Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article

The following story caught my eye in advance of the Walsall game http://www.leedsunited.com/news/walsall-available-on-the-night-20090817_2247585_1757436

Coming after a simular situation at Darlington this is a good cue to vent again a little anger on the increasingly getting discredited Members Card system. The Walsall game is now another of this seasons games where Leeds fans can just turn up and pay on the gate, usually this has been impossible due to the membership card system and police objection. Because the game is a dodgy Tuesday night, and in a stadium where the away fans could take 5k and the place would still look half empty, no such problems. What this re-enforces is how the membership card scheme, as practised under the Bates regime, is but a gigantic money sucking “con” (legal but still a con). There is no security issue negated by the scheme, nobody will be checking at the Bescot now nor at the vast majority of grounds we attend proberbly, it’s a money raking scam, 30k x £30, best part of a £1m to the club simply to buy the right not to get tickets for Wycombe, Colchester and Brighton. Tacky badges and even tackier propaganda are your reward for such an indulgence and yet you do it “just in case”, the “guarantee” of a ticket for the play-off final (most useful last season that was!). I don’t care what rational the club uses to justify its existance but unless it has a real purpose the Members Card scheme must go! Don’t get me wrong I hope those who would normally be put off attending an away game by the card system enjoy the Bescott, but it really is time the club came clean and stopped using exclusivity or saftey as an excuse for this scheme.

Edited to add, I think this debate deserves more than just a rant followed by a row so will return to this with a longer more considered analysis later in the week.