Brighton refund all Chelsea away tickets after spectacular cock up
Brighton and Hove Albion have announced that they will be refunding all tickets sold for Chelsea away in what can only be described as a spectacular ticketing cock up.
The Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday 24th February, the same day as the Carabao Cup final.
With Chelsea still in the semi finals of the competition, that meant there was a 50-50 chance that Brighton’s visit to west London would have to be rearranged for a later date if they were to defeat Tottenham Hotspur and book a spot at Wembley.
Remarkably, the Albion decided to start selling tickets for the game anyway despite there being a strong chance it wouldn’t even take place. This left many supporters predicting a clusterfuck down the line when the inevitable happened and Chelsea made the final, meaning our game had to be moved to a new midweek date which many of the 3,000 ticket holders might not be able to make.
Needless to say, Maurizio Sarri’s side duly dispatched of Spurs via a penalty shoot out to advance to the final where they will face Manchester City, rendering all those tickets sold by the Albion pointless.
To complicate matters further, we’re unlikely to know a new date for the trip to Stamford Bridge for some time, or at least until Chelsea are eliminated from the Europa League.
Until then, they need to keep most midweeks between now and the end of the season in case they advance all the way to the final of the competition. The Blues take on Swedish side Malmö next in the round of 32.
As a result of having absolutely no idea when the trip to Chelsea will actually take place, nor wanting to deal with the prospect of handling potentially thousands of refunds when a date is eventually settled on, the Albion have decided to refund every single ticket bought.
Once an new date is announced, those supporters who had originally purchased tickets will have first opportunity to buy another one. Any tickets that are then left unsold will will be put back on sale using the normal loyalty points system.
It’s been a while since we’ve had this sort of mass cock up from the Albion ticketing department. This is a welcome throwback to the days when you’d open an envelope which you thought would contain an adult ticket for Rochdale away, only to find a disabled and carer ticket for Dagenham and Redbridge and a signed photo of Fran Sandaza.
It’s reassuring to know that no matter how high up the football pyramid Brighton climb or how professional Paul Barber has made the club off the pitch, there is still the chance that moments such as this can occur.
But most of all, this is what supporting Brighton is all about. That and throwing away two-goal leads to lose 4-2 to the side second bottom of the table, of course.
