Good Morning. It's Thursday 25th April, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Club finally take action on ticket toutsLeeds have issued Elland Road bans and cancelled a number of admissions for the Southampton game, after tickets appeared for sale online! The club are incensed that touts should take advantage of fans that are so desperate to see their beloved club in action, that they are prepared to pay £470 per regular ticket, or just under £2000 for a family of four! With an online queue of 25,000, there was bound to be mass disappointment, and with so much at stake, the Elland Road faithful will go to any lengths to see the season finale. According to a club spokesperson...
We are aware of tickets being sold on third party websites for our fixture against Southampton at hugely inflated prices and we encourage supporters to only purchase through official club channels. Our ticketing team are continuing to monitor the situation and a number of tickets for this match have already been cancelled without refunds, with bans also being issued. It is illegal to sell, offer to sell or transfer tickets to matches without the authorisation of the club and the strongest possible action will be taken against anyone found to be selling tickets through unofficial channels.
Identifying the touted seats isn't difficultTouts have been around forever, though having reviewed touting sites before; I'd imagine few would include Elland Road tours, and VIP box tickets so readily! At the beginning of March, the club announced they were introducing a season-ticket usage policy which would see holders at risk of losing their tickets if they fail to attend at least 80 per cent of home league matches, though the terms are ambiguous!
Season Ticket Holders and My Leeds Members are able to forward their ticket as a mobile ticket to another supporter if they are unable to attend a game. Would this still class as an empty seat as the official holder would not be in attendance? There's a big difference between giving a mate your ticket if you can't attend, and sticking it online for £500. There are obviously fans with multiple tickets, who make thousands every season by selling their tickets at ridiculously high prices.
With everything digitalised these days, and Elland Road having one of the best security systems in the Country, it would be easy to identify the seats which are being abused week in - week out, and take appropriate action, if the club really wanted to!
