Ticket Masters?

Last updated : 24 March 2008 By Jim Bonner
Phase Two of Pompey's Semi-Final ticket allocation sold out within an hour of going on sale today. So that's 4,000 seats sold in less than 60 minutes and with so many people missing out in the first two phases you can guarantee a mad rush come Thursday morning.

6,500 tickets will go on general sale to Pompey fans on the database who aren't season ticket holders. The only way to buy is via Ticketmaster which will surely mean phoneline meltdown come 6am on March 27th.

I've heard so many complaints about the service that Ticketmaster has provided. Whether it be waiting up to eight hours to get through, season ticket holders buying more tickets than they were allowed or callers struggling with the automated system.

Then there are even more complaints about season ticket holders getting worse seats than those who applied for Phase Three of the allocation. Despite applying for this phase myself, I do share the sympathies of the season ticket holders as this would have been me if I could have afforded a season ticket myself this year.

I feel that the ticketing process could have been handled so much better.

Would it really have been that difficult to allow our brand-spanking new ticket office to sell at least some of the tickets? Yes, I'm sure the queue from Rodney Road would have been extremely long but what's wrong with that? I know I'd have happily waited all day in a line, speaking to other excited fans about potentially going to the biggest game we're going to see this season.

Then there's the news that the people who had season tickets and yet bought more than one Wembley ticket during Phase One will be blacklisted for the final should we get there.

Again, would it really have been that difficult to prevent these people doing this? They've all got reference numbers after all. Yes, these people knew the rules but it's only human nature to break the rules if you know you can get away with it.

I'm now slightly concerned about my application for Phase Three as for all I know, the tickets could be allocated randomly like they were for the game at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

I feel that I have been to enough games this season to warrant a ticket (12 home, 7 away) but if there are 1,499 applicants who have been to more games than I have and have requested two tickets then I'll have no complaints.

I'm yet to receive any confirmation regarding the success of my application for Phase Three but if I don't see any tickets for Wembley in my postbox on Wednesday then I'll be on the phone at 6am sharp Thursday morning in hopes that I'll be able to get a ticket along with god knows how many other fans.

It's no surprise to see tickets crop up on sale on internet auction sites for quadruple the price either. It looks like vicars will be extremely happy with the amount of sudden weddings they'll be attending on the 5th of April!

There are plenty of people in the same boat as me and I hope that every genuine Pompey fan doesn't miss out on what promises to be a fantastic occasion, even if we do have to go through hell on the phones to snap up those golden tickets!