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SAFC - Fan Ban & Ticket Cancellations

The below is an E Mail I sent to employees of the club and LNER amongst others on 26 May 2025.

To protect the identity of all of those involved I have removed their names from this post.


Hi all





Well, we’ve finally reached the end of an absolutely fantastic season, with plenty of ups and downs along the way, but most importantly we have some absolutely fantastic memories for all of us and the time spent with family, friends and the wider Sunderland fan base makes it all worthwhile when we get to have days and weekends like we’ve just enjoyed.





I’d like to start by thanking club employees xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx and xxxxxxx (and many more that I’ve missed) for all of their work and assistance in getting the issues resolved that I (we) had at the start of the season.





Myself and xxxxxxx (family friend) had a very constructive and positive meeting with xxxxxxx and xxxxxx towards the end of September and that meeting proved a very worthwhile meeting for the club, myself, xxxxxxx and the branch overall. A number of suggestions were put to us by the club and a number of recommendations were made to us, which we have adhered to in full all season and will continue to do so going forward. The club also requested to use our intelligence and many years of experience having attended so many home and away games over many years and having had valuable and extensive experience over many years of the online ticketing system etc. Thanks to many examples of information gathering by various members of the branch, we were able to share valuable and helpful information to the club in attempts to eradicate misuse of match tickets (examples included fans purchasing away game tickets in phase one and putting them on social media to sell on even during the phase 1 stage) and the online ticketing error during the phase 1 sales period for the Play Off Final.





I (we) would also like to extend our thanks to LNER, and in particular, xxxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxx and xxxxxxx who helped me (us) with train bookings, onward travel when trains were cancelled (Cardiff City on the 1st game of the season springs to mind) etc. They were always available to help us out wherever possible. To put this in to context, we spent £104,292.50 with LNER during the 2024-25 football season.





Please can I personally thank every single member of the branch for their commitment, dedication and support over not just this season but many many seasons as it’s all of you who make this work with each and every individual contribution.





xxxxx/xxxxx/xxxxxx/xxxxxx – As the club moves to the new ticketing provider for the 2025-26 season, I offered to provide any assistance in testing the system prior to its implementation as I have many years of experience of the Ticket Master system and I’m convinced that I could help the club to eradicate a number of potential bugs/system issues prior to them becoming widespread. xxxxxxx advised me that xxxxxxx would be in touch with me as he thought that would be a very worthwhile process and it is something that hadn’t particularly been thought of at the time. I am more than happy to assist in any way that I can to hopefully assist all fans in a smooth ticketing experience. Please do reach out to me if this is something that the club would like to use my experience with.











Thank you
 

SAFC2012 said:
The below is an E Mail I sent to employees of the club and LNER amongst others on 26 May 2025.

To protect the identity of all of those involved I have removed their names from this post.


Hi all





Well, we’ve finally reached the end of an absolutely fantastic season, with plenty of ups and downs along the way, but most importantly we have some absolutely fantastic memories for all of us and the time spent with family, friends and the wider Sunderland fan base makes it all worthwhile when we get to have days and weekends like we’ve just enjoyed.





I’d like to start by thanking club employees xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx and xxxxxxx (and many more that I’ve missed) for all of their work and assistance in getting the issues resolved that I (we) had at the start of the season.





Myself and xxxxxxx (family friend) had a very constructive and positive meeting with xxxxxxx and xxxxxx towards the end of September and that meeting proved a very worthwhile meeting for the club, myself, xxxxxxx and the branch overall. A number of suggestions were put to us by the club and a number of recommendations were made to us, which we have adhered to in full all season and will continue to do so going forward. The club also requested to use our intelligence and many years of experience having attended so many home and away games over many years and having had valuable and extensive experience over many years of the online ticketing system etc. Thanks to many examples of information gathering by various members of the branch, we were able to share valuable and helpful information to the club in attempts to eradicate misuse of match tickets (examples included fans purchasing away game tickets in phase one and putting them on social media to sell on even during the phase 1 stage) and the online ticketing error during the phase 1 sales period for the Play Off Final.





I (we) would also like to extend our thanks to LNER, and in particular, xxxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxx and xxxxxxx who helped me (us) with train bookings, onward travel when trains were cancelled (Cardiff City on the 1st game of the season springs to mind) etc. They were always available to help us out wherever possible. To put this in to context, we spent £104,292.50 with LNER during the 2024-25 football season.





Please can I personally thank every single member of the branch for their commitment, dedication and support over not just this season but many many seasons as it’s all of you who make this work with each and every individual contribution.





xxxxx/xxxxx/xxxxxx/xxxxxx – As the club moves to the new ticketing provider for the 2025-26 season, I offered to provide any assistance in testing the system prior to its implementation as I have many years of experience of the Ticket Master system and I’m convinced that I could help the club to eradicate a number of potential bugs/system issues prior to them becoming widespread. xxxxxxx advised me that xxxxxxx would be in touch with me as he thought that would be a very worthwhile process and it is something that hadn’t particularly been thought of at the time. I am more than happy to assist in any way that I can to hopefully assist all fans in a smooth ticketing experience. Please do reach out to me if this is something that the club would like to use my experience with.











Thank you
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Unfortunately you were never dumped by Chelsea and managing ticketing for a League 2 club who bad recently come up from National League.
 
SAFC2012 said:
The below is an E Mail I sent to employees of the club and LNER amongst others on 26 May 2025.

To protect the identity of all of those involved I have removed their names from this post.


Hi all





Well, we’ve finally reached the end of an absolutely fantastic season, with plenty of ups and downs along the way, but most importantly we have some absolutely fantastic memories for all of us and the time spent with family, friends and the wider Sunderland fan base makes it all worthwhile when we get to have days and weekends like we’ve just enjoyed.





I’d like to start by thanking club employees xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx and xxxxxxx (and many more that I’ve missed) for all of their work and assistance in getting the issues resolved that I (we) had at the start of the season.





Myself and xxxxxxx (family friend) had a very constructive and positive meeting with xxxxxxx and xxxxxx towards the end of September and that meeting proved a very worthwhile meeting for the club, myself, xxxxxxx and the branch overall. A number of suggestions were put to us by the club and a number of recommendations were made to us, which we have adhered to in full all season and will continue to do so going forward. The club also requested to use our intelligence and many years of experience having attended so many home and away games over many years and having had valuable and extensive experience over many years of the online ticketing system etc. Thanks to many examples of information gathering by various members of the branch, we were able to share valuable and helpful information to the club in attempts to eradicate misuse of match tickets (examples included fans purchasing away game tickets in phase one and putting them on social media to sell on even during the phase 1 stage) and the online ticketing error during the phase 1 sales period for the Play Off Final.





I (we) would also like to extend our thanks to LNER, and in particular, xxxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxx and xxxxxxx who helped me (us) with train bookings, onward travel when trains were cancelled (Cardiff City on the 1st game of the season springs to mind) etc. They were always available to help us out wherever possible. To put this in to context, we spent £104,292.50 with LNER during the 2024-25 football season.





Please can I personally thank every single member of the branch for their commitment, dedication and support over not just this season but many many seasons as it’s all of you who make this work with each and every individual contribution.





xxxxx/xxxxx/xxxxxx/xxxxxx – As the club moves to the new ticketing provider for the 2025-26 season, I offered to provide any assistance in testing the system prior to its implementation as I have many years of experience of the Ticket Master system and I’m convinced that I could help the club to eradicate a number of potential bugs/system issues prior to them becoming widespread. xxxxxxx advised me that xxxxxxx would be in touch with me as he thought that would be a very worthwhile process and it is something that hadn’t particularly been thought of at the time. I am more than happy to assist in any way that I can to hopefully assist all fans in a smooth ticketing experience. Please do reach out to me if this is something that the club would like to use my experience with.











Thank you
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They should be offering you a job not banning you
 
Things Change said:
Heard bad reports about Kingsmore. Not the pleasantest of chaps by all accounts.
Click to expand...
I might be wrong but I believe that CV belongs to the ticket office manager.
Essayeffsee said:
Lets face it the club tried to turn it into fan v fan with deliberately ambiguous statement.

There is no apparently about it. He was unfairly sanctioned as were those punished in his group.

Just a thought last year was a divisive statement put out by the club about season ticket usage. Claimed that had to be used 70% of games or risked hving taken off the person. Who was responsible for that?
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SAFC has a problem - as do many clubs - with unused seats (unavailable for sale), early leavers, etc - as well as the ‘integrity’ of their processes…. Or otherwise, in our case.

What we really ought to be asking after this shitshow is what consultations they are undertaking with fans now to avoid repeated failures in fan/club relationship regarding ticketing.
 
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Things Change said:
Heard bad reports about Kingsmore. Not the pleasantest of chaps by all accounts.
Click to expand...
Dont know anything.

Strange that leaves Chelsea who were in PL and Champions League to join a club in Football League coming off back of finishing in bottom half. Some fall for him. Wonder why had no alternative offers?
the sleeping giant said:
I might be wrong but I believe that CV belongs to the ticket office manager.


SAFC has a problem - as do many clubs - with unused seats (unavailable for sale), early leavers, etc - as well as the ‘integrity’ of their processes…. Or otherwise, in our case.

What we really ought to be asking after this shitshow is what consultations they are undertaking with fans now to avoid repeated failures in fan/club relationship regarding ticketing.
Click to expand...
No. The problem we have is the people managing the ticket office and managing the manager. No knowledge, awareness or appreciation.

The ticketing subgroup is probably as effective as RAWA when comes to questioning club.
 
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Essayeffsee said:
Dont know anything.

Strange that leaves Chelsea who were in PL and Champions League to join a club in Football League coming off back of finishing in bottom half. Some fall for him. Wonder why had no alternative offers?

No. The problem we have is the people managing the ticket office and managing the manager. No knowledge, awareness or appreciation.

The ticketing subgroup is probably as effective as RAWA when comes to questioning club.
Click to expand...
The section under “ticketing” on this document gives some insight as to where the club is heading imo.


The club appear to be going down the same route.



You must be logged on to see external links
 
SAFC2012 said:
The section under “ticketing” on this document gives some insight as to where the club is heading imo.


The club appear to be going down the same route.



You must be logged on to see external links
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Mate, the club have been terrible with how they have treated you, but are posts like this really going to help?

There is an awful lot of support for you online and in person, mud slinging against the club isnt going to help imo
 
chunksafc said:
Mate, the club have been terrible with how they have treated you, but are posts like this really going to help?

There is an awful lot of support for you online and in person, mud slinging against the club isnt going to help imo
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How is he mud-slinging? He’s giving an opinion of the route the ticketing side may be heading.
From the evidence in this thread and others, as well as people I’ve spoken to, it appears it isn’t without foundation, either.
 
Essayeffsee said:
it was. It also, initially, didnt include night games or moved fixtures.

Point is another ticketing shit show, showing no knowledge or appreciation of our fans and fanbase. Also came under the current watch who were behind this.
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It also looks as though they haven't applied the rule they advertised. They seem very selective on which rules to enforce and which are forgotten about.
 
chunksafc said:
Its just an opinion from reading the oast few pages.

Digging up minutes from a Chelsea meeting from 2022 isnt really relevant to SAFC 2026.

Just an opinion
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He will mean because their director of operations listed in them minutes is now at SAFC.

Not agreeing or disagreeing on the other stuff mind
 
Mowgli said:
He will mean because their director of operations listed in them minutes is now at SAFC.

Not agreeing or disagreeing on the other stuff mind
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Again, no doubting the lad has been brilliant for fans, but posting stuff out from 2022 isnt a great look.

By all means go after the club and their terrible decisions but deal with the here and now, not the distant past at another club.

Just an opinion
 
chunksafc said:
Its just an opinion from reading the oast few pages.

Digging up minutes from a Chelsea meeting from 2022 isnt really relevant to SAFC 2026.

Just an opinion
Click to expand...

Basically what your saying is that the club are allowed to say and act as they please, even lying about fans and banning fans for minor discrepancies , but the effected fans aren't allowed to fight back as it is just 'mud slinging' from them ?

I'm all for fans sticking together and calling the club out on every little thing they do
 
tunstallhill said:
Basically what your saying is that the club are allowed to say and act as they please, even lying about fans and banning fans for minor discrepancies , but the effected fans aren't allowed to fight back as it is just 'mud slinging' from them ?

I'm all for fans sticking together and calling the club out on every little thing they do
Click to expand...
What exactly has Chelsea minutes from 2022 got to do with what's happening now at our club?
 
chunksafc said:
What exactly has Chelsea minutes from 2022 got to do with what's happening now at our club?
Click to expand...
A club employee making or overseeing these decisions has only been employed by one football club before, Chelsea. He was involved in this process and looks as if using his experience with Tourist FC with us. Anyone who was at Stamford Bridge experienced quite how bad it was with tourists and corporates. Wonder what their away fanbase is like now.
 
Essayeffsee said:
A club employee making or overseeing these decisions has only been employed by one football club before, Chelsea. He was involved in this process and looks as if using his experience with Tourist FC with us. Anyone who was at Stamford Bridge experienced quite how bad it was with tourists and corporates. Wonder what their away fanbase is like now.
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Again, bringing up issues from 2022 reads more like a personal issue between the ticket bloke and a fan. It isnt a great look for either imo and needs sorting.

Has @SAFC2012 been brilliant for years, yes he has, is the ticket office a mess, yes it is.

Pointing our minutes from a different club 4 years ago doesn't help us deal with the here and now.

From the outside looking in, I would suggest there are faults on both sides and posting history wont help resolve it
 
chunksafc said:
Again, bringing up issues from 2022 reads more like a personal issue between the ticket bloke and a fan. It isnt a great look for either imo and needs sorting.

Has @SAFC2012 been brilliant for years, yes he has, is the ticket office a mess, yes it is.

Pointing our minutes from a different club 4 years ago doesn't help us deal with the here and now.

From the outside looking in, I would suggest there are faults on both sides and posting history wont help resolve it
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Stop digging man. It's perfectly reasonable example of the bloke being a dick. It's a very valid argument that nothing has changed.
 
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