"Keeping people in the ground for 4 hours is ludicrous."
You`re correct there Howard, absolutely ridiculous and impractical. Although to be honest if people actually want any chance of a ticket they probably need to be at the ground at least two or so hours prior to 11.00am I should imagine. So unless they want to lose their entrance costs and pay again later on they will have to remain in the ground for about six hours at least before the match even begins! Why can`t the club have the "sell off " on a different day or even better still give fans who have entered the ground early a voucher for readmission to the game later the same day?
Personally I`m extremely unhappy at how this has all unfolded, even taking into account the difficult admin problems that the club would undoubtedly have during this undertaking. It`s ok to say that the chance of a ticket was there, just turn up at 6.00am at the ground and you might be ok, but for a lot of people that time is not practical or easy to achieve. Even more so for those that are not local.
Furthermore, season ticket holders were correctly and rightly so given the first chance to purchase a ticket, but why was no thought given to supporters club members? These, in the main, are the people who attend Crabble week in week out and regular fans will agree, I`m sure, that apart from our recent brilliant spell, we`ve previously had to suffer and endure for the past three seasons the most dire and abysmal football that you could ever possibly imagine, but the "regulars" nevertheless still turned out each and every week. ( Probably in the hope that it couldn`t get any worse! )
You can tell that I`m not too pleased ( along with many others of course ) at missing out on the biggest game of the club`s history having tried to obtain a ticket this morning. I have only missed a home match during the last fifteen years or so if I`ve been out of the country. I even managed to stagger to an evening game a few years back on a bitterly cold and wet night after having a hernia operation around lunch time the same day!...........yes, stupid I know, but that`s what a true fan does I guess.
There is no way I`m spending umpteen hours in the ground on Boxing day just on the remote off chance of picking up a ticket, apart from anything else that would be selfish and unfair to my family.
So it will be nice to know that on the big day there will probably be a thousand or so Dover "supporters" who have only ever been to Crabble a few times in their life, if at all, whilst many true fans just can`t get a look in.
I might also add that I know a fair number of friends that are "regulars" who will also miss out and feel as aggrieved as I do with this situation.
However, I`m happy for our regular supporters that have managed to purchase a ticket and hope that they really enjoy a cracking game against Crystal Palace.
