Who needs the Grinch when you have Newcastle United to dampen the holiday spirit? It is Christmas Eve, a time when most people are looking forward to a bit of relaxation and celebration.
Instead, I woke up to an email from the club that effectively ruined the festive mood. It was the same message I have seen far too many times lately: “Unfortunately, your application for the Mags Member Ballot has been unsuccessful.” This time, the rejection was for the upcoming Carabao Cup match against Manchester City.
You would think that by now, I would be immune to the disappointment. After all, these rejection emails have become a regular part of life for many fans. But in reality, it feels worse every time it happens.
There is something uniquely dispiriting about it, a slow drag on your enthusiasm for the team you love. To make matters worse, I wasn’t even expecting the news this morning. After a big night out, seeing that notification pop up on my phone was the last thing I wanted. Forgive me if I am not feeling particularly “Christmasy” toward our football club today.
For those who might not be familiar with how the ticketing system works at St. James’ Park, here is the breakdown. For every home game, members are given a 24-hour window to enter a ballot. Once that window closes, the club processes the entries.
The following morning, every member gets an email telling them whether they won or lost. These emails usually arrive about an hour before the lucky winners are allowed to log onto the site and actually purchase their tickets.
Because Newcastle has had a busy schedule with so many home games lately, it feels like I am getting an “unfortunately” email almost every other day. It is a constant cycle of hope followed by immediate rejection.
The club has made various claims about the “average success rate” for members in these ballots, but my personal experience tells a very different story. In fact, I don’t know a single person whose success rate matches what the club says it should be.
I know plenty of other members, and we are all in the same boat getting almost nothing. I honestly cannot remember the last time I actually won a ballot for a Premier League match. It has reached a point where the system feels less like a fair chance and more like a recurring monthly subscription to disappointment.
What makes this situation even more frustrating is the lack of transparency. The club continues to refuse to make two very important pieces of information public. First, they won’t tell us exactly how many paid members there are.
Second, they won’t reveal how many tickets are actually being set aside for the membership ballot for each game. When a business is this secretive, you can’t help but draw your own conclusions.
It seems fairly obvious that the club doesn’t want to admit just how many people are paying for the “privilege” of entering these ballots, nor how tiny the pool of available tickets actually is.
Being a member isn’t free, either. Adults pay £37 per season, and it’s £20 for children. If reports are true and there are more than 100,000 members, the club is generating roughly £4 million in revenue before a single ticket has even been sold.
That is a massive amount of money to collect from a fan base that is largely being told “no” week after week. If the odds of winning a ticket are as poor as they feel, it’s no wonder the club wants to keep the numbers hidden. If people knew they had a one-in-twenty or one-in-fifty chance of getting a seat, they might think twice about handing over that membership fee every year.
I keep asking myself: why the secrecy? If the system is fair and the odds are reasonable, why not just be honest with the supporters? Tell us how many of us are fighting over those seats.
The silence only breeds resentment and makes the “unfortunately” emails feel like a slap in the face. It feels like we are being treated as a revenue stream rather than a community of loyal supporters.
So, here I am on Christmas Eve, another rejection in the books. To those of you who were lucky enough to win the ballot and will be heading to St. James’ Park to see the City game, I hope you have a fantastic time. Please, make sure you appreciate every minute of it.
There are thousands of us on the outside who would give anything to be in your shoes, but for now, we’ll just have to settle for another holiday season spent away from the Gallowgate. Merry Christmas to all, and better luck to us next year—though I won’t be holding my breath.
