My failure to get the ticket stubs in the summer has left me with a silver membership that is insufficient to get me tickets for the Arsenal game (I phoned at 11am and they’d sold out on Tuesday – I don’t think the Gold members even got in there). The Emirates stadium, the nearest to our flat, seats 60,432 but the maximum allocation for away fans is 3,000, which Watford received. 1,800 “real” fans went up to Everton, 1,000+ to Bolton. Guess Arsenal is closer to home for all of us. I haven’t told Joss yet and regret repeatedly talking about it (though I’m not stupid enough to have promised anything).
This throws into a different light my prospects of making any of the London away games. Next Wednesday I’ll be phoning about Charlton tickets for the 21st but expect a recorded message: “Sorry, mate, all gone. By the way, where were you when we were shit?” I can’t really fault the system – at least it’s not based on how much you pay – but self-interest defies and denies fair play with every fan, even the fair-weather-ones.
The fact is that in order to be able to go to away games next season I am going to have to get to some away ones this season. I’d like to claim that not being able to go to the Arsenal match is an indication that I am going to have trouble doing that: that I’m all vicious-circled up. However, that’d mean my commitment to the truth was as loose as my loyalty to my club. What it really means is that I won’t get to go to the big games and the London games I was hoping to. I’m sure tickets for Monday Dec 4th at Manchester City or Jan 20th at Villa will be available. But Chelsea and Man U? No. Tottenham or West Ham? Doubt it.
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