After liaising with Brentford FC’s Executive Committee and David McNally, Norwich City’s CEO and Richard Gough, the Canaries Operations Manager, BIAS believes that the problems concerning the availability of tickets for the League One clash between the Clubs at Carrow Road were caused by misunderstanding between the clubs that took place prior to the fixture and in the processes that both clubs followed.

All Football League Clubs should make available either a minimum of 2000 places for away fans or a figure which is greater than 10% of their capacity. At Norwich the total of spaces initially allocated to away supporters exceeds 2000 and is spread over three blocks of seating (which can each be segregated), allowing visiting clubs to take the either the full allocation, 1400 seats or just the initial block of 900 seats, with a general rule that Clubs do not ask for more tickets than they will need. (At Brentford, away clubs are given approximately 1800 spaces in the Brook Road stand as this figure is greater than 10% of the capacity of Griffin Park and because the area is segregated) and at Leeds for example clubs are given for League matches the option of approximately 1700 tickets or 2800 which is the next figure that can be segregated).

The common practice is that away supporters are either given a set allocation, i.e. at grounds like Brentford where the stand can not be segregated or the clubs negotiate with each other and tickets are supplied on a demand basis, e.g. Brentford have told Leeds that they would like the full allocation of 2800 on the basis and understanding that they expect Brentford fans to sell in the region of this amount.

Norwich City say that they contacted Brentford FC on a number of occasions with the initial conversation taking place in December 2009 and Brentford FC asked for 200- 300 tickets and Norwich recall a subsequent request where Brentford stated they wanted between 600 - 800 tickets.

It would appear that there was a misunderstanding between both parties and that those involved within the conversations were talking at cross purposes, with Norwich believing that Brentford FC were indicating the total away support and Brentford FC talking about the number of tickets they wanted for Advanced sales.

Norwich have advised BIAS that Brentford Football Club, the Met Police in Brentford and Norwich police all indicated that they thought it would be 6-800 fans and that their decision to reduce the Brentford allocation was not based on the ticket sales on 20th Jan but on discussions that had taken place before then.

As Brentford allegedly requested a very low number of tickets, Norwich supporters were first able to buy tickets that could have been used by Brentford fans on December 21st when they went on sale to Super Members (a category with Norwich City’s membership scheme) and then later dates for ordinary members and then non-members.

Richard Gough has also stated to BIAS that that the match was pay on the day and not All Ticket, Ticket Preferred or a just All Ticket for away fans as the number of estimated travelling fans was so low Norwich estimated that no-one would be unable to buy a ticket. If Norwich has subsequently had a much higher estimate of travelling Brentford fans, then they would have made the game All Ticket to ensure no-one had a wasted journey to Carrow Road. He added that there is a cultural difference between the way fans of Premiership or Championship clubs approach away games and the way fans of FL clubs approach them. No-one following a club in the Premiership or Championship would think of travelling without a ticket but in the Football League, people often rock up at 2.55pm and expect to buy a ticket on the turnstile.

BIAS has calculated Brentford’s away support for Saturday games to be in the region of 890 prior to the Christmas period and would have predicted the clubs following to such a prestigious venue to be in the region of 1100-1300, taking into account the time of year, Brentford’s form over Christmas (including away wins at MK Dons and Gillingham) and the fact that barring a mid-week JPT game earlier this season, the clubs had not met at Carrow Road for a number of years.

Norwich City and Leeds United have very similar arrangements for allocating away fans. BIAS is aware that Brentford spoke to Leeds United in December of last year to state that Brentford FC would require more than the standard allocation but no mention of a similar conversation with Norwich City has been mentioned to BIAS.

Norwich also advised BIAS that was a misunderstanding about the 'Kids from a Quid' slogan which wasn't a promotion but in fact their price of a child's seat in the family areas of their stands.

BIAS has written to Norwich City to make the recommendations that they ask visiting clubs four set questions: 1. How many Pre Sale Tickets do you want? 2. How many supporters do you anticipate bringing 3. What allocation do you require, 900, 1400 or the full allocation? 4. Are you happy for us to put the tickets you do not require on sale to our own membership?

We have also suggested that the answers given should be recorded within an e-mail to confirm the agreed arrangements.

BIAS has also written to Brentford FC to whom we have made the following points:

1. That the Football Club should determine the away capacity of each ground visited and ascertain if this includes parts of the ground that can be utilised to house home supporters. 2. That based on the estimated top figure for Brentford’s likely away following that the football Club should agree with the home club the number of spaces that Brentford supporters will actually be allocated. 3. That Brentford FC should confirm the clubs requirements via e-mail and should state how many tickets they would to be sent for presale and provide an estimated figure for pay on the day customers.

The latter has been included as over 500 Brentford were left in a queue at Southampton, many missing the kick off, as the host club was caught by surprise at the number of pay on the day travelling Bees who had to wait for more tickets to be produced.

BIAS would like to thank Brentford FC’s Executive committee and David McNally and Richard Gough of Norwich for taking the time to answer our enquires with regards to this matter.