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Arsenal news: Club urged to ban season ticket holders who fail to attend games

The Gunners' official attendances are also show to be a lot lower than the club says

Jack Austin
Sunday 23 October 2016 11:54 BST
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Empty seats will be the main issue of discussion at Arsenal’s annual meeting on Monday with the club to consider rescinding the season tickets of fans who regularly fail to use their seat.

Wednesday night’s 6-0 win over Ludogorets had an official sell-out attendance of 59,944, despite it appearing that thousands of supporters had not turned up even though they had paid for their ticket.

And this has been the case for the past two seasons as Freedom of Information requests showed how thousands of tickets are bought every year but are then not actually used by the buyer or made available to other supporters via the club ticket exchange system.

The Metropolitan Police’s official average gate attendance for the Emirates for the 2013/14 season was 53,788 – nearly 6,000 lower than the club’s official numbers.

The problem is thought to be greater for Champions League matches than Premier League ones but another Freedom of Information request for last season showed that nearly 1,000 tickets went unused per league game.

Arsenal will be asked to consider sanctions for this at their AGM, with one of the worries being that more affluent supporters buy a season ticket but only see the highest profile matches and leave the seats unused for the smaller games.

“It’s disappointing to see so many empty seats at ‘sold-out’ matches when the demand is clearly there,” said Tim Payton, spokesman for the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust.

(Getty Images

“If someone is only using the ticket a few times a year then they should be warned and after that they should lose their priority for the next season.

“It is a win-win to get this sorted. More people on a match-day means new fans and extra revenue in other areas but, crucially, it would also improve the atmosphere and benefit the team.

“If Arsenal are concerned only with making money then the board won’t be bothered how many ticket holders actually attend.

“If they’re interested in the atmosphere within the ground and in encouraging the next generation of young fans to become regulars then this issue should be a major concern.”

Arsenal have one of the longest waiting lists for season tickets in the Premier League, with new fans waiting up to 10 years to get one.

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