108 Year Season Ticket Holder Removed for Corporate Space

I thought I'd put this in The Kop because it's quite important as regards the future of Anfield, please move if required you moddy types.
 
 Looks like Anfield's here to stay, also looks like ruthlessness may be as well.
 

 

Family shunted from same Liverpool FC seat held for 108 years to make way for more corporate facilities

Sue Edwards with her Liverpool FC season ticket 

.

A LIFELONG Liverpool FC fan spoke of her rage after the club changed her season tickets so it can develop the corporate hospitality market.
Susan Roberts, whose two Anfield Main Stand seats have been in her family for 108 years, said the club lacked “honour” and have treated long-standing fans in a “shoddy manner”.
The 67-year-old Mossley Hill resident was one of 55 season ticket holders who were informed that the club wanted to make changes to the stand in order to “better link” lounges and seating facilities in readiness for next season.
The area set for change includes the first five rows of the Main Stand.
 
  All 55 season ticket holders were given the chance to select different seats elsewhere in Anfield.
But Mrs Roberts does not want to leave the seat from where she has watched the Reds from for more than six decades.
Sue, of Fawley Road, said: “Just for the sake of wanting to make money from hospitality clients the club are treating long-term season ticket holders extremely shoddily. There is no honour in what they are doing to ordinary fans here.
 

Lilian, Daisy & her Mother 
.

“The seats have been in my family for over 100 years and for them to be taken away is a disgrace. My grandmother Minnie Hartley McKnight originally accepted them from Thomas Valentine (T.V.) Williams who worked for Liverpool.
“In later life he became the club’s chairman and was central to bringing in Bill Shankly as manager.


Read More http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news//2012/06/13/family-shunted-from-same-liverpool-fc-seat-held-for-108-years-to-make-way-for-more-corporate-facilities-100252-31170846/?campaign=Northwest_email_echonewsemail:20120613#ixzz1xg7TMXfT

I'd be interested in Cas and RK's view on this.

First there was the house owner tweeting.

- Surveyors at Anfield
- Houses worth little because area was run down and wanted enough to move to new home.
( This twitter account seems to have vanished )

Now this account on redevelopment for Corporate areas and ticket holders reaction to it.
Surely the big picture is the work needs to be completed if we are redeveloping Anfield,
but communication and interaction again seems to be an issue.

I know that there will always be those that are put out with such a massive undertaking,
but are the club approaching this right?

I'd be interested in Cas and RK's view on this.

First there was the house owner tweeting.

- Surveyors at Anfield
- Houses worth little because area was run down and wanted enough to move to new home.
( This twitter account seems to have vanished )

Now this account on redevelopment for Corporate areas and ticket holders reaction to it.
Surely the big picture is the work needs to be completed if we are redeveloping Anfield,
but communication and interaction again seems to be an issue.

I know that there will always be those that are put out with such a massive undertaking,
but are the club approaching this right?

Even though I like the behind closed doors aspect of how the club's being run at the moment for me what's missing here is that FSG should consult or at least let the fans in on the plans for this, it has no bearing if information is out about what they plan to do about the stadium at all. All that's going to happen is little snippets of info like this and the tweet you mention will pop up and we'll be left scratching our heads AGAIN.

Sort it out FSG and inform the people who matter about something that matters to us.

Nothing at all wrong here - it's not her seat - she rents it from the club.

They've also offered her some kind of a choice where her next seat will be.

Everyone moans about wanting to see us move in the right direction - but moan themselves when it comes to them having to do something. It's not as if she's losing something, it's just being changed.

I'd give my seat up no probs as long as I had the same kind of seat choice.

Surely the big picture is the work needs to be completed if we are redeveloping Anfield,
but communication and interaction again seems to be an issue.

Exactly.
I have every sympathy for those 55 fans and it must feel very special to have had the same seat for that length of time but surely they must see that it would be ridiculous to scupper any future development of the ground for the sake of their seat. The club are not chucking them out of the ground, they are offering them a different seat anywhere in the ground. It's quite possible they can actually sit very close to where they were (therefore being in close contact with friends they've made over the years.
What is clearly wrong is the way the club (appear to) have gone about it. A more sensative approach would have been to invite those 55 to Anfield to discuss the matter with them, explain the importance to the club of such developments and offer full assistance in selecting new seats.

Nothing at all wrong here - it's not her seat - she rents it from the club.

Rush = Ian Ayre

I called it first!

Nothing at all wrong here - it's not her seat - she rents it from the club.

They've also offered her some kind of a choice where her next seat will be.

Everyone moans about wanting to see us move in the right direction - but moan themselves when it comes to them having to do something. It's not as if she's losing something, it's just being changed.

I'd give my seat up no probs as long as I had the same kind of seat choice.

I think the main point I take from the article is more that it looks like the expansion of Anfield is a goer now. As for her seat, if they were doing a new Stadium she'd be moving further than a row or stand even. Holding a ticket for 108 years would hold a wrench though.

Everyone moans about wanting to see us move in the right direction - but moan themselves when it comes to them having to do something. It's not as if she's losing something, it's just being changed.

+1

What if we build another stadium due to bigger profits. Would the lady in question still expect to sit on her old seat?

She can sit there all she likes but if we change stadium I'd imagine she would get quite bored.

I can appreciate her moving may take a bit of getting used to, especially after all those years.

But let's get down to brass tacks here, if she doesn't want her new seat - I'm sure there are a few million who would be happy to have it. 

Know what I mean?

I hate this to be honest. Doesn't look great from the clubs point of view at first glance but then you realise that you can't have progress without stuff like this.

This is exactly the kind of attitude adverse to change the shows itself with every minute change at the club, some people want progress but they don't want it to change for them. Doesn't work like that.

I feel sympathetic towards that woman and appreciate the history of her seat, so to speak, even though it belongs to the club.

But, nothing lasts forever. As others have pointed out, some consultation would have been more appropriate than just sending out faceless letters.

Exactly.
I have every sympathy for those 55 fans and it must feel very special to have had the same seat for that length of time but surely they must see that it would be ridiculous to scupper any future development of the ground for the sake of their seat. The club are not chucking them out of the ground, they are offering them a different seat anywhere in the ground. It's quite possible they can actually sit very close to where they were (therefore being in close contact with friends they've made over the years.
What is clearly wrong is the way the club (appear to) have gone about it. A more sensative approach would have been to invite those 55 to Anfield to discuss the matter with them, explain the importance to the club of such developments and offer full assistance in selecting new seats.

I think we've all got to move on here, we all know if progress is to be made and we stay at Anfield, these things are going to happen.

Although I feel for the lady and her family, like Rush stated above, it's not as if they haven't offered her somewhere else suitable to sit, the trouble with old people is they don't like change, I'm sure she'll get used to it in time, and if we do move to a new stadium she'd have been allocated a new seat anyway.

In saying that, I think the club need to think very carefully about the fans as we're often the last to be considered, we are, after all a huge part of the club's success, and as I know how expensive season tickets are, it would be nice for the club to be a bit more considerate and consult the fans with more details.

I may be an arse here.

Why has she got this ticket? 108 years, surely the original owner of this ticket is dead, thus who's name is it in?

The dead person, or can you transfer the name?

Now, what happened when the Kop, Paddock, Anfield Road became seated, and all those season ticket holders could not stand where they had previously.

I am sure there is small print that states the club can move the seat allocated to the ticket if they want, or even not allow entry to the ground if they want too.

Sorry love, but times are changing, if you don't like it tough, give the ticket up and the waiting list will fall from XX,000 to XY,999.

5 mins of fame is nearly over.

That sucks for her, but I think LFC's offer to select a different seat is reasonable. In addition, I see no problem with in being done via a letter. It would seem unreasonable for them to expect to contact all 55 individuals and have to possibly haggle about the issue.

Send out a letter, if anyone needs more clarification I'd be willing to bet they would be able to call in and speak about it.

Not to mention her issue seems to be that they are making her move to begin with...which as others have said would be no different if a new stadium were built.

What irritates me is that a so called life long Liverpool supporter has gone out of their way to slander the club.

Because you know, we haven't been demonised enough this year or the last have we?

Seriously, if I came home and caught my wife in the communal bath with the first 11 - I'd apologise for interrupting.

Going to the press

What irritates me is that a so called life long Liverpool supporter has gone out of their way to slander the club.

Because you know, we haven't been demonised enough this year or the last have we?

Seriously, if I came home and caught my wife in the communal bath with the first 11 - I'd apologise for interrupting.

Going to the press

Thought it kind of odd myself that if it meant that much to her that she hadn't contacted the club first and discussed it with them?

Maybe she did but it seemed like the article didn't really mention her doing that. Wouldn't you go right to the source first instead of creating a stink?

What irritates me is that a so called life long Liverpool supporter has gone out of their way to slander the club.

Because you know, we haven't been demonised enough this year or the last have we?

Seriously, if I came home and caught my wife in the communal bath with the first 11 - I'd apologise for interrupting.

Going to the press

You should be embarrassed !

You should be embarrassed !

He was embarrassed, it was only the first 11 and not the whole squad 

Seriously , the people concerned shoud have been consulted, LFC owners should learn from the mistake and the fan should not be moaning about it but let the improvement of the ground commence unhindered !

You should be embarrassed !

I did say I'd apologise.

I did say I'd apologise.

I was not joking, you should be embarrassed !

 Sue is a fellow supporter who has followed Liverpool for 60 years through thick and thin, She was going to watch Liverpool when the only reason people went was to watch Billy Liddell.

 The way you are coming across it is as if your saying F**k you, how dare you complain.

 As we have no idea what contact has gone on between LFC and Sue it is hard to say if she is wrong to go to the papers ?

 What I do know is that the people of Liverpool do not just sit back and take it, they stand up for themselves and there fellow scousers, they have never been and never will be the type who kowtow to there supposed betters.

I do have some sympathy with this family having to move from their seat but the vast majority of us supporters realise we have to either redevelop Anfield or move in order to move the club forward.

The lady may feel she has been treated badly by the club but I think that it is just as bad that she would rather keep her seat than move to somewhere else in the ground in order for us to get started with some redevelopment, albeit of a small scale.

On a side note how has the family had the exact same seating ticket for 108 years? There wouldn't have been any seats back then surely.

I was not joking, you should be embarrassed !

 Sue is a fellow supporter who has followed Liverpool for 60 years through thick and thin, She was going to watch Liverpool when the only reason people went was to watch Billy Liddell.

 The way you are coming across it is as if your saying F**k you, how dare you complain.

 As we have no idea what contact has gone on between LFC and Sue it is hard to say if she is wrong to go to the papers ?

 What I do know is that the people of Liverpool do not just sit back and take it, they stand up for themselves and there fellow scousers, they have never been and never will be the type who kowtow to there supposed betters.

This isn't anything to do with your rampant obsession with complaining about FSG is it?