To put it in simple terms, if you are a season ticket holder, club member, have bought tickets for three home games or went to Preston for the FA Cup fifth round tie then you're guaranteed a ticket. If you're a member of a supporters group, hold an away season ticket or a disabled fan then you should also get your hands on one of those golden tickets.
If you're not one of these people but you're on the club's database for the 07/08 season then prepare yourself for the scrum of the general sale for the last 3,000 or so tickets.
Tickets will once again be sold by Ticketmaster but this time the whole system is far more organised. Fans will be speaking to real people, meaning NO AUTOMATED SYSTEM and better yet there will be allocated days for the different groups of fans to purchase their tickets so waiting times on the phone should be minimal.
I have to commend Peter Storrie for organising this in what I believe is a very fair way. The only criticism I have is that fans who can only travel to away games weren't considered but then you can't please everyone. I'm also surprised that there are only 900 non-season ticket holders/members that have been to Fratton Park three times or more. Surely that can't be right, can it?
Season ticket holders can book up to eight tickets together if they have the reference numbers of the other applicants whilst families who are Blue Army/Junior Blues members can also book their seats together.
The fans that have been to three home games or the Preston away game will be notified by post to confirm their eligibility for a ticket.
Once someone has purchased their ticket, their name will be erased from the database to prevent that person ordering multiple tickets.
Tickets will go on sale from 11am - 10pm from April 21st - 29th, with each day being allocated different priced tickets to different sets of supporters as follows:
Monday 21st: South Stand Upper ST Holders - 220 tickets at £95, 2153 tickets at £80
Tuesday 22nd: North Stand Upper ST Holders - 220 tickets at £95, 2271 tickets at £80
Wednesday 23rd: South and North Stands Lower ST Holders - 3201 at £80, 1171 at £60
Thursday 24th: Fratton End ST Holders - 3201 at £80, 1300 at £60
Friday 25th: Blue Army/Junior Blue Members - 100 at £80 (Junior Blues only), 1910 at £60
Monday 28th: Three Home Matches/Preston Attendees - 357 at £60 (3 home games only), 739 at £35
Tuesday 29th: General Sale to 07/08 Database Members - 3150 at £35.
So, having been to 11 games so far this season I will be expecting a letter through my door soon. The cynic in me won't be entirely convinced about this system until I have the ticket in my hand but for now, I'm happy that I (probably) won't have to enter the final day ticket frenzy or pay around £400 for a (really, really important) game of football!