We may technically have this waiting list, but it's a bullshit number. Proved by the fact that they were virtually begging people to take the last remaining season tickets for the new stadium, which was a total increase of about 25,000 I think. So 100K people on the waiting list, only 25k(?) season tickets sold.
I'm sure you know, but if you have a OH+ membership it automatically means you are on the list. And you don't get taken off of it if you turn down the offer of a season ticket year after yea. You just stay on it. That's why people who were 60K+ on the list were getting ST's.
It just makes it look like we've got a massive waiting list when in reality it should probably only be about 20,000 people on that list.
Also it wouldn't surprise me to see a fair amount of churn now that the stadium isn't new and people can see that both the new ticket site and exchange works well so you can get tickets to most matches. As you say it's a vanity project to have a season ticket and only use it occasionally.
The club know this, and that's why I think it's unlikely they will implement any sanctions on non-attending fans.
At old WHL I was on the waiting list for approx 10yrs (I lost count after 8)! I had it for approx the last 7 or 8yrs prior to the move. I previously held an ST for about 10yrs but I emigrated to Asia for a short period so didn't renew thinking I'd just apply and get one on my return, this was when we were still a bit shit.
I think when I re-applied I was 28k on the list, this took TEN years to get to the point of being offered one. What was really, really strange was I would only move about 200-500 places each year, but the year I was offered one I jumped from about 8k in the list to having a choice of hundreds in every stand with the exception of nothing in The Park Lane.
A mate of mine isn't an ST holder and hasn't missed a single game in the new stadium, he has obtained seat for every game via the Clubs own system, this is unheard of for Chelsea or CL games compared with old WHL (he's 91k on the list).
There is the possibility for a higher than normal churn rate at the end of this season as there seems an abundance of ST holders not present for many games. Or, just like up the road, these people simply have the funds to buy and renew and really aren't that interested in going other than to turn up for the Cat A games. This happens in so many other sports now from Rugby to Tennis and even golf I'm told.
They did ban "some" that had sold to Red Star fans in the South Stand I believe, or it was reported that they would identify them and ban them, not sure of the end result of what happened, how many were actually banned and lost their ST's. But in theory, it should be a piss of piss, as all of them were kept back in the stand and all the seat numbers clearly had them in them. But kind of left with the impression that it's a lot of noise being made to make an example and therefore use it as a PR excise to warn ST holders. I may have got this totally wrong.
