20 Royalty Points for Feyenoord Ticket

[Croydon Royal]

Yet the man across the street from the Madejski can just pop along and get 20 points, more than what I managed to get from spending well over £250 going to the last 8 away games of last season, in places as far away as Crewe, Sheffield and Burnley.

Sorry, but that's bollox.

Why should I be rewarded less points than someone from outside of Reading for supporting my hometown team? You simply can't discriminate between a fan that lives 3 miles away from Madejski or 300 miles away.

Think you've mis-interpreted my point. It's got nothing to do with how far people travel to home games. I'm saying that we should be rewarded more for travelling miles and miles to places like Crewe and Burnely, than travelling 5 minutes to see our team play at home in a meaningless friendly.

Why?

The club benefit less from the sale of away tickets than they do home tickets, so why should they be obliged to offer more royalty points for the away games than home?

Numerous times have they commented that Royalty points are to reward the more loyal fans, in order to fairly allocate away tickets for major games. This may just be a difference of opinion, but when it comes down to allocating tickets for major away games I'd rather it be given to the fan who went 10 away games last season rather than one who just turned up to a meaningless friendly 5 minutes away during the summer holidays. If benefiting the club is more important than benefiting the loyal fan then why not just get the club to sell royalty points? Say a pound a point!? That's the way football's going and I think that's a very sad thing.

[Just 2-0]

Do what I have done, give up on it all, I will stil follow Reading I will not be filling the pockets of the players as much, and certainly feel no passion for those that think this is the way to treat supporters.

West Ham have a big friendly and I think it is £1 for ST holders!!

JM NH and BB would not give you the snot from their hanky if they thought they could make money for it.

[Jerry St Clair]

Do what I have done, give up on it all, I will stil follow Reading I will not be filling the pockets of the players as much, and certainly feel no passion for those that think this is the way to treat supporters.

Sadly, 2-0 the club do not give a toss about your support (whatever their marketing bullshit about "rewarding loyal fans").

I'm sick to death of the way my club is increasingly run to the detriment of the fans.

[royalsteve]

Its a joke, to be honest - Its instantly devalues the committment of those who went to 10 away games last season, by making a meaningless friendly worth the same amount.

Sort it out Reading.

The club has long since devalued those who travel regularly to away games.

15 away games last season= Feyonoord friendly and Star Membership

away games last season were 2 points, this season 5 points - and 5/10/15 points for a home game

[TheLawnMowerMan]

The club have given "bonus" royalty points for years when the fixture looks less than appealing - if you're shocked now then you should have complained when it first started.

If you really want the points then buy a ticket anyway.

Royalty Points are a way of rewarding supporters who spend their money in the way the club prefers - you may not agree with their criteria, but at least it's a way of sorting out ticket sales to popular away games.

It may not suit everyone - but what would?

[RFCSinceBury1971]

20 points for a friendly? Thats a disgrace.

[noise]

my didcot friendly better get me 50 royalty points as i am coming from california to see it.

[weybridgewanderer]

Rather than moan about it on here, how many of you will take time out to write to or phone Jackie Evans at the club and make your views known?

If enough people bombard her with complaints about this then maybe they will have a rethink. and lets see some discussion on this on the STAR board and find out what STAR, the fans representatives to the club , are going to do about this.

I would suggest something along the lines of the following ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ms Evans

It has come to my attention that one of our pre season friendlies this summer is being rewarded with 20 Royalty points.

I appreciate that this will have been done to try and attract people to this "meaningless" fixture however this is the equivalent of 10 away fixtures last season.

This really shows a lack of respect by Reading Football Club for the fans who put in time and effort following the team away from home over the last 2 years.

Could I suggest that the club considers retrospectively allocating points to those that attended a number of away games over the last 2 seasons?

One suggestion would perhaps be an extra 10 points for every 5 away games attended?

Regards

[Keeper]

20 points is quite steep, after all the Spurs game last season earned 5 points which was on the same level as a home league game.

However perhaps the thinking behind it is that you get 5 points for a silver game, 10 for gold and 15 for platinum this season (or whatever they are called) and because the game is against a European team you deserve even more points.

Its wrong though, i'm an AST and was last season too, so I won't have a problem, however 20 points could make a big difference, like last season and the Arsenal tickets.

But the club have publisised it now so they can't change it, the same reason means they can't backdate points.

My advice, go to the friendly if you need the points, I just hope they don't charge too much for it

[Spotters Badge]

.

My advice, go to the friendly if you need the points, I just hope they don't charge too much for it

How much do 20 royalty points cost? I'm on holiday when it is on but I'll buy a ticket for the points.

[EASTENDER MARKY]

So who's actually going to the friendly?
I think it should be boycotted!
Madejski will almost defiantly not lower the prices, he knows there will be plenty of interest because of this offer with the points.

[Stranded]

Seriously how is anybody shocked by this.

We've had this discussion before, these are "Royalty" points not loyalty. Points you get for spending money on tickets to see Reading play and based on the amount of money the club get from the sales. The last couple of seasons the home friendly has been very poorly attended so they are using the points as a carrot to get people to go.

You know, come see us at home in a meaningless game and increase your chance of going to Old Trafford. Personally, I'd have made tickets as cheap as possible but ie £5 across the board but that was never realistically going to happen esp as we have charged £10-£20 in the past.

[West Stand Man]

Kunts.

So, if I go to Villa, Wigan, Sheffield United and West Ham I will have the same number of points as someone who toddles along to a meaningless friendly.

Why don't they just drop the whole pretense about Royalty Points rewarding loyalty and just dish points out at the end of the year to people who've spent most money?

A meaningless friendly ??!! If this is a sell out it is an additional few pennies in the bank - that is its meaning. Thus, the more people who come, the more loot that we get into the bank; hardly meaningless now is it?

You delude yourself if you think that loyalty just means being a regular traveller - it means getting more loot into the coffers to help the survival of the club. And what is wrong with that?

[Finch Royal]

Finch has been campaigning for over a year now about the disagraceful distribution of royalty points. IMO it's STAR's place to put forward the views of the fans, however their attitude has been "they're not going to fix it so why bother trying".

Finch has the answer but no one will listen !!!!!!!!!!!!!



http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43970

[Platypuss]

Kunts.

So, if I go to Villa, Wigan, Sheffield United and West Ham I will have the same number of points as someone who toddles along to a meaningless friendly.

Why don't they just drop the whole pretense about Royalty Points rewarding loyalty and just dish points out at the end of the year to people who've spent most money?

A meaningless friendly ??!! If this is a sell out it is an additional few pennies in the bank - that is its meaning.

In other words - it IS meaningless.

The club might as well have said "buy 20 points off us for £20 and we'll throw in attendance at a training game free".

[RFCSinceBury1971]

Finch has been campaigning for over a year now about the disagraceful distribution of royalty points. IMO it's STAR's place to put forward the views of the fans, however their attitude has been "they're not going to fix it so why bother trying".

Finch has the answer but no one will listen !!!!!!!!!!!!!



http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43970

Im with you on this Finch. This one game represents what the dedicated supporter got for going to most of the away games last season. It is totally unfair.
last season after the Arsenal fiasco I suggested that away tickets should be distributed by the amount of away games attended over a 2 year period so those that travelled away on a regular basis got there reward.
I got laughed at for it because some people thought that would be unfair.
Attending away games should not have anything to do with how many home games you have been to or how long you have had a home season ticket.

[Stranded]

Finch has been campaigning for over a year now about the disagraceful distribution of royalty points. IMO it's STAR's place to put forward the views of the fans, however their attitude has been "they're not going to fix it so why bother trying".

Finch has the answer but no one will listen !!!!!!!!!!!!!



http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43970

Im with you on this Finch. This one game represents what the dedicated supporter got for going to most of the away games last season. It is totally unfair.
last season after the Arsenal fiasco I suggested that away tickets should be distributed by the amount of away games attended over a 2 year period so those that travelled away on a regular basis got there reward.
I got laughed at for it because some people thought that would be unfair.
Attending away games should not have anything to do with how many home games you have been to or how long you have had a home season ticket.

Yes but the flaw with that is that over the last two years a lot of people would have bought on the day from the away ground making it impossible for the club to have an accurate picture. It would also almost make it a closed shop and would stop those like myself who go to away games when they can from getting tickets.

Basically, any system the club puts in place will lead to people moaning. If you want to go to away games badly enough next year, you can by getting an Away ST.

The club are using the points as an incentive to get people to go to the game. If you don't agree with it don't go.

Yes those who go will get more points than those who went to 10 away games but the money the club will make will be about the same hence the level. As I've said these point are a measure of the money you give to the club not how much you spend going to Hull on a Tuesday night.

[Finch Royal]

Stranded, my arguments are there for all to see.

I have argued the points you are making in the STAR section.

[Thin Cat]

The best way to protest would be to buy a ticket and then not go to the match.

That would send the message "I don't want to watch boring meaningless friendlies, but I do want the loyalty points so that I can watch real football."

20 points does seem excessive to me. I can see why they give plenty of points for League Cup matches, because we should be supporting the team in all competitive matches. But I have no desire to watch a pre-season fitness session and I'm certainly not getting excited about the opposition being a famous club from Europe.

[ayjaydee]

One day perhaps, people will get it into their heads that RFC is a business that is now playing with the big boys. Gone are the days when our "little club" looked after its supporters and appreciated loyalty (if ever it truly did).

The whole "loyalty" thing was done to death and beyond pre/post Arsenal.
Everything now is about maximising income and, whilst I may not agree with it, I can certainly understand the rationale.

As a regular away traveller I appreciate that RFC get little or nothing from my pocket for such excursions and despite the right noises made by the players I really don't believe my presence at Crewe raises their performance levels. Therefore I am not surprised that my loyalty to the club is judged on the depth of my pocket.

Or to put in another way read Stranded's post!

Incidentally, does anyone have knowledge of other clubs distribution policies for away tickets? Are they based on previous away travel history? I have my doubts.