Away Match Day Thread 21/03/2026 - MDT: Southampton v Oxford United

[Northstandboy]

 

[Sarge]

You may think so, but no.

I've seen multiple instances this season and last, whereby supporters of other Championship clubs have been able to select specific seats at an away game (via their own site) where we haven't been able to for the corresponding fixture.

I don't know whether it's a compatibility issue, or just a reluctance/time/money thing - but the technology obviously exists and so there is no reason to not do this.

A cursory look at Good Friday fixtures and (bearing in mind most away ends are Sold Out, or I can't access without a log-in) I've found three who offer a choice of specific seat - Swansea @Sheffield United, Blackburn @Birmingham and QPR @Preston.

I seem to recall we could pick the block at Birmingham - but not seats? I don't believe we've ever been able to even select so much as a block at either Preston or Sheffield United, but happy to be corrected.

If others can offer it, we can offer it. It should be no different to selecting a matchday ticket for a home game - just needs the will.

And whilst there might still be the odd person who still 'sits where they want' - he'll soon become the exception rather than the rule.

View attachment 34451

we should be grateful we have someone who has 'decades of experience ' in charge of tiket sales, both home and away, shouldnt we?

 

[Stanford yellow]

Only place to post this,but you'd hope the club start to promote the s**t out of the hull game to get a full house.tuesday now and nothing on social media

 

[Deleted member 1417]

What about the fans taking some responsibility rather than making the stewards job more difficult ? I’ve been going to matches for 55 years and it’s more often pissed up, aggressive, brainless fans at fault than it is incompetent stewarding.

Of course.

However, a lot of stewarding is reactive, not proactive. The Stoke away sellout last season still resonates with me for a perfect example of ineffective poor crowd management.

From around 30mins before kickoff, it was clear that the safe standing element of their away end was causing issue for supporters in being able to spot gaps in rows, and as such, people were giving up and standing in the gangways. At this point, there was a perfect opportunity for the numerous stewards stood to the rear of the stand to intervene, and work together to identify rows with suitable spaces and help supporters in the gangways navigate to them.

Instead, they all stood watching as it got busier and busier, the game kicked off and then they decided to waltz in from the back advising people to clear the gangways.

I'd personally much rather that away sections were officially deemed unallocated seating, and take the hit of the slightly reduced allocation of tickets that it results in.

If I log on to book Pompey tickets now and click on each type of block/area, I just get given a Row and Seat without any form of choice.
Currently
ML Restricted View gives me Row K, Seat 2
MP Standing gives me Row U, Seat 100
MQ Standing gives me Row U, Seat 106
MQ Restricted View gives me Row C, Seat 107

There's absolutely no guide as to where abouts those tickets actually are, how far back, which side of the goal. There is no seat map and the detail on the initial ticketing piece is unhelpful. So giving me the name of the block doesn't do anything for me.

You can use initiative with some and work out that Row C is going to be really far forward, but how many rows are there in total? Is U right at the back, or could the stand go to Row DD? How many seats are in a block? How many blocks have we been given? Have we sold out some blocks already which is impacting what I am offered?
I know Pompey made some changes to the away end recently, maybe I can google and find an up to date seating plan? If I selected 3 tickets, rather than 1, would I get offered a different area?

Surely it is not difficult to as an absolute minimum, show a simple seating plan with the blocks marked out so I can work out roughly where I might want to be?
Those options offered above, are to the far right of the away end (ML), or across to the other side of the goal. Very very different views, but I only know that from googling a seating plan for goodness sake.
Next step up, might be to show a simple seating plan, and then tell me how many rows are in that block so I know whether Row U works for my preferences when viewing a football match.
Next step is then a pick your own seat format like we do for home games.

There's all this talk across football about making things better for the fans, it's an entertainment industry etc etc, but when the paying fans go to book their tickets, they have minimal information available to help them with their purchase.

 

[Deleted member 1417]

Only place to post this,but you'd hope the club start to promote the s**t out of the hull game to get a full house.tuesday now and nothing on social media

It isn't for another 10 days to be fair, but yes I also hope that it gets some more traction.

 

[Stanford yellow]

Looking at the hull sales,how can anyone read this

 

[Oxymoron]

Only place to post this,but you'd hope the club start to promote the s**t out of the hull game to get a full house.tuesday now and nothing on social media

Just tried to get three tickets for Hull for son-in-law and kids after the Family Day announcements. It's impossible to get three together in East Stand except lowest rows in the corners (crap view) and a couple in the North Stand front row. Plenty in the wings of the South Stand but they're gonna wait to see if I can get better on ticket exchange.

 

[ThatSlopesATwelfthMan]

Looking at the hull sales,how can anyone read this View attachment 34487

Have reached out to the club three times in the last year about entirely avoidable accessibility issues with their digital content and even offered pro bono advice if they needed it. Silence. It's really poor.

 

[Stanford yellow]

Have reached out to the club three times in the last year about entirely avoidable accessibility issues with their digital content and even offered pro bono advice if they needed it. Silence. It's really poor.

Decades of experience yet again

 

[dickwalton1964]

Of course.

However, a lot of stewarding is reactive, not proactive. The Stoke away sellout last season still resonates with me for a perfect example of ineffective poor crowd management.

From around 30mins before kickoff, it was clear that the safe standing element of their away end was causing issue for supporters in being able to spot gaps in rows, and as such, people were giving up and standing in the gangways. At this point, there was a perfect opportunity for the numerous stewards stood to the rear of the stand to intervene, and work together to identify rows with suitable spaces and help supporters in the gangways navigate to them.

Instead, they all stood watching as it got busier and busier, the game kicked off and then they decided to waltz in from the back advising people to clear the gangways.

I'd personally much rather that away sections were officially deemed unallocated seating, and take the hit of the slightly reduced allocation of tickets that it results in.

If I log on to book Pompey tickets now and click on each type of block/area, I just get given a Row and Seat without any form of choice.
Currently
ML Restricted View gives me Row K, Seat 2
MP Standing gives me Row U, Seat 100
MQ Standing gives me Row U, Seat 106
MQ Restricted View gives me Row C, Seat 107

There's absolutely no guide as to where abouts those tickets actually are, how far back, which side of the goal. There is no seat map and the detail on the initial ticketing piece is unhelpful. So giving me the name of the block doesn't do anything for me.

You can use initiative with some and work out that Row C is going to be really far forward, but how many rows are there in total? Is U right at the back, or could the stand go to Row DD? How many seats are in a block? How many blocks have we been given? Have we sold out some blocks already which is impacting what I am offered?
I know Pompey made some changes to the away end recently, maybe I can google and find an up to date seating plan? If I selected 3 tickets, rather than 1, would I get offered a different area?

Surely it is not difficult to as an absolute minimum, show a simple seating plan with the blocks marked out so I can work out roughly where I might want to be?
Those options offered above, are to the far right of the away end (ML), or across to the other side of the goal. Very very different views, but I only know that from googling a seating plan for goodness sake.
Next step up, might be to show a simple seating plan, and then tell me how many rows are in that block so I know whether Row U works for my preferences when viewing a football match.
Next step is then a pick your own seat format like we do for home games.

There's all this talk across football about making things better for the fans, it's an entertainment industry etc etc, but when the paying fans go to book their tickets, they have minimal information available to help them with their purchase.

Fair points and interesting re unallocated seating. However, what happens if you want to arrive at 2.55pm in a sell out away section and you’re struggling to find one of the dwindling number of spare seats ? To me, it’s just one hell of a lot easier if you sit where your ticket says you sit - problem solved and really isn’t rocket science to adhere to it, that’s on the fans, nothing to do with stewarding if that can’t work.

 

[Toucan]

Fair points and interesting re unallocated seating. However, what happens if you want to arrive at 2.55pm in a sell out away section and you’re struggling to find one of the dwindling number of spare seats ? To me, it’s just one hell of a lot easier if you sit where your ticket says you sit - problem solved and really isn’t rocket science to adhere to it, that’s on the fans, nothing to do with stewarding if that can’t work.

Some fans, a smaller minority , simply couldn't give a s**t about other fans situation. No reasoning or explanations makes any difference. They are irresponsible, selfish individuals. They are more than likely like that away from football too.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Some fans, a smaller minority , simply couldn't give a s**t about other fans situation. No reasoning or explanations makes any difference. They are irresponsible, selfish individuals. They are more than likely like that away from football too.

They normally have to do what their boss or their wife tells them, they only get to behave in an aggressive, selfish way at football.

 

[Oxymoron]

Looking at the hull sales,how can anyone read this View attachment 34487

That is what you get when your IT is part of a larger group offering, in this case EFL Digital.

An error was encountered here and I'm gonna guess the software has picked the club's default text colour for this scenario and displayed the message - it doesn't know what sort of background it's being displayed over.

Should have been identified by the EFL at the design stage - the software could have put the message in a box with it's own background.