If you are not one of the 100,000+ Newcastle United Members, maybe best if you look away now.
Yes, the ongoing tale of Newcastle United Members trying to get tickets for Premier League matches at St James’ Park and… failing miserably.
What are the odds of Newcastle United members getting tickets for Premier League matches?
Last season, match by match tickets went on sale at 10am on a particular day, Newcastle United Members logging on beforehand and then allocated a random place in the queue at 10am.
It wasn’t ideal as there will always be people who miss out when demand exceeds supply but it appeared to work pretty well for non-season ticket holding Newcastle United members, even though season ticket holders (who were also automatically members) also had an equal chance of buying an extra ticket on top of their ST seat. The Newcastle United owners had also stopped selling Newcastle United memberships for the 2022/23 season once a certain sales figure was reached.
For the 2023/24 season, prices for Newcastle United memberships were raised to £37 for adults (Chelsea charge £35) and £20 for kids, whilst at the same time the club stopped sending out a member pack, even for the kids, as part of your membership.
The club changed it so ST holders were no longer automatically members and so they couldn’t automatically compete with members and apply for an extra ticket each match, unless they paid separately for a membership.
Great, so more chance of Newcastle United members able to get tickets for Premier League matches… not quite.
Last season, as an NUFC member I managed to get tickets to over 90% of the Premier League games I tried for. It was only one or two where I failed.
This season, not quite so many.
The Brighton match ballot for Newcastle United Members was drawn today (Thursday 18 April 2024) and this is my updated ‘success’ rate, having entered all of the 19 ballots this season for SJP Premier League tickets:
12 August 2023 – Newcastle 5 Villa 1 – FAIL
27 August 2023 – Newcastle 1 Liverpool 2 – FAIL
16 September 2023 – Newcastle v Brentford – SUCCESS
30 September 2023 – Newcastle 2 Burnley 0 – FAIL
21 October 2023 – Newcastle 4 Palace 0 – FAIL
4 November 2023 – Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0 – FAIL
25 November 2023 – Newcastle 4 Chelsea 1 – FAIL
2 December 2023 – Newcastle 1 Man U 0 – FAIL
16 December 2023 – Newcastle 3 Fulham 0 – SUCCESS
26 December 2023 – Newcastle 1 Forest 3 – SUCCESS
13 January 2024 – Newcastle 2 Man City 3 – FAIL
3 February 2024 – Newcastle 4 Luton 4 – FAIL
17 February 2024 – Newcastle 2 Bournemouth 2 – FAIL
2 March 2024 – Newcastle 3 Wolves 0 – FAIL
30 March 2024 – Newcastle v West Ham – FAIL
2 April 2024 – Newcastle v Everton – FAIL
13 April 2024 – Newcastle v Tottenham – FAIL
27 April 2024 – Newcastle v Sheff Utd – FAIL
11 May 2024 – Newcastle v Brighton- FAIL
With all nineteen Premier League match ballots now completed for this season I have a less than one in six (15%) success rate.
Earlier this season, NUFC CEO Darren Eales claimed Newcastle United Members were having a roughly one in three chance of getting tickets for Premier League matches in ballots.
I know a lot of Newcastle United Members and I don’t know a single one who has had a success record in ballots in line with what Darren Eales claimed.
In fact, considering Darren Eales made this one in three success claim at the end of November, when Newcastle United had been doing really well and a lot of attractive home matches, it leaves me wondering…
The drop off in form and results for so much of this second half of the season and so many players missing, yet I haven’t had a single success since the Forest ballot was drawn at the start of December.
Darren Eales claiming Newcastle United Members were having a one in three success rate when we’d had ballots for the likes of Liverpool, Man U, Villa, Chelsea and Arsenal, yet now in 2024, NUFC ballots have included the likes of Sheffield United, Luton, Everton, West Ham, Bournemouth, Brighton and Wolves, as well as Spurs and Man City, yet I and many other Newcastle United Members haven’t had a single ticket for a match in 2024!!!
With the Brighton ballot now completing things, I can now evaluate the ‘success’ and of my 2023/24 membership and what exactly my successful ballots have cost me overall.
I have paid £173 for three tickets this 2023/24 season.
The £37 membership fee and then tickets costing £44 for each of Brentford and Fulham, then £48 for the Forest match. All three tickets in the least desirable part of St James’ Park, up in Level 7 towards where the away fans are.
So with £173 spent, it means each ticket has cost me on average £57.66.
After the 2023/24 Newcastle United memberships went on sale ahead of this season, Newcastle United Chief Commercial Officer Peter Silverstone revealed that there were over 50,000 memberships sold after just the opening first day of sales.
The club refused to put any limit on how many Newcastle United memberships would be sold for the 2023/24 season and so they have simply sold more and more.
Most estimates put the number of Newcastle United members as between 100,000 and 150,000. There were massive online queues on the day the memberships went on sale and I can quite believe Peter Silverstone when he says 50,000+ were sold on that first day of sale. I find it impossible to think less than 50,000 have been sold after that initial day of sale, so that is at least 100,000 Newcastle United members. I very much think the 150,000 is a more realistic figure, certainly closer to that than 100,000.
When I look at how difficult (impossible!) it has become to get tickets as Newcastle United Members, I have to think these figures I am assuming, are on the mark.
The Newcastle United owners and senior officials have refused to show any transparency whatsoever, which is disappointing to say the least.
Their refusal to say exactly how many memberships have been sold this season, their refusal to say how many tickets are available to Newcastle United Members in each ballot, their refusal to say how many Members have applied in each ballot.
It makes Newcastle United Members such as myself and many others that I know, question why the NUFC owners and senior staff are so secretive.
Sadly, it just makes fans think that there must be something to hide, something they don’t want us to know.
Are they selling off a lot of match by match tickets by a different route?
These rumours will persist unless the club are honest and transparent with Newcastle United Members.
Will I get a membership next season?
The answer is yes, it has been an absolute shambles and disgrace this season the way the club have treated Newcastle United Members, BUT if you want to get into any matches at St James’ Park, then what choice do you have???
However, I think a lot of other people who bought memberships this season will have doubts on whether they should buy one again for the 2024/25 season.
I know a fair few members who have been successful in only one ballot this season and so that one match has cost them over £80 to go to, including the membership fee.
Indeed, I heard today from somebody else who was unsuccessful for the Brighton game, they have entered eight ballots this season (they live in another part of the country and so can’t apply for every ballot due to their circumstances, well, they can’t go to all the games as it depends on when they are scheduled) and haven’t been successful a single time. So £37 paid for absolutely nothing!
Interested to hear from other Newcastle United Members in the comments below.
What kind of success rate have you been enjoying for Premier League matches at SJP this season and will you be buying a membership again next season?
