calling by Falkirk.  Really hope all the other SPL clubs follow suit and put these presumptious @rseholes in their place.

[Kingsmills]

If the other 10 clubs present a united front then the Old Firm will have no alternative other than to back down.

[clacher_holiday2]

Somebody down here asked me would there even be 2,500 Rangers fans in Inverness willing to buy tickets if we sold them this way.

I laughed.  Told him we could sell about 10,000 in the Inverness area no problem.

[CaleyD]

Hearts have also told the OF to stick the 5% charge....

http://www.heartsfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/H...1349815,00.html

[RiG]

I am an idiot - I started a thread on this same topic as I never noticed this one!

Anyway, I hope, like others here, that ICT follow suit. Hearts and Falkirk will now know who they are selling to, trouble makers can easily be identified and their details passed on to either of the Old Filth to follow up. A brilliant move by Hearts and Falkirk so lets hope ICT do likewise.

[absent friend]

I accept that our situation is not a problem if we went down this road, as  we could probably easily fill the small number of seats with the OF local support.

It is the likes of Hearts that surprises me as I would not have thought they could do this and would have to rely on a big travelling support to maximise their OF revenue.  It is this area that will create a problem for the hungry OF accountants, IMO. 

There is no doubt that the OF have a very loyal (maybe the wrong choice of word re Parkhead!) following and I do not think this following will relish having to arrange, via another club, the purchase of their ticket.    I would therefore expect a backlash from their own supporters and this money grabbing scheme will be put to bed.

I live in hope!!

[Council Juice]

It seems the solution in place to avoid selling to trouble makers is the clubs (falkirk and hearts thus far) take the fans details and check them against police databases before sending them out. The police (central scotland police thus far) are said to be happy with the solution.

lets show the OF the  :33: Always wanted to use that smiley :001: :021:

[MissICT]

Caley aren't hard enough.

they need to become more assertive.

[alimci]

It seems the solution in place to avoid selling to trouble makers is the clubs (falkirk and hearts thus far) take the fans details and check them against police databases before sending them out. The police (central scotland police thus far) are said to be happy with the solution.

lets show the OF the  :33: Always wanted to use that smiley :001: :021:

Do Inverness have the (wo)manpower to do this? I would certainly like to see them take the same approach, but it may be a question of admin time.

[CaleyD]

We're talking about 3 fixtures for which we would have to hand over in the region of ?10k to the OF...the cost of a temp worker to come in and cover the extra admin work, if/when needed, would be peanuts in comparison.

[Proctor]

With Hearts and Falkirk already refusing to comply I don't think we should either. Next time a Holier than thou Celtic fan talks about how the club was formed for the working man. I can shove this little act of greed in their face.

[alimci]

We're talking about 3 fixtures for which we would have to hand over in the region of ?10k to the OF...the cost of a temp worker to come in and cover the extra admin work, if/when needed, would be peanuts in comparison.

That's true - I guess you could even get volunteers if it would stick two fingers up at the OF.

[Guest couchpotato]

"It's incredulous that, despite our attempts to explain this rationally to other clubs, some of them refuse to accept our approach,"

Certainly correct with the fact it's incredulous, still nae word from ICT on where the club stands..............

INCREDULOUS!!!

[clacher_holiday2]

I accept that our situation is not a problem if we went down this road, as  we could probably easily fill the small number of seats with the OF local support.

It is the likes of Hearts that surprises me as I would not have thought they could do this and would have to rely on a big travelling support to maximise their OF revenue.   It is this area that will create a problem for the hungry OF accountants, IMO. 

Rangers probably get as many tickets for tynecastle as they do for our ground, Celtic will get a few more as they are still given the entire Roseburn stand.

Edinburgh is no different to any other town in Scotland, walk down the street 5 minutes and youll see half a dozen fools clad in old firm gear, there is easily a huge local market to sell these tickets too, theres loads of Rangers and Celtic bars round here who would buy blocks of seats.

[Alex MacLeod]

From BBC

Rangers defend away ticket plan

Martin Bain defended the Old Firm's stance on away tickets

Rangers have defended the Old Firm's plans to charge a 5% handling fee to sell tickets for away tickets.

They were criticised after writing to the other 10 SPL clubs outlining their plans and accused of "stirring up a hornet's nest".

But Rangers chief executive Martin Bain said he was surprised at the reaction.

"It's incredulous that, despite our attempts to explain this rationally to other clubs, some of them refuse to accept our approach," he said.

BBC Sport has learned that some clubs are now set to bypass the previous arrangement and sell the tickets for games against Celtic and Rangers themselves.

And Falkirk managing director George Craig told the BBC the club would sell away tickets for the home game against Rangers on 9 August - rather than send them to the Ibrox club to allocate.

Bain said he was disappointed at the reaction, adding: "The actions we've taken are in the best interests of our fans and the club.

"We hope this is recognised by our travelling support, despite the complicated and difficult route that may now exist to obtain tickets for fixtures that were once easy to obtain."

The Rangers chief executive added: "At this stage Falkirk, Hibs, Hearts and Dundee United have indicated they will sell tickets to our fans themselves and we await confirmation of the official response from the clubs."

Kilmarnock chairman Michael Johnston has described the Old Firm move as "stirring up a hornets' nest".

Speaking earlier this month, he told BBC Sport: "It's causing a bit of consternation in certain quarters. It's an issue we could've done without."

So four clubs out of ten have told them to stick it. :clapping03:

[absent friend]

If this is the way of it, it could therefore be the end of the OF travelling support as we know it.

The Inverness OF game will be full of Invernessians wearing differing colours and this situation will be repeated all over Scotland, only blinkered locals at each OF game away end.

Absolute BLISS!!

We can then make them aware of our offering and maybe see some of them coming back to support us on a regular basis.