Blues v Villa Ticket Allocation Proposal
28September 8, 2015 by Made In Brum
We have sent a letter to those involved in the decision to reduce the ticket allocation to Blues and a proposal that we feel could have been easily implemented to ensure BCFC’s correct allocation of 10% ( approx 4200 tickets).
As follows . . .
Blues Collective Saturday 5th September 2015
Sent to SAG attendees representing villa/police/council/bcfc ( names removed)
We, as Blues Collective, (representing fan groups) would like to express our levels of concern and disappointment on behalf of many Birmingham City FC fans regarding the limited allocation of away tickets at the forthcoming Cup game at Villa Park.
The allocation of 2,800 tickets (less than 7% of total gate) – will be rightfully allocated to platinum / gold season ticket holders who will be in situ to watch “just another Blues match” which will hopefully earn the winning team an easy gate to the next round.
We are of the understanding that the rules for the competition state that 10% of tickets are allocated to away fans . We are also led to believe that if segregation is in place with a detailed and structured plan then there would be no need to reduce the away fan allocation.
Birmingham City have over 9,000 season ticket holders so even our rightful allocation would mean over 50 % would have to miss out but to reduce it further through lack of thought is unprofessional. Those responsible for the planning must have known that a plan needed to be implemented from the day of the Cup draw.
We would also like to know if the 1400 ‘missing’ allocation will be used for segregation or will they be sold to home fans?
The controlled sale of all tickets would mean every ticket would be allocated to an individuals’ unique client reference number upon purchase therefore reducing the probability of any violence as all would know it would result in an immediate (probably lifetime) ban as would selling a ticket to a third party.
On behalf of the Blues fans, and the safety and well being of Birmingham City as a whole, the fans would like to be heard and know that our opinion matters, we all love our teams and would relish the opportunity of watching our live local derby, but are very aware that this cannot happen in the vast numbers that we would like.
We feel that this is a massive opportunity missed to show that the City of Birmingham can organise and control a big event with predetermined parameters if required. Manchester, Liverpool and London have moved ahead of Birmingham because of this. This fixture should be nothing but good publicity for Aston Villa, Birmingham City and the City of Birmingham as a whole.
We would like to take this opportunity to ask you to reconsider the allocation of tickets to Birmingham City FC fans as this is a memorable occasion for the City of Birmingham and should be shared, enjoyed and made a memorable occasion for all.
We have attached a proposal that we feel would result in the full allocation of 4200 tickets being awarded to Birmingham City Fans.
We look forward to your response
PROPOSAL
We would suggest that a temporary fence across Witton Lane segregates both home and away fans, allowing BCFC the North Stand Lower, ensuring that the back car park rear of the North stand is fenced. We would then make supporters collect tickets on match day from BCFC ticket office and have a fleet of buses to transport ALL fans to and from the ground that way there is no trouble and the supporters are managed and police have FULL control.
Made In Brum 
So villa fans in north stand upper would be fenced in with blues fans?? also did you witness what albion fans did to villa fans in the fa cup,,your proposal is not im afraid acceptable,I do agree you should have more tickets by the way
So as the Police are saying this is a villa decision then they are admitting they are a small club who can only cope with 2800 away fans, so will this 2800 apply to Man Utd, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, Spurs and WBA when they attend this season?
Must be one reason they lost the FA Cup semi-finals if they can’t segregate 2×20,000.
Villa couldn’t even control their own fans vs WBA last season and stop them running onto the pitch and now want to blame Blues for their own incompetence.
The Football League & FA are also inept as they let the biased villa decision to reduce the away attendance to give their own team a greater chance of winning, i call that cheating, when the home club dictates circumstances in a cup game and the Fooball League abandoned their duty to fairness and professionalism.
It shows villa, the Poilce and the City Council are small minded and not capable of hosting major football games, no wonder the media and football in general pass this city by when it is so poor at running football in the area.
Blues used to have the lower north stand in the eighties when violence was far worse than today, yet villa and the Police say they can’t cope, more like incompetence.
Whilst it may seem harsh that the ticket allocation is low, I think you are totally missing the point regarding the reasoning for it. It has barely anything to do with last seasons FA Cup Quarter Final although admittedly those scenes won’t have helped. This decision has been reached due to the ridiculous scenes at the end of the last Blues Villa game at The Sty in 2010. After that game, you yourselves reduced Villa’s allocation to 1,500 for the league game in the following January which obviously worked as there were no subsequent violent scenes.
In addition, reference your point about the allocation for Liverpool, Citeh, Spurs, Chelsea, yes the allocation will be 2,800 – that is the normal league allocation we give to all visiting supporters so those will be no different.
The sty? If you’re gonna make comments on a BCFC web site then have some respect.
We gave your lot 4000 tickets for the last cup game at St Andrews which is around 13% of our capacity, In the league game that followed we had no say in the amount of tickets you got as that was down to the police NOT us, so get your facts straight. The league rules state that 10% of capacity should be given to away supporters in a cup game, that is what this piece is about. KRO
Oh and the reason we ‘lost’ the FA Cup Semi Final as you put it was down to the pure greed and needs of the FA who have a new stadium to pay for, again nothing to do with crowd control issues. But then I suspect you knew that.
Hi Blues Collective,
Love the fence, where can I get one?
Kind Regards,
Miguel
You miss the fact that there is no area at villa park that houses 4200 fans , the 2800 is the usual away end , to accommodate 4200 you would also have to be given the upper north stand which would take the allocation to around 6500 , and would involve birmingham fans sitting above villa fans , which just won’t happen. You claim 10% is the correct allocation , allocation in any competition is always subject to segregation and local policing. Whilst i feel for fans that cant get tickets it is like this due to idiots supporting both teams ruining it for genuine people who want to watch the match.
Chris G,
You have answered your own complaint. You said that you had no say in the 1500 allocation. It was a direct response to the trouble in the December game and agreed between the clubs and the police. This 2,800 allocation is exactly the same, a direct response to the trouble mainly retards caused including flares thrown in the last cup and also significantly, night game. If fans had behaved themselves and not been total nobs giving it the big one then this wouldn’t be happening. Otherwise why else do you think you are not being given 4,200 – which incidentally is not an automatic entitlement if there are fears over crowd safety – which let’s face it for a night game when loads are going to be pissed up looking for trouble, there are.
The decision to only supply us with 2800 tickets was made by villa not the police
But in all fairness, the reasoning behind it is because of the last night game the two clubs played where a bunch of idiots ran onto the pitch. Both clubs have enough of these idiots and unfortunately, it means that the rest of us get punished.
The article above says it would be a great publicity for the city of Birmingham as well as Aston however it wouldn’t be. I would be very surprised if there isn’t trouble at the game regardless of the smaller allocation. If a bookmaker was willing to take a bet on it, I’d happy put good money on there being 5 or more arrests.
Until these people are banned from games and are actually stopped from attending when they are banned, we’ll all keep getting punished for their inability to watch a match without getting in a fight.
And just for clarity I meant fans from both clubs causing trouble last time.
Your club reduced our allocation to 1500 for a league game and you’re complaining about 2800? Always the victims.
Just remember what happened to your idiots who thought it would be clever tovget tickets around VP back in 03/04, it was a painful experience for them lol.
Looking forward to seeing some of you again, be lucky hahaha
I’m glad I’ve seen this post, me and my mate Roland , was thinking about getting tickets in the trinity , but upon review of your post, I’m too scared , we don’t want the ugly scenes of of 03 playing out again . We don’t want the mighty villa hard cases picking on little pockets of blues in the ground again. I’ve done millwall , west ham but, but I’m gonna sit at home and watch this one, villa are too naughty and dangerous, unless there’s room on one of the coaches?
Shame I was looking forward to meeting you and Roland, oh well “we’ll meet again, don’t know where don’t know when but I know we’ll meet again some sunny day”…….but as you’ll never be in the premiership again we’ll have to hope for cup games 😉
The city is ours, SOTC.
Your quite the poet sean, maybe you should try writing your club a new anthem ,or a decent song of relevance ? Rather than the mongy chants you have now.
Truth is me and Roland have shit the proverbial brick, so unless we go on the coach and sit in the away bit, we’ve had it.
I swear if I get a ticket on that coach and we drive past you you can expect the mighty Roland to be flickin the finger at you fudgers..
But no home end for me to many hardcore villa.
P.s anyone know where I can buy some segregation fencing used in the pictures above, it’s a lovely bit of segregation fencing that.
The fence is not plausible. You cant make all fans turn up on a coach from St Andrews. What about Birmingham fans who work on the other side of town who can only make the game by going directly to Villa Park? I think we should have given you 4,000 but extended the away allocation across the Doug Ellis stand rather than give you North Stand Upper like the West Brom fans that resulted in chairs being thrown onto the fans below.
“You can’t make all fans turn up on a coach from St Andrews”
Why not? They usually do out of choice.
You’re unhappy with 2800 tickets at £30 quid each. Imagine how villa fans felt when we had 1500 tickets at £48 back when we last played you at St Andrews. Also why would we give fans the lower north when that hasnt been used by away fans for near 10 years.
As ive pointed out already (obviously too stupid to read other posts) the decision to only give you 1500 at St Andrews was down to the police NOT Blues
So your decision to reduce the number of tickets was solely down to the police (I think you will find that it was in consultation with Birmingham City Council but let’s not worry about facts) and ours was totally our decision, not in consultation with anyone?
Birmingham City FC can confirm that after consultation between the clubs and the Football League, the ticket allocation for Blues fans at Villa Park shall be 2,800.
This allocation is now consistent with similar high profile derby matches held at Villa Park and has been deemed necessary in order to maintain public order and safety.
Read more at http://www.bcfc.com/news/article/aston-villa-birmingham-city-2669604.aspx#py69MM7zdw48OZJf.99
You’re unhappy with 2800 tickets at £30 quid each. Imagine how villa fans felt when we had 1500 tickets at £48 back when we last played you at St Andrews. Also why would we give fans the lower north when that hasnt been used by away fans for near 10 years
I’ll be taking up the coach as I’ve done in previous years. Villa fans will beat the s**te out of us otherwise. I think the allocation is about right as den caney and abduls tours only have a certain amount of coaches to take us across the divide. Kro!!
Coach for me as well but I think its a rip off the club making money out of it, I mean £11 for a seat, I can get 2 balti pies and chips for that in the ground, the balti pies at the vile are superb
Fuck off you vile inbred twats an get off our page and retreat back to the shithole you call Aston
great response , made yourself look great
My Dad was a Bluenose, my Uncle is a Baggie and I’m a Villan. Its pretty disappointing that we cant have a derby game where some supporters from any of the teams cannot act in any way but animals. I was at the Villa v WBA FA cup match a few months ago where a young lad had his head cut completely open because Baggie fans in North Upper were throwing seats. I would welcome 4200 fans if I thought we could just enjoy banter and a derby atmosphere but we know it wont happen.
Really happy with the allocation, personally. 2800. That’s ten times as many fans as we took to Middlesbrough two seasons ago. Can’t wait to jump on the convoy of coaches from the mecca of football, to Vile Park. I’ll be gesticulating wildly in the window with all the other loyal brummies en route to our first game of the season. KRO SOTV
What are trying to do make a laughing stock out of us? Please fuck off just fuck off with this nonsense. I’d rather watch it in the pub than embarrass myself by being shipped in behind a bastard fence. Jesus Christ I’ve heard it all now.