Manchester City have introduced a ballot as part of their scheme to give cheap tickets for local residents this season
Manchester City's stadium
Manchester City's stadium
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Manchester City matches in the Premier League will be back next month and from next week you will be able to buy tickets for May. As has been the policy for several years now, the club are selling a big chunk of their seats for every home game in advance of the season starting.
It is useful for City to see demand in all of their matches, and must please those in charge of sales to see allocations being sold out months in advance of the actual games. Despite the exact time of the fixtures being likely to move, people are already willing to part with their cash to make sure they can be there for it.
There are two types of people that this benefits most. The first is overseas fans - even if a Saturday could become a Sunday, it gives far more confidence to make the journey to Manchester for a week or a weekend if there is confirmation of a match ticket already; not having that guarantee has understandably been enough to put people from coming and that is a shame.
More than international fans though, putting every game on sale at once favours the richest - those who have the money to buy tickets for multiple matches when for others it is a case of seeing how much money they have left in their account every month. The idea of local supporters not being able to decide in the weeks leading up to a game that they can afford to go because all the tickets have already been bought up in advance is also sad.
City's ticket ballot, introduced as part of the local residents scheme that will see up to 500 tickets every game for those who live in the area surrounding the Etihad, should help to address this. Not only are the seats brilliantly affordable at £10 for adults, but the ballot happens much closer to the game once kick-off times have been introduced so it is possible to decide when to dip in and try for tickets.
The idea of a ballot, secretive in its nature, has plenty of fans sceptical. There are already concerns over allocations for away games amid the more general concern of football supporters across the country that clubs are not prioritising their most loyal fans.
There is no appetite from Blues for a ballot for any other aspect of ticket sales because of how it could be open to abuse, and the club do not intend to use it either. Yet they will still need to show that the one they are introducing gets the target audience into the Etihad rather than accidentally letting in half a thousand extra Reds or a dozen of the goalkeeping coach's mates on derby day.
City's plans for cheap tickets for local residents has been well received by pretty much all Blues since it was announced last week, with the ballot the only aspect that has fans wondering. It has the potential to solve one problem, but the club must work to ensure it does not cause another.