Further communication from the FST to Fulham FC on ticketing
This morning, Thursday 6 February 2025, the FST has sent the below communication to Fulham FC CEO, Alistair Mackintosh, providing some recommendations for changes to the ticketing process. We have requested for this letter, and our previous letter sent January 25, form the basis of our next meeting with the club, scheduled for the following Wednesday, 12 February.
Dear Alistair,
As the only independent and democratic supporters group representing fans of Fulham FC, we wrote to you on the 25th January 2025 highlighting the concerns of many supporters about the Club’s approach to ticketing. This followed your suggestion on the 11th January 2025 that we should ‘put in writing’ any ideas on ticketing.
Given it is at this time of the year when you consider Fulham’s ticketing strategy for next season, we wanted to share this additional open letter setting out a more substantive ten-point ticketing plan we believe the Club should adopt. It considers the priority of fans beyond the hugely important need to ensure attending games is affordable for existing and future Fulham fans.
As a reminder, our Board is made up of long-standing volunteer supporters of the Club, elected by fellow Fulham fans who wish to protect the identity of our football Club and ensure their voice is heard within the Boardroom. We are fans who attend games home and away, through thick or thin. We know what is working and what is not. And we believe our constructive views should be of huge value to you and your team.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
We urge the Club to commit to and operate with these principles in mind:
- Fans first – always think like a supporter when making ticketing decisions.
- Openness and clarity – no surprises at any time.
- Communicate frequently and in detail – ensure everyone understands and is up to date. More is better.
HOME GAMES
1. Clear pricing model.
Action: Announce a clear pricing model at the start of each season. Include match categories, category allocations, prices and on-sale dates for every game.
Rationale: This will foster a sense of trust and understanding, allowing supporters to plan. The fact that games may be moved for broadcast should not prevent this clarity, which other Premier League clubs provide.
2. Early on-sale dates.
Action: Put home match tickets on sale early, without waiting until a few weeks before each game. As a bare minimum, put games all on sale once respective broadcast decisions have been made, although tickets could still be sold earlier with appropriate warnings.
Rationale: This also allows supporters to plan, whilst digital ticketing ensures many games can be on sale simultaneously without adversely impacting the ticket office workload.
3. Clear Ticket Exchange criteria.
Action: Clearly communicate the policy for the use of the Ticket Exchange, including measurable requirements for it to come into operation.
Action: Separate sales of higher priced tickets in the Riverside Stand from the criteria for the Ticket Exchange operation in other stands. Options include stand by stand operation of the Ticket Exchange, or horseshoe [Hammersmith, Putney, Johnny Haynes stands] / Riverside.
Action: Open the Ticket Exchange even if the criteria are triggered late. Digital ticketing enables this.
Rationale: Earlier activation of the Ticket Exchange will allow irregular supporters access to a broader range of ticket options they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford and ensure that as many seats as possible are occupied by Fulham fans supporting the team. Casual attendees will still have access to the higher priced tickets.
AWAY GAMES
4. Fair priority system.
Action: Review and publish a clear away ticket allocation system to ensure that the most regular away supporters always have priority. Use a combination of Loyalty Points (updated – see below) and recent away attendance as the basis of the system.
Action: When putting games on sale on a tiered basis, set the allocation criteria as broadly as possible to reduce the number of tiers and allow groups to sit together.
Action: Make a small number of tickets for popular games available by ballot, so that those failing to meet the allocation criteria still have a chance to go to popular games and to build up their privileges.
Rationale: It is vital that away ticket allocation is fair and seen to be so. Regular away supporters must have priority, particularly for popular and low allocation games, but more casual away fans should still have a chance.
5. Early on-sale dates.
Action: Engage with host clubs early to put tickets on sale as soon as possible, even if physical ticket supply has not yet arrived.
Rationale: It is crucial for away supporters to be able to organise cost-effective travel; putting away tickets on sale three weeks or less before a fixture, particularly if a staggered sale is used, makes it difficult for supporters to plan. Other clubs consistently sell the corresponding away fixtures with more notice, suggesting it is an active choice of Fulham executive to delay sales. Digital ticketing can help with this. Knowing that tickets will be on sale “in due course” is frustrating.
6. Advance notice of on-sale dates.
Action: Provide better advance notice of on-sale dates than the current short time frame which is often under 24 hours before tickets go on sale.
Rationale: Although email messages and web site articles are provided, many supporters either don’t see them in time or are unavailable at short notice. Providing more time allows supporters to prepare. Again, we could learn from many other clubs on this.
7. Frequent communication.
Action: During each away ticket sales period, publicise number of tickets sold / still available on a daily basis, including any plans for possible return of unused blocks.
Rationale: Supporters, particularly those in groups with different numbers of Loyalty Points, need to decide when to buy tickets. Also, not everybody has the financial or other means to be able to be able to buy on day one.
8. Digital ticketing.
Action: Where offered by the host club, accept digital ticketing as standard with an appropriate alternative option for those needing paper tickets.
Rationale: Digital ticketing would allow tickets to go on sale earlier and also reduce the Ticket Office distribution workload.
9. Loyalty Points
Action: Review the Loyalty Points system, both from the point of view of accrual and also use.
Rationale: The Loyalty Point system has been unchanged since 2010 and needs tuning. It could be used on a broader basis than just away ticket allocation, but if it is only to be used for this purpose then the method of accrual needs to change to favour away attendance over home.
See FST review paper for more details.
HOME & AWAY
10. Communications
Action: Set up separate social media channels for the Ticket Office to communicate proactively, providing the status of matches, upcoming on-sale dates, matches close to sell-out etc.
Action: Increase the frequency of website and email comms from the Ticket Office, covering similar items as above. At a minimum, contribute to the This Week at Fulham weekly message, covering all upcoming ticketing activity.
Rationale: The Ticket Office staff are great on a one-one basis but can be hard to contact when demand is high, and the lines are busy. Frequent proactive communication of the status of matches, both home and away, will allow supporters to feel informed and empowered, whilst reducing the workload required to field the same question many times over.
Thank you for reading and considering the above recommendations. We would urge you to act and adopt them for next season. In recent years it has increasingly felt like any feedback from fans is taken as an attack on you and your team. That every comment is a battle to be fought. We would urge you to see this as a welcome exercise designed to help the Club succeed with its core fans. As someone once said, feedback is a gift to leaders, we hope you can embrace this as such.
We look forward to your response to the above and our letter from January in the near future.
The Board
Fulham Supporters Trust
