We're in a unique situation here. Pretty certain no club has ever gone 'overnight' from a 30k+ stadium to a 90k one like we are doing. This on top of being closely surrounded for home games by major rivals in such a large stadium. So with an extra 50k+ tickets available I'll be amazed if it all goes smoothly, especially for our A games against London clubs. Chelscum will doubtless descend in numbers, the chance of gatecrashing our party will likely be too much for them to resist even though it will mean registering on our database.
You'll have to have bought a ticket previously, you can't just register now and get one. We'll have to see tomorrow, but I think Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham at least will come with some restricitions.
Good points SOTM. It's going to be very interesting how the club balance the need to sell the thousands of empty seats v doing their best to ensure there's no trouble at the game.
For me the club set the prices too high this season, now coupled with the lack of new signings, have left us facing an embarrassing situation with lots of empty seats in a game between last seasons 'top two'. A London derby to boot.
I don't think registering on our database is going to be enough of a deterrent to Chelsea fans. Surely it will be something like you have bought something from the club, and/or maybe a date cut-off as well, (e.g July 1 this year, anyone 'registering after that won't count for ticketing purposes for this game?)
Gonna be fascinating what the club come up with, I assume they have had input from the police, and maybe THST too?
It's a question of how low we'd have to go to guarantee filling the stadium. Getting 80,000 at the current prices generates more income than cutting every ticket by £5 to get 90K.