TICKET SALES PROCESS STATEMENT

Further to today's announcement of the ticket sales process for the upcoming game against Dundee FC, and in response to the positive suggestions made by supporters, the Club's Managing Director would like to outline the reasons that formed the basis of our decision.

Mal Brannigan said, "We took into account several factors when deciding on the 'on-sale' date and time, including the following:

• putting tickets on sale as soon as possible after receiving them;
• the knowledge that at least 95% of our season ticket holders attend every single home league game; 
• trying to avoid the need for supporters to return to Tannadice on another date, taking into consideration the number of fans that live a fair distance away or would have to use annual leave for a weekday trip;
• managing the ticket centre and other staff resources as best as possible; and
• utilising the new ticketing system to ensure that season ticket cards would only be valid once while identifying those fans who have purchased for the game.

"We looked at selling the tickets earlier in the day from the ticket centre, but we didn't believe we could find a 'best-fit' solution that would accommodate both the needs of the fans and the logistics of selling the tickets ahead of the match, therefore we decided that the ticket centre would open at 5pm and remain open until either all tickets were gone or the queue had been served.

"There will always be a natural push back to any solution: unfortunately, it doesn't fit with everyone's needs, and in the Club's case, this is as a consequence of having more season ticket holders who are eligible to buy a ticket than the number of tickets supplied for this game. It is an issue, but only because we had a successful season ticket campaign that saw an upturn in sales for the first time in five years.

"We believe the process we have put in place is an improvement on the situation we had the last time demand outstripped supply for the play-off final. We learned from that and will take lessons from this game too. The next piece of software to be implemented by the Club where fans can join a loyalty scheme is being worked on but will not be ready anytime soon, and therefore would not have been able to be utilised for this game.

"Finally, we had looked into making the tickets available online, similar to the Queen of the South and Dunfermline games recently, the difference with those games to the one at Dens Park is that there were no limitations to the number of tickets purchased or to season ticket holders only. We cannot yet guarantee that season ticket holders would be the only buyers and so to ensure fairness, the decision was made to exclude online sales. The Club is working with Future Ticketing to find a solution, but again this will not come in time for tomorrow.

"I know there will be fans disappointed in not being able to get a ticket for the match. We have tried to factor in as many considerations as possible in trying to find the best solution."