Are Sunderland right to play the percentages with their new season card policy?

Yesterday at 02:00 AM

The policy was clarified hours after being announced, but is it right to potentially penalise those that have to miss games? Andrew Smithson looks both sides of the argument

Season card renewal time is upon us once again and Sunderland AFC's launch for 2025/2026 has caused plenty of talking points — not least regarding price increases, which will be difficult for some people to cover but are understandable from the club's point of view.

A wider spread of direct debit instalments will make things easier for some supporters at least, but what particularly caught my eye — and has thankfully already prompted something of a rethink from the hierarchy — was the issue of a minimum 70% attendance threshold, and how failure to reach this level could cause fans problems down the line.

The matter appeared to have come out of the blue, having seemingly not been discussed beforehand with any supporter groups and not necessarily tackling any of the major ticketing problems that are experienced by either the fans or the club.

Specific reference was made to 'junior' tickets and there are clearly some people that've bought them as a cheap way of circumventing away ticket phases and such like for their marras, but it's upsetting to think that genuine holders could be subject to sanctions for reasons beyond their control.

There are several reasons why younger supporters can't always be at games.

Children whose parents have split, for instance, may not be staying with their match going side of the family when there's a home fixture, whilst the various kick off slots could clash with grassroots games or other commitments, and clearly have an impact on travel arrangements — which is a particular issue for those that live further afield or rely on public transport.

A night clash causing bedtime to be missed is another obvious concern and it was good to see the club providing a swift update on this and deciding to change things to 70% of daytime matches only.

However, it shouldn't have been an issue in the first place and the whole story has served as an unpleasant reminder of some of the muddled communication and bizarre practices that we experienced under previous regimes.

Personally speaking, I know for a fact that one member of our matchday party will not attend anywhere approaching 70% of matches.

They have a health condition which means it can be as little as forty five minutes before kick-off before we know whether they can attend, and although we'll sometimes upgrade their ticket and give it to another family member when we know in advance, that's not always possible at short notice.

When this person does come to the Stadium of Light, they spend plenty of money on food, programmes and merchandise.

The club therefore does OK and having paid for the seat in advance, it shouldn't matter whether it's empty or not — and certainly when the ground isn't selling out anyway. There's also no platform for fan-to-fan resales and many people are content to stream the action instead.

Although it's not ideal to pay for a full season and not make full use of the card, the alternative of buying on a match-to-match basis is impractical.

In that scenario, there would be no guarantee that the right seat would be available, so the remaining four of us would also have to try and move spots. Also, given the limitations of the current ticketing system, I'd be unsure about trying to do this via smartphone on the way to the ground.

OK, so our set of circumstances isn't that common but there'll be others for whom health is a factor, and having a seat waiting for them removes an obstacle when they're well enough to get along.

Let's not forget that folk can no longer use a cash turnstile as a last-minute option and we've already had a shocking situation whereby people with certain conditions were being told to stay on the concourses for a while or leave early due to the pre and post-match light shows, so Sunderland could certainly improve their treatment of some groups as well as ensuring that individuals don't feel marginalised.

I'll admit that I could be jumping the gun with all of this and that we may need to see how things work in practice.

It may be one of those situations — like when a bouncer tells a group of lads they can't get into the bar because they're wearing trainers — but really it is because that they look like trouble, whereas the club won't actually go after legitimate cases but have to put something in place to allow them to deal with people abusing the system.

However, I just don't know if going about it in this way is correct. The figure feels a little arbitrary to me, and can we be confident at the moment that the infrastructure is in place to monitor individual levels correctly?

It's already the case that fans trying to do basic things online, such as buying a single match ticket, often end up having to ring up or go into the ticket office — neither of which is always convenient.

For example, a good friend of mine had a load of hassle when trying to get sorted for the recent Cardiff City match — even though he was trying to purchase a full price seat, and when people want to put money into the club, there should be as few barriers as possible.

It might be better therefore to incentivise attendance and make it more appealing for those that choose to be 'hit and miss', rather than chasing those that aren't always able to be there in person every time but have stumped up nonetheless.

It would be nice to think that we eventually get back to a place on the pitch where the 'sold out' signs need dusting off but for now, a bit of flexibility wouldn't go amiss.

There are plenty of horror stories emanating from the Premier League about regulars being bumped out so that one-off tourists can be accommodated, but at Sunderland it's the hardcore supporters who can add the most value in the long term.

The same person in the same seat each week might only need to buy one replica shirt a year, whereas a new person in there each time would be hoping to load up on the souvenirs in bulk, but day trippers aren't exactly queuing up right now, and may not do so even if we achieve promotion.

A person with some of the considerations above or who's had the same seat for years but needed to move away/meet other responsibilities and therefore sometimes has drop out now and again is still a sure bet and will help provide a better atmosphere to boot.

The cynics would suggest that getting fans hooked when they're young is a good ploy to ensure a lifetime of 'custom' but I've always praised Sunderland's pricing policy and particularly their attempts to encourage younger supporters into the ground.

It would be a real shame if some of those getting the bug or are already fully in the grip of it were eased out, and I hope we never get to a point where owning a season card becomes more hassle than it's worth.