Fan Letters: "Sunderland's away ticketing system needs to be addressed"

01/03/2025 01:00 AM

Longtime Lads fan Nick Capeling feels that the allocations of tickets for travelling supporters could be fairer. Got something to say? Email us: RokerReport@yahoo.co.uk

Dear Roker Report,

As a remote Sunderland supporter for pretty much all my life (brought up in Blackpool, now living in London), my match opportunities have always been limited to a couple of visits per season to Roker Park and the Stadium of Light, topped up by several away games within a couple of hours of wherever I was living.

This has worked perfectly fine for many years, and I could totally accept that it just wasn't possible to go week in and week out to home games as the journey times and costs involved were beyond me.

However, recently, it's become increasingly difficult to get to away games.

The club's away ticketing policy is a perfectly fair one, but unfortunately it suffers from a combination of fairly low away allocations in the Championship combined with our huge season ticket fanbase, with enough willing to travel to away games to swallow up our entire allocation game after game.

I would appeal to the club to implement a tweak to the policy using the various supporter branches around the country, at least while we're in the Championship (PL rules around away allocations may be more helpful for a club of our size).

As I understand it, there's usually at most a few hundred applications from a supporter branch within the region that an away game is being played. However, at the moment, with the current policy, it's often the case that only a handful of tickets are allocated (based on Black Cat Points, perhaps?).

Please enable the relevant supporters' branch to take initial priority on an allocation, as for many diehard fans, these handful of games are the only ones we can get to, and with a Sunderland-mad son now wanting to go too, he's missing out.

For nearly all allocations, there would still be a sizeable amount (probably 1000-2000) tickets then available for the current policy to distribute fairly.

We all know that Sunderland is a pretty unique club. The level of support is a major factor in this and there are fans all over the UK who would love to get to a few games a season. We aren't asking to get the best or biggest games- just the ones we can get to.

If we want to remain a huge club in terms of support, please don't exclude those of us (and our families) who are struggling to get tickets, given there's little opportunity now for away tickets through friends and contacts like it used to be.

It also leaves many fans open to scams online, which is a real shame, as the use of supporter branches could be a simple and effective way to ensure all the fanbase gets to see the Lads play live.

Nick Capeling

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Nick. Thank you for your letter.

The subject of away ticketing allocations seems to have been a contentious issue for a while, with many fans commenting on the flaws within the system and their inability to secure tickets for the biggest away matches on the calendar.

Could a fairer system be implemented? Absolutely, but I'd also be curious to know how fans of the division's other heavyweights (Leeds, Burnley, etc) are allocated tickets and whether they're encountering the same issues as our supporters.

Many clubs at this level do take immense followings with them on the road, and with the increasing influence of Sky Sports, they're often having to make long journeys at difficult times in order to see their teams live.

Sold out away ends can make a huge difference to the Lads' fortunes on the pitch, as we saw against Blackburn on Boxing Day, and it's imperative that the club does everything in its power to ensure that all supporters have as fair a chance of securing a ticket as possible.

Dear Roker Report,

I usually only write in to have a whinge so it's been amazing having zero complaints.

I genuinely can't think of a team I'd rather support, with an entertaining style of play, the club financially well-run, and a young squad who all look like they really want to be there.

The videos the club put out of the Lads being interviewed on random questions are just really pleasant too. It's a really nice team we have there.

With that in mind, the Stoke result was a bit disheartening, but in the grand scheme of things, it's going to happen from time to time.

Even Liverpool get beat every now and then, and I think it's a big thing with football fans to overreact after getting beat.

It's natural, so I don't particularly blame anyone, but the last thing I'm thinking of is picking apart Eliezer Mayenda for missing the odd sitter; again, it happens. Erling Haaland scored his first goal in what feels like five years the other day, and he's arguably even better than Mayenda!

Just reading some of the replies to the lineups and I saw 'Alese is crap'. After the goal against Stoke it was 'Luke O'Nien and Chris Mepham are crap', and Mayenda misses a chance or two and he's 'crap' too.

I'm not sure what people want, if I'm being honest. We're still sitting a few points off the top, and who saw this coming at the start of the season?

Who saw Jobe turning into his brother, or O'Nien turning into Rio Ferdinand? I'm quite biased when it comes to Sunderland and not even I predicted we'd be doing as well as we are this season.

I think we'll be in the Premier League next season and I know we're going to be a lot more disheartened after games as we'll be in the toughest league in the world as the underdogs, so for this season, just enjoy the ride.

Jake Taylor

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Jake. Thank you for getting in touch.

I think the most frustrating thing about the defeat at the hands of Stoke City was that had we won and then beaten Sheffield United on New Year's Day, we really would've given our automatic promotion hopes a huge boost. As it is, we're still in a very good position, but there's perhaps a sense that we could've taken even more points, not least after conceding a late equaliser at Blackburn.

There's no doubt in my mind that promotion is there for us if we can take the opportunity and stay the course for the remainder of the season, and I think that's why many fans are perhaps a little bit edgy. They know that it can be done, and dropped points are therefore a source of real frustration, particularly in such an open top six race.

I also feel that criticism of certain players can be somewhat reactionary, too. We see mistakes being made and we sometimes forget that these lads have done superbly to get us into the position we're in, so it's important to be balanced wherever possible.

Dear Roker Report,

What a refreshing change by Régis Le Bris to go from his three-point trident attack of two wingers and a central runabout to one with dual centre forwards.

Both Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda benefited greatly from this change and gave the Sheffield United defenders a night to forget. On the break, we looked capable of scoring every time.

Hopefully Le Bris will continue to use this system during the second half of the season.

Bill Fisher

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Bill. Thank you for your letter.

The resurrection of the classic 4-4-2 system worked a treat against Sheffield United, and seeing Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda working so well together reminded me of the Ellis Simms/Ross Stewart combination that proved so effective at the beginning of the 2022/2023 season.

Régis Le Bris deserves huge credit for making that switch, and it's good to know that we've got the ability to change things up if we need to during the remainder of the season.

Another big tick in the box for the Frenchman!