Hasta

Tom Finn has just been on Radio Lancs claiming that Rovers were never offered the so called 'Rangers allocation' ie 7500. He also stated that initially Celtic did not even want to give Rovers the minimum 5%! Apparently when Rovers asked if there was a possability of more than 3,000, Celtic claimed they had already sold a number of the 'Rangers allocation' to their own fans, so it was never a possability that Rovers would be offered any more. Finally he stated that the club was going to review it's ticketing policy for future 'big away games' and hoped to introduce a scheme whereby loyal away fans were rewarded. Unfortunatly, in this case, it looks as if 'the stable door has been shut after the horse has bolted!' I could accept that explanation were it not for the fact that the Club stated their belief the 2,800 allocation would be more than sufficient when the ticket details were made Public. Exactly whats got to me Rev. The club could have hid behind the 5% and wouldn't budge story from the start. Why therefore release a statement saying they believed 2800 should / could be sufficient?

Now the dust has settled a few points on all this. 1) I'm gutted . I've being looking forward to this game like mad for over a week now and just feel flat. I knew from the initial announcement of 2,800 tickets i was in trouble as I had to be in work today. People 'reassuring' me I'd get one didn't convince me and at 12.30pm today it dawned on me I wan't going. At least I've not booked hotels / flights. 2) I'm not as guttted as jordan. I got to 5 or 6 away games a year. I feel that as a ST older I'm entitled to a good chance of getting a ticket. If I'd been to 100 consecutive games or whatever i'd expect a ticket posting to me for games like this. 3) BlueFlush, you're bang out of order. 4) Thanks to Lee for posting the info he has done. He's got his own board to take care of now and really doesn't need to bother coming on here. The fact that he still does and tries to relay what is going on is much appreciated (even if he has to tow the official line now :'> ). Give the man a PR job. 5) Whats done is done. This appears to be the first big mistake Rovers have mad whilst Finn / Williams has been in charge. I just hope they learn from it as Finn has reportedly say they will. Loyalty schemes and even more press releases to keep everyone clear whats going on. As for the home leg, I fear that on October 31st, the day of the first leg, when the tickets go on sale to non Season Ticket holders interest will be phenominal. I expect similar scenes and scenarios to that today. Everyone who's at parkhead give 'em a shout for me!

Who took Tris up on the bet?

John Williams said of the 2,800 allocation "We hope this will prove sufficient". Well this mornings activity make his comment look naive at best and f****** stupid at worst. I'm presuming all bar the very restriced views are sold. I've been redialling since 9.00 (apart from a 45 minute break) and no luck.

Someone tell them to put the phone back on the hook!

This time tommorow it'll all be over and we'll know who's going and who's not. Is it just me or because it's going cold and frosty ouside is it starting to feel like 'real' footy weather.

Just been reading through the early pages of this thread again and wondered if the people who said 3,000 tickets would be enough and that we'd struggle to sell them (Gav,waggy) had changed there opinion after the strength of feeling on this thread and the number of people at Ewood yesterday who were talking about going. I'll be trying the phone from 9.00 tomorrow but still not confident.

What gets me is why John Williams, normally very good at PR, has made this quote. The club could have just stuck firmly to the line that Celtic only had to give us 5% and would not budge. However Rovers are basically saying 'our support is normally crap so that's why we've only got 3000 tickets'. Bit of a silly official quote from the club even if it is sadly true. Next they'll be saying 'We know Nissa's not good enough but he's the best we've got till Stigs fit.

Sorry for repeating what I'm sure has been said already on this thread but I'm going to type everything out just to try and rid myself of the disgust i feel with regard to the way Rovers have shaped on this matter. I am fully aware that i may well stand corrected on this matter but 2800 tickets is NOT enough for the most eagerly awaited away game since probably Anfiled 95. Yes it's on TV but I will probably never have the chance to watch Rovers play at Celtic Park in a European competition. I may well never see them play a scotish team in a competitive match. I want to go as do my 3 mates. For the home game I can accept that there will be segregation problems but like people have stated all along give Celtic half the Darwen End, if ticket sales are slow after a week for the home areas then open up the rest of the DE to away fans. But we could only get 2,800 tickets for the away game I hear people cry. Here's a hypothetical conversation between Mr Williams and Mr Jock (no racist offence intended anyone ) Mr W : Hi, we want 4000 tickets Mr J : Sorry but rules say you get 5% - 2800 tickets. Mr W : Fine but therefore you get 5% of Ewood - 1500 tickets. Or you could have 8000 if you give us a measly 1000 more. Mr J : Well then in the best interests of our club I'll sacrifice 1000 for an extra 6500. nice to do business Mr Williams. Did Rovers even try on our behalf? I'd rather have got more tickets and faced the embarasment of empty seats than not enough. Going back to the allocation lets say that all 500 who went to Sofia will get get one which leaves 2300. We all know someone who says he'll get one from 'his mates mate in the ticket office' or from 'his girlfriends' dogs' former owner who's sleeping with a bloke who sells programmes'. Most of the time it's rubbish but i know people who have got tickets from this route. It's not unrealistic that a wad of tickets may never go to the public. Which leaves the rest of us fighting over around 2000 tickets. I've got a season ticket.I went to City. I went to Boro. I want a Celtic ticket. In my view it's a lottery if I get one. In my opinion my season ticket entitles me to priority over non-season ticket holders who went to Sofia. I'm sure the booklet that was lavishly designed to sell you the season ticket stated this somewhere. Like I said earlier we may very well not sell out quickly and everyone who really wants one could get one. However I'm going to have to get one on Monday. Problem is i've organised a demonstration of some new software at work at 10am on Monday so I've got an half an hour to get through on the phone. Why did I organise it for that day? I didn't know when tickets where going on sale and I've already put it off for a week. Why? BECAUSE THE CLUB HAVE TAKEN 9 BLOODY DAYS TO EVEN LET US KNOW WHEN I CAN BUY A TICKET:unhappy: How hard would it have been to say last Monday that ticket would probably go on sale next Monday. (And while previewing this I see boris bear has stated practically the same thing in 1 paragraph )