rynny Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Is he completely bonkers?http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/latest-lufc-news/leeds-united-whites-put-2-000-ticket-cap-on-away-games-in-protest-at-football-league-1-7519767Leeds United are set to start limiting away ticket sales to 2,000 per fixture in response to the Football League’s rescheduling of games for television coverage.The Whites have had 10 games moved already for broadcast on Sky Sports, which is a joint league high. They have had a total of 13 rearrangements for various reasons.Massimo Cellino has called on the Football League to rethink the way that they select games for broadcast, as he believes Leeds fans are being “exploited”.Furthermore, the Italian owner has said that the cost of games being on television is damaging the club’s finances.He has also suggested that fans need to reconsider their continued away support, calling for “silence” away from home to send a message to the governing body.Cellino said: “Our loyal Season Ticket Holders are being unfairly penalised by the large amount of fixture changes.“They have already paid to attend these games but many are no longer able to and attendances are suffering as a result of this.“This affects our revenue to a level where the club is losing money with each televised home game, as Sky’s compensation payments are not enough to cover the losses in ticketing, retail and catering.“We cannot just accept for our schedule to be changed with games moved to Thursdays and Sundays. We are a football club and tradition gives us a sense of belonging to our community.“Our players need the passion and support of their fans at Elland Road – we should have the right to play there in front of our fans at the traditional time.“We understand the value that Leeds United brings to the Football League, but we should be shown respect for that - we shouldn’t be exploited because of it.“We do not want to challenge the Football League or Sky, we simply want them to listen to us.“We have used the correct channels in appealing to the Football League but the issues remain, so we have no choice but to take strong action to protect the future of Leeds United.“In doing this we must be civil, show respect and remain within the rules. We must not be violent in our way of protesting.“Football League rules state that clubs must make a provision for at least 2,000 away tickets to be sold. Therefore, in line with those requirements, we will be selling no more than 2,000 tickets for each away game from now on.“We understand that this means a number of fans will now be unable to attend certain away games, but this is the sacrifice needed to make the Football League take notice.“We are encouraging you, as supporters, to think before purchasing ticket for away matches – our silence, especially away from home, will demonstrate our disappointment.“At away games our supporters are being taken advantage of because they travel in such large numbers.“This unfairly benefits the home clubs, who increase the price of tickets, food and drinks for our fans.“But again, the Football League are doing nothing to help us when they should be looking after their members – that is their responsibility to us.“As a club we can no longer continue to be exploited like this and we are calling for change.“If these issues cannot be addressed then I fear for the future of Leeds United, which is why I am taking this stance and calling for the fans to follow. The future of our club is at stake.”Last season, Leeds had the biggest average away following in the second tier, at 2,774 fans per game.Whilst I admire trying to stand up to Sky, surely this just affects the fans? There has to be a better way to stick it to Sky and the FL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffsRam Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Great strategy.Limit the number of fans that can actually watch the matches live and make them watch it on Sky instead. Brilliant way of sticking it to Sky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynny Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Great strategy.Limit the number of fans that can actually watch the matches live and make them watch it on Sky instead. Brilliant way of sticking it to Sky.That is what I thought.Maybe trying to put pressure on other teams to do something as well but won't effect some clubs. Is he gonna tell forest he doesn't want those 2 extra tickets from their 2002 maximum allocation? Could home teams sell directly to Leeds fans? Could the FL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van der MoodHoover Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 tbf his article raises some important issues but its virtually impossible to follow any logical flow fromissue -> cause/culprit -> remedy -> how to bring about remedyi can just visualise an emotional Italian rant with histrionic hand gestures which is just completely lost on his audience.I think what he's trying to do is to galvanise Football League support for a united stand against Sky - he realises that he does have a sanction against the other clubs in that he believes he can hurt their revenue more than they hurt his.I don't know the League mechanisms - is it one vote per club and majority decision making? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uttoxram75 Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Maybe he should concentrate on getting his club geared up for a promotion challenge.I'm sure the missing thousands of loyal Leeds fans will come flooding back if they reach the Prem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mafiabob Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Wonder how many Leeds will end up in home ends? It will happen... They still travel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyinLiverpool Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 What's it got to do with him?I thought he was disqualified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynny Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 What's it got to do with him? I thought he was disqualified. This was released 8 days ago and disqualified 5 days ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyinLiverpool Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 This was released 8 days ago and disqualified 5 days ago. Ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scarlet Pimpernel Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 So he's decided that others should make a sacrifice...............nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RadioactiveWaste Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I'm sure his more successful line of protest would be to make leeds so rubbish sky don't want them to be on telly...ah, makes sense now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostyn6 Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I'm sure his more successful line of protest would be to make leeds so rubbish sky don't want them to be on telly...ah, makes sense now....they tried that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McRamFan Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I would say that Sky has affected attendances at some clubs, as not a lot of people can change work/living patterns when Sky deems that a game will now be played on a thursday night at 8pm.There is a point there, however badly delivered and no actual actionable plan to make a change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostyn6 Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I seem to recall Sunderland refusing to change a fixture (probably Vs Derby) to an early kick-off for Sky.Can anyone remember this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynny Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Could that be because the tickets had already been issued to Leeds and sold when he announced this? I guess we will found out in a couple of weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggg Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Maybe he should concentrate on getting his club geared up for a promotion challenge. I'm sure the missing thousands of loyal Leeds fans will come flooding back if they reach the Prem... Oh the irony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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