Away allocation for home play off game

[gdroyal]

Just wondering whether we will offer half or the whole of the South stand to away fans for the Play offs. Personally I would only like to give them half of it. Fulham and Sheff Wed would fill it and Huddersfield probably fill most of it. Just want them to be able to create as little atmosphere as possible, even if we didn't fill the other half and it is netted off half way up. However in reality, I'm guessing charitable old Reading will offer it all!

[Nameless]

Would we sell 22,000 tickets ? Not on the evidence of the somewhat less than wonderful support we've had this season.
Would it be right to keep seats empty rather than sell them to away fans ?
Another interesting point will be how the tickets are priced. Do we stick to our guns and offer away fans £20 tickets ? Do we do so only if the other club reciprocates ? Should we offer an initial allocation for £20 and then the remainder at whatever our away fans get charged ?

Personally I'd give the away team the initial 2000 seats and tell our fans that the other 2000 will be kept for home fans subject to what the demand is. If we aren't seeing high demand for home tickets we release them to the away team. It would be entirely down to our fans lack of support if there were 4000 screaming away fans behind the goal....

[Sutekh]

Presuming Reading play the away leg first, I'm half expecting take up on home tickets to be very slow until it is played then sales will either stop all together or be sold out in about an hour.

[harry]

I'd go with only giving them half.

With the amount of fair-weather glory-seekers we have around we can fill the stadium easily. We always find plenty to take up Wembley & Cardiff allocations which exceed the Mad Stad capacity.

Assuming the home leg is second, as Sutekh says above, I suspect how well we sell-out (or the actual attendance on the night) will be determined by the first leg result.

[bobby1413]

When we played burnley at home in the semi final a few years back we gave them half.

I think we would sell enough tickets to suitably fill up the home half of the south stand

[Winchester Royal]

They away team have a right to claim 2,000 tickets or 10% of the tickets available, whatever is lower.

We should therefore offer the minimum unless our opponent offers us an increased allocation too.

£20s plenty should only be used if our opponent reciprocates.

[parky]

When we played burnley at home in the semi final a few years back we gave them half.

I think we would sell enough tickets to suitably fill up the home half of the south stand

When we played Wolves in 2001 they had the whole end, can't remember what Cardiff had.

[paultheroyal]

Decent crowd in on Saturday... and late in the day fans are returning to the stadium which is great to see.

Give them half - game will be a sell out on basis tie is still alive if we are home second leg.

[WAZZOCK]

I guarantee it'll be half.

[genome]

We'll sell out... look at last season, fairly poor home attendances all season then all of sudden packed for the FA Cup Qtr final.

[RG30]

Assuming we drew Fulham, would be nice if both clubs came to a compromise and gave each other extended allocations. Our numbers at Craven Cottage over the years would warrant this and I'm sure Fulham would comfortably sell out 4,000 too.

[Elm Park Kid]

I'm certain that we'll only offer them half of south stand - but i'm not sure we'll sell out midweek . . .

[handbags_harris]

Attendances in the Playoffs at the Madejski:-

2001 - Wigan - 22,034 - half of South Stand given to opposition (pre-structural segregation) - average attendance 12.6k
2003 - Wolves - 24,060 - whole of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 16k
2009 - Burnley - 19,909 - half of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 19.9k
2011 - Cardiff - 21,485 - half of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 17.7k

Given the three occasions we've only given half the South Stand to the opposition has led to between 2k and 4k empty seats, and the attendances so far this season averaging 17.5k, I'm not sure the demand will be there for us to justify opening the "home" section of the South Stand and so I'd be surprised if the whole of the South Stand didn't to go to the opposition as all three clubs will undoubtedly fill it.

[Elm Park Kid]

Attendances in the Playoffs at the Madejski:-

2001 - Wigan - 22,034 - half of South Stand given to opposition (pre-structural segregation) - average attendance 12.6k
2003 - Wolves - 24,060 - whole of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 16k
2009 - Burnley - 19,909 - half of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 19.9k
2011 - Cardiff - 21,485 - half of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 17.7k

Given the three occasions we've only given half the South Stand to the opposition has led to between 2k and 4k empty seats, and the attendances so far this season averaging 17.5k, I'm not sure the demand will be there for us to justify opening the "home" section of the South Stand and so I'd be surprised if the whole of the South Stand didn't to go to the opposition as all three clubs will undoubtedly fill it.

Do you not think this will be one occasion where the owners may consider the impact of double the number of away fans on the match atmosphere? Is the advantage to the away team really worth the few quid we'd get in gate receipts?

[Top Flight]

Attendances in the Playoffs at the Madejski:-

2001 - Wigan - 22,034 - half of South Stand given to opposition (pre-structural segregation) - average attendance 12.6k
2003 - Wolves - 24,060 - whole of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 16k
2009 - Burnley - 19,909 - half of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 19.9k
2011 - Cardiff - 21,485 - half of South Stand given to opposition - average attendance 17.7k

Given the three occasions we've only given half the South Stand to the opposition has led to between 2k and 4k empty seats, and the attendances so far this season averaging 17.5k, I'm not sure the demand will be there for us to justify opening the "home" section of the South Stand and so I'd be surprised if the whole of the South Stand didn't to go to the opposition as all three clubs will undoubtedly fill it.

Do you not think this will be one occasion where the owners may consider the impact of double the number of away fans on the match atmosphere? Is the advantage to the away team really worth the few quid we'd get in gate receipts?

No way. We got to give the away team half only. The Premier League prize is worth so much. In any case, I think we will sell out the Mad Stad for this play off match. It will be 24,000 again like against Wolves in 2003.

[Royal_jimmy]

We've always given teams 2,100 tickets for the playoffs and I cannot see it changing this time around

[Royal_jimmy]

When we played burnley at home in the semi final a few years back we gave them half.

I think we would sell enough tickets to suitably fill up the home half of the south stand

When we played Wolves in 2001 they had the whole end, can't remember what Cardiff had.

Cardiff had half the south stand as did Burnley

[Hound]

we'd sell this out right? If we sold out Leeds, surely we'd sell out a Play off semi

[Y21]

Is this fixture covered by the season ticket?

[handbags_harris]

We've always given teams 2,100 tickets for the playoffs and I cannot see it changing this time around

See above. Wolves were given 4k. Wigan would also have been given 4k had their support shown sufficient demand. Burnley didn't get given it despite requesting because we'd sold tickets in the other half, ditto Cardiff for Burnley.

The club will base their decision on both historical evidence and current demand, and the evidence as far as I'm concerned is clear - this season we have averaged between 2k and 3k STH's not showing PER GAME for whatever reason. While the playoffs obviously engender optimism and excitement, the fact remains there is a relatively high level of antipathy within the supporter base despite the comfortable top 6 finish. We only offered half to Burnley in 09 when supporter apathy at this level was at an all-time Madejski Stadium era high, and even in 2011 when optimism was arguably at its highest since 2008 we comfortably failed to sell out. Average reported attendance this season is consistent with previous playoff campaigns, however actual attendance is lower, and this will undoubtedly have a bearing on the club's decision.

What I expect the club to do is offer the usual half South Stand allocation, assess the demand from home support and make a decision on the remaining half of the South Stand once the opposition club has inevitably requested it. I stand to be corrected, but my gut feeling is if we don't offer the away club 4k, I don't believe we'll sell out.