Play Off Dates Confirmed & Tickets

[Royal With Cheese]

Folks - I've just checked the online ticketing and have (roughly) coulnted the available seats left.

East and West stand completely sold out. There's only 2 areas (corner Nts/East and Corner South/West) where there's a couple of hundred tickets in each (absolute tops)

The North Stand has about 50 seats left.

I recon no more than 500 seats left.

That would give an attendance of 23.5 K?

[Row Z Royal]

As long as there aren't people sitting behind me, to my left and in front of me, I don't mind.

[who are ya?]

[Bowman's Quiver]

Folks - I've just checked the online ticketing and have (roughly) coulnted the available seats left.

East and West stand completely sold out. There's only 2 areas (corner Nts/East and Corner South/West) where there's a couple of hundred tickets in each (absolute tops)

The North Stand has about 50 seats left.

I recon no more than 500 seats left.

That would give an attendance of 23.5 K?

That was my take too although I'd reckon the spare seats are closer to 1k giving an attendance tonight of about 23.1k

[Red]

With our history in the playoffs I can't really blame them especially as money is short, I myself wouldn't be going if it wasn't for my very generous Fiance paying for me.

Half of me really doesn't wanna go still, I don't think I can bare walking home after yet another playoff defeat!

I don't buy that. That's what football's all about shirley? How much more did promotion mean to us last time because of all the years of disappointment that came before.

I think Schards is correct, we just don't have an active fan base of much more than 20,000. If it was on a Saturday afternoon or evening we would have probably sold out, possibly people can't be arsed to rush back from work and get to the game.

Agree with that - also don't underestim8 the effect the TV cameras have. Why pay £30 when it's on in the local?

Sure the dedic8d fans will go, but that only gets you to your 20k.

[No Fixed Abode]

BBC Radio Berks have just reported there are 3,000 tickets still available for tonight.

[Red]

I always had you down as a Radio 1 man for some reason Kes.

[Svlad Cjelli]

There's a lot of bullsh*t coming out of BBCRB - maybe from the club. They're reporting that 3,000 tickets are left, and Reading stand to lose £100,000 if they're unsold.

Now I make that £33 per ticket, so I can't quite work out how they possibly come to that figure - unless they're including hospitality places too. But it'd take an awful lot of them to skew the prices up so high, especially as no way would every ticket sold be full adult prices - so there's an awful lot of spin or misinformation here.

[No Fixed Abode]

I always had you down as a Radio 1 man for some reason Kes.

Radio 2 - they play Morrissey on there.

[Royal Lady]

There's a lot of bullsh*t coming out of BBCRB - maybe from the club. They're reporting that 3,000 tickets are left, and Reading stand to lose £100,000 if they're unsold.

Now I make that £33 per ticket, so I can't quite work out how they possibly come to that figure - unless they're including hospitality places too. But it'd take an awful lot of them to skew the prices up so high, especially as no way would every ticket sold be full adult prices - so there's an awful lot of spin or misinformation here.

I said exactly the same thing on the way to the game, when I heard them say that on Radio Berks. I couldn't work out where they got £100k from for a start and if the club thought that by saying that, suddenly 3,000 people would say "oh, I wasn't going to go to the game, but if it means the club stand to lose £100k, I'd better go" I think they were way off the mark.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Also play-off money goes into a big pot, and is then shared out I thought, so must have cost the other teams as well. In all fairness Mr Peach is not a footy person and has no idea. In fact not sure any of the programme presenters are actual fans, have heard Debbie McGhee once mention footy, dire and simple comes to mind.

[Royal Lady]

Also play-off money goes into a big pot, and is then shared out I thought, so must have cost the other teams as well. In all fairness Mr Peach is not a footy person and has no idea. In fact not sure any of the programme presenters are actual fans, have heard Debbie McGhee once mention footy, dire and simple comes to mind.

Nothing to do with the presenters - it was the news reader who mentioned we'd potentially lose £100k if all the remaining 3,000 tickets weren't sold.

[No Fixed Abode]

They upd8ed later on saying there were 2500 tickets left and the club would lose out 70k.

[brendywendy]

pathetic, but slightly less pathetic than th ecrowd at the burnley playoff game

[TFF]

There is a massive difference between "losing" £100k and "missing out on" £100k.

I doubt very much the club's budgets rely on 100% attendance at every league game, let alone cup and play off games that they have no guarantee of hosting - complete with an additional income from tv rights.

Radio Berks really are a bunch of arses.

[Svlad Cjelli]

In any case, I thought that the income (after costs) from all 5 play-off games was put intop a play-off pot and split between the participating clubs and the FL - it certainly used to be like that a few years ago.

In which case the whole story is wrong - they'd stand to "lose" 20% of the value of any unsold tickets and nothing more.

I'll check what the rules are now on this.

[Royal Lady]

I also caught the end of some discussion on BBCRB about the "Club Wembley" seats - I'm wondering if they got a bit mixed up. Maybe if those who own those seats don't buy a ticket for the play off final we stand to lose out on £100k?*

Assuming we get there, in which case, if THAT was what was meant, they're a bit ahead of themselves anyway and losing a potential £100k at Wembley should be the least of our worries at the moment!!

[Svlad Cjelli]

In any case, I thought that the income (after costs) from all 5 play-off games was put into a play-off pot and split between the participating clubs and the FL - it certainly used to be like that a few years ago.

In which case the whole story is wrong - they'd stand to "lose" 20% of the value of any unsold tickets and nothing more.

I'll check what the rules are now on this.

Found it. This is the FL rulebook from last season, but AFAIK this still applies.

10 Promotion, Relegation and Play-offs

10.1.4

(d) In all play-off matches 50% of the net gate receipts shall be paid into the Pool Account referred to in Articles 64 of the Articles of Association;
(e) In all play-off matches apart from the final play-off matches the remaining 50% of the net gate receipts shall also be aggregated, Division by Division, and each Division's aggregated monies shall be shared equally amongst the four Clubs taking part in that Division's play-off matches.

So, unless this rule has changed in the last year - and I don't think it has - half the gate income (after receipts) goes to the FL and the other half goes into a pot shared amongst the 4 teams. So whatever income was lost, Reading FC stood to "lose" no more than 12.5% of it (a quarter of the shared 50% of the total).

This means either BBC News has made and broadcast a wrong assumption or Reading Football Club has lied to them. I'm going to find out which.

[Sarah Star]

...

[No Fixed Abode]

Aren't there plenty still available?