Fans could return in limited numbers in October

I had asked the club what would happen in the event of an early restart which I did not regard as safe (as now seems likely) – would my choice be respected and entitle me to a refund or would I simply forfeit the match fee?

This was the response:

“As stated in the FAQs, we will follow government advice on when live sport can resume with fans in attendance. Until we know more information on this, we would not be able to advise on the situation should any fans choose to not attend due to health concerns. We will advise supporters once we have more information from both the Government and the Premier League.”

The reply hardly constitutes an answer and I'm left wondering where it leaves anyone with an underlying health condition who is not convinced by the government's selective use of ‘the science' to reopen football grounds.

I haven't paid up yet while my fellow Blues in PE DD have but the question relates to all of us who want to hang on to our seats – will the club respect our concerns about safety or simply hang on to the dosh?

I suppose on reduced capacity, those who don't wish to take up their seats for the season offer a partial solution for the club trying to sort out which fans will be admitted to games.

I just wish the club would be more supportive of their fans – after all, they will have to answer this question at some time and must have considered it.

16 months later, we were Champions, with something like 7 or 8 of the team that drew 0-0 that night... go figure.

At least with 16,000, everyone will have an unrestricted view, just about.

36,000 season ticket holders and only 16,000 places.

It's a good job the Premier League clubs don't need the fans' money to survive.

This could spell the end for a lot of Football League clubs.

At this point we don't know how it will be decided who will be allowed to attend future games. To be fair, it should be different fans for each game, decided by seat numbers perhaps or will family ties come into it if they are from the same household?

We have about 33,000 STHs of which many, like me, will have blindly renewed simply to hold onto their seat. Perhaps the over 65s will be excluded from the 'lottery' or fans who live outside the city. Nobody knows but I think the club usually do right by the fans.

The point about people not feeling safe to go to Goodison is valid but surely it's no riskier than going to the supermarket?

I won't be going anywhere near any football match until I have been vaccinated or there is some effective treatment or this virus is no longer circulating.

I don't think we can compare supermarket shopping (pretty well established social distancing and enforcement) with attending a football match where fans are by nature unruly and given to cheering or (more likely) hurling abuse.

They tend to go for a pre-match pint or two and always need to go for a piss. I am not convinced that this will be achievable with the same level of security we get in Tescos. However, against the vested interests involved (TV, FA, EPL, etc) the safety of fans is probably rock bottom.

As it will probably go ahead, I agree with you on the other point – the club need to sort out a fair system of allocation and my suggestion would be that older and at-risk fans are given the option to renew their seat and then claim a full refund, freeing up the seat for reallocation to others who are happy to follow government advice.

A far better solution would have been to keep all season ticket holders from last season on notice without having them shell out for an entire season ticket right now and if and when they allow a certain number back in, STHs be informed email or post and they can take the option of buying individual match ticket on a first dibs basis.

They could alternate the games between the 30,000 plus season ticket holders, that way everyone has an opportunity.

Primarily though this should be exclusive only to season ticket holders from last season.

I do feel sorry for all supporters who buy other tickets that are available but, in trying times, we just have to get on with it as best we can.

No solution is ideal and whatever I'd decided we will all have a moan... but worse things are happening at the moment.

Anyone know how many clubs are asking for season ticket renewals up front?

No vested interest, you understand!

1. Apply to go to every/some games
2. Put their season ticket (and allocated seat) on hold until 21-22 season
3. Ditch the season ticket completely.

On that basis, I would ask for my season ticket to be put on hold, as I live outside the city and would struggle to organise visits if I wasn't sure which match I would be allocated, or whether Sky would then change the time/date.

Perhaps priority should be given to families with 2-4 adjacent seats. I assume there will be no away fans, so that frees up a few thousand seats. I would also assume the option to put individual matches on StubHub would be withdrawn, otherwise I could keep my season ticket and make a small fortune touting out each game I'm allocated.

The alternative would simply be to refund half of the cost of the season ticket, and tell people they can go to every other home game. Problem with that is how you get fans to spread out and not bunch together spraying spit and bits of pie over each other.

I dunno, it would need some very smart thinking.

Everton was the first club to do the right thing at the start of the pandemic by not putting match day staff on unpaid furlough. It was one of the first clubs to announce refunds to STH for this interrupted season.

I am confident they will do the right thing when they have a clearer picture of just what will be allowed when attending spectators are allowed again.

In the meantime, I would love to know what science BoJo's pronouncements in recent days is based on to boldly state spectators will soon be able to attend live events and that everything will be jolly and hunky-dory by Christmas.

As you say, the club have made the right call on all the issues that have arisen since Covid-19 struck. But I am a little puzzled as to why they have asked us to renew our season tickets without knowing when the season will start and how they plan who can watch which games. I like many have renewed but won't be in any hurry to get back inside Goodison until an effective treatment or vaccine has been found.

As for Bojo he is more concerned with the economy than he is with damping down the virus, we are still averaging over 80 - 100 deaths a day, unlike Scotland who have had no deaths for 5 consecutive days and they still haven't opened pubs fully.

Plus all the scientists in this country are all saying heading into the flu season in Autumn and Winter, when the season will be in full swing unless we are very careful, then a 2nd spike is almost inevitable, and most are against relaxing any more of the lockdown measures.

I don't see how they can provide us with any update at the moment as the situation is so fluid.

Regarding our neighbours I've been told that they've recently informed all season ticket holders that they will need to submit a photo for next season. Maybe facial recognition technology coming in?

Worth it to see the results!!!

I think Everton have done their best to treat season ticket holders fairly. We have just renewed our season tickets and we shall be happy to attend matches, including the train journey to Kirkdale, even if it means having to suffer wearing a mask for two hours.

At present, the virus has declined to the point that average daily deaths from all causes are actually slightly lower than last year in Scotland, Wales Northern Ireland, whilst Public Health England have been castigated for reporting deaths of people who have tested positive but died later from other causes, as being Covid-related, therefore inflating the figures.

The recovery of the economy is now the top priority, not fear of a second wave that may never happen.

Although I don't think this applies to you or Brent. 👍👏

People know they will qualify for a ticket, but buy it just to keep up their credits, knowing full well they won't be attending the match. Unfortunately this is something the club cannot keep a track of.

I think I might have told this before but the last game at Southampton I stayed at my lad's down there and we went to the game together. I borrowed a pair of his walking shoes as it absolutely pissed down and both the soles fell off. Bastard, and the sacrifices I made for him as a lad.

Sacrifices, you don't know the half of it!!!

I wonder how the club will cater for the fans considering we've around 31,000 season ticket holders? Perhaps season ticket holders will be able to attend every other game.

That's the only way they can do it. Every other game.

How can it be fair to just give those supporters who went to away games last season (including those who simply claimed they did)?

I know people in my age group who have been going to away games for 40-50 years who can no longer get to them. Are people really suggesting they miss out?

Personally, I won't be attending until the risk of this virus is brought to a minimum, or somebody comes up with a vaccine.

I live too far from home to attend home fixtures but go to as many away games in the south as I can. I rely on ST holders for my tickets for these games and, after the Chelsea game, a southern blue was lambasting me for being part of “the problem”.

I didn't really understand his point and I'm not sure still? Am I depriving some more deserving blues of away tickets by buying unused ones off STH?

The usual sources for my tickets also go away games btw but can't make all of them and also give me contacts to others who can't make the odd game so I'm not sure how me taking those tickets makes me “part of the problem” – as this guy was trying to say?

You have to build up away credits by buying away tickets. It's a bit of a closed shop. Not that I envy our travelling support

"Rob & Brent, another indiscriminate way of allocating a limited number of seats would be all those with a 'B' or an 'R' in their Christian name would qualify for a ticket!"

Yes! And anybody with initials DK!

Alan, when I came back to Merseyside to live, I had no away credits but it is possible over a few seasons to get there. It took me three seasons I think.

Tickets are released for each away game in several tranches, depending on number of credits already earned; for games a long distance away and/or in the evening when it's impossible to get public transport back, you can get into that third tranche of tickets. And the next season piggy-back from there into getting tickets released in the second tranche, and so on.

"Claims" to have been to away games and have credits can easily be verified!

Alternative weeks, yeh? Miss the derby... but you will be able to watch the next match against Watford.

Football timetables, as I understand it, have to be altered in any event in order to accommodate the 2022 World Cup schedule.

Perhaps there would be a case for starting the cash-starved League One and League two in September with reduced capacities, given how low attendances generally are relative to ground capacity.

(My dear lady was getting a bit suspicious of my dirty laughter at your jokes on WhatsApp!)

The club are in a tough position but I'd think perhaps, rather sadly, those in the latter bracket will make their own mind up and stay away until it's unequivocally safe.

Personally, I can see no fair way of doing it other than a lottery for STHs. You can preclude yourself from entry on a weekly basis if you so choose, or perhaps pass it on if you feel inclined?

A few years ago I built up a few credits from home cup games and then used them all to get a semi-final ticket.

I don't blame the away regulars for monopolising tickets. The poor sods deserve a bit of reward.

I fully expect the likes of Liverpool and Man Utd will throw in some safety first, 'not safe for away fans to attend' to big up more seats for their own fans.

Watford had eight points and were rock bottom when Pearson took over. He has given them half a chance to escape.

Mind you, he has had lots of previous of doing okay with teams while falling out with his bosses and ending up being out of a job.

I don't know the ins and outs of this one, but we do know he's no diplomat.

This season, the club demanded full payment of the renewal by the 7 April. At the time that demand was made, and the same applied the previous season, there was not even any guarantee that the club would then still be in the Premier League.

This season, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the date has been moved to the end of July.

The only other club to have made an announcement on next season is Spurs. They want 20% of the cost by 7 August. Knowing what we know about start dates reduced capacities etc, that seems pretty fair to me. Let's see what the other clubs come up with.

Last season, Everton had a cut-off date nearer the end of April than this season. I spoke to all the leading clubs and Everton were the only Premier League club demanding payment for the following season before the end of May.

I have written many times to the Club and some of the supposed fans' organisations but have never received any response. Everton are always beating the drum about how they support the fans etc. Their season ticket policy tells a different story. Also, are we really that broke?

For many years now, the club have offered fans the opportunity to pay for season tickets on a monthly direct debit scheme, anything between 9 and 12 monthly payments.

There are many clubs I know of who do not offer such a facility and who do want full payment up front, but Everton is clearly not one of them.

Everton FC is a business and it relies on cash-flow, so it not surprising that it wants to get some much-needed income in as quickly as possible. Also, in this current climate, it'll want to gauge how the pandemic will affect the numbers of people who are likely to continue to attend Goodison in the near term.

The pandemic has obviously caused clubs to put back their original deadlines but, for a number of years, we have been first off the block by some considerable margin.

Assuming the original closure date of 28th February, the first payment would have been due at the end of March. Doesn't look a great deal to me.

Complain if you want to, but I can't see why you choose to continue moaning about something which many others don't seem to have an issue with.

How do the season ticket prices compare?

I don't believe that statement's true.

I suppose if people don't want to pay the 㿔 transaction fee for the direct debit option they do have the option to save up over the course of the season to renew for next and paying in full when renewal time comes round.

I'm in no way shape or form dissavowing your right to post - it's obvious you have a grievance of some sort relating to season ticket renewals. I'll just say that it's been a very very long time since ST holders could renew for the new season after the conclusion of the previous one.

I'm not totally sure why, but I've lost a bit of enthusiasm for going to the match and for football in general. Now that we're nearly at the end of it, I'm more convinced than ever that the season should have been declared null and void. The restart has been dire, summed up by the ridiculous piped crowd noises on TV. And tonight, the clowning glory of a team receiving a trophy in an empty stadium while, I assume, the TV companies add on a sound track of YAWN and fireworks. Christ knows what an FA Cup Final in an empty Wembley will be like - pretty soulless I guess.

Perhaps we should draw a line under it all, and reconvene for the 21/22 season. Meantime, lots mini-league and cup competitions to keep the players fit and the TV companies happy.

As I previously suggested, fans will have to adhere to some kind of risk assessment too. My guess is that anyone over 65, ie, yours truly, will be excluded from returning at this stage.

I just read that piece, it certainly looks as if the clubs will have their hands full trying to get some fans into the stadiums for a good while yet. Goodison will be a difficult place to adhere to social distancing, given the lack of space in concourses etc.

But it seems that fans gathering in town or outside a local stadium without masks or distancing measures is okay providing you are attired in red.

"36,000 season ticket holders and only 16,000 places."

No problem. 15,500 watch the first half, 15,500 others the second half. 😂