What's annoying me today

We too have been successful in the ballot three times and two of those were Southampton and Brighton away when demand was lower for holidays/shit show to get there.

You'd expect it to be a roughly normal distribution if truly random, with some folks getting none, some almost all and most getting about 8 or 9 (when you factor in number of members and tickets).

I have loads of actuaries working for me, was thinking might get one of them to work out the probability of only being successful three times.

Wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't random. Not maliciously so but just by ignorance. It's hard to select truly randomly.

I used to like queuing around the Main Stand car park for away tickets during the Paul Hart playoff season. Getting there at 4am ish and guaranteed a ticket. But then I was a student and had the time for this.

Jack the price up to market rate, rather than a closed shop based on this best fan cobblers.

Earliest I ever did was 5am (leaving Sheffield at 4am) for Crewe away under Harry - think we had about 900 tickets in the small away end behind the goal.
But Forest ticket office fcuked up the vouchers (announced one in advance, but a different letter on the day) and I managed to get two tickets using the two different vouchers. Worth it for a 4-1 win with a Bartman (IIRC) hat-trick.

I definitely went to that away game. I've a feeling PVH was injured and Bart went up top with Campbell - Crewe couldn't live with them.

I have zero recollection, however, of having to queue for the tickets at silly o'clock. Were you not a season ticket holder then and were hoovering up the general-sale allocation?

I remember a 5am job for Brighton away under, I think, Platt. No idea about the game.

I was a ST holder when joining the early morning queues. It was just a bit of a free for all on smallish allocations (no loyalty points) and the supporters clubs would controversially all get a load. Remember queuing for Derby, Rotherham (Millmoor) and Sheff Utd (playoffs).

It probably wasn’t necessary to get their quite so early but you didn't get one if later than 7 or 8. And it made me a bigger/better fan.

I'm a bit confused about this also, as I used to go to quite a few away games around that era, and can never recall lining up at the CG (was also a ST holder).

I queued all night to get tickets to see us away at Liverpool in the Frank Clark era. Secured tickets and then set straight off for Aston Villa away. And then went clubbing when we got back to Notts. I'd need a week off to recover from that now.

I'd be on for this, Jack up prices of away memberships and away tickets in return for greater certainty. Imagine it wouldn't be a popular point of view though.

It wouldn't be any worse than this quasi-freemason set up that they seem to have engineered. I don't mind the loyalty system so much if it resets each season but this is just bollocks, it's based an arbitrary point during SSCs first season when things started to get interesting.

Indeed. And that season was the first after COVID so it was a bit of a struggle at that time.
For life of me I cannot figure out the tier 2 away members though. They must have had to refresh loads of times like anyone else in the past two seasons, yet they somehow met the criteria for attending enough away games.

Priority One had to have been to 25 games over the first two Prem years wasn't it? Arbitrary timeframe and number
.
I did 17/19 last year with the queuing system, but wasn't an away member the previous year so the dozen or so I went to in away ends/hospitality didn't count. Makes it even more annoying to be at 3 this year versus nearly all last year.

The priority tiers are a closed shop now which I'm not sure they've thought through (or likely have and don't care).

In any case you're not really rewarding loyalty just people who can work the online ticket system the best or are luckiest in ballot.

Should we make it to Europe I dread to think how those away games will be allocated.

Well let's hope I can get a ticket to any of these games when I arrive on these here shores. Not sure if it's April on the way back from Wifey's 50th Birthday holiday or maybe early next season.

This sounds more and more complicated and I am old so don't need this nonsense...

Chicago: Lazy and greedy.

I've always wanted to see Forest away in Europe but I'm assuming the club will be looking to do some hospitality with a wedge of them, so hopefully can bypass the lonest nob-a-thon. Which is a good thing.