Membership ballot for Villa tickets finally opens tomorrow, with seating to be "randomly allocated"

Newcastle United has finally released information about the membership ballot for the first Premier League home game of the season against Aston Villa on Saturday the 12th of August.

The ballot will open at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday the 2nd of August) and close at 10 a.m. on Friday the 4th of August. Those who are successful in the ballot will be contacted by 5 p.m. on that Friday and payments will be processed.

Ballot applications are one ticket per membership and the maximum number of supporters who can be included within a group ballot application is six. If successful in the ballot, groups will always be sat together, never separated.

Seats/groups of seats are randomly allocated, though. You can't choose a specific stand, area, or even category, so supporters could be seated in any available seat in the stadium. The price for an adult will therefore be between £44 and £74, a range of £30 (68%), with concession prices not yet published.

To us, this seems like an absolute disaster and the first significant misstep by our new owners since the takeover in October 2021. The idea of a membership ballot for tickets is a fair one and creates equity between those willing to purchase an adult or junior membership. To then expect the same people to be willing to sit in a randomly allocated seat in any part of the ground and pay up to £74 for the "privilege" is unacceptable, though.

Newcastle United's ticketing department has had a shocking summer and while they of course deserve some slack due to the implementation of digital ticketing, it's simply not good enough. Where is the Newcastle United Supporters' Trust (NUST) in all of this, too? Ensuring these issues don't happen is supposed to be their bread and butter.

If you're a member that's affected by this, we genuinely wish you all the best. Here's hoping the club gets everything sorted out in time for the Liverpool game on the 27th of this month. They surely can't persist with this system all season.

Here are all of the extra details shared by NUFC today:

ONLINE BALLOT PROCESS

Each member has a unique supporter ID and can therefore only register once for the ballot (so if you are included in a group application, you cannot also make an individual application at the same time). The maximum number of supporters who may be included within a ballot application is six.

If you wish to be included in the ballot so that, if successful, you would be seated together in a group with friends and/or family members, then you must register all of the proposed members of that group in one application only.

To apply for friends and family members, they must be members and be linked to your account via the 'My Friends & Family' option within your online ticketing account. Please ensure that, before submitting a group application as lead applicant, you have (i) completed and checked this in your account settings and (ii) obtained the prior consent of those friends and/or family members on whose behalf you are applying.

It is imperative that you check and select the correct age band for each ballot applicant, since failure to do so may result in an unsuccessful application.

Each applicant (and, in the case of a group application, the lead applicant submitting on behalf of the group) will need to enter credit/debit card details when submitting a ballot application. No payment will be processed at the point of registering in the ballot.

If you are successful, the automated balloting system will automatically allocate you (and in the case of a group application, each of the members of that group) a seat which could be in any of the available seats.

Once the deadline date has passed for ballot registrations, the ballot will be drawn randomly. The member applicants who are successful in the ballot will automatically have their credit/debit card payment charged for the total cost of ticket(s) allotted. Each successful applicant (and, in the case of a successful group application, the lead applicant submitting on behalf of the group) will receive a confirmation email.

If your payment is not successful the box office will contact you. You will then have 24 hours to complete payment following initial contact. If payment is not received by this time, the tickets will be re-balloted and allocated to another eligible supporter.

If you do not receive an email then, unfortunately the number of ballot applications received has exceeded available ticket capacity and you have not been successful. Supporters can check whether or not they are successful in the ballot via the 'My Account' option within their online ticketing account.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

* Membership is not transferable and only allows you to apply for your age band

* Seats will be allocated randomly across the stadium (if you apply as a group in one application you will be sat together)

* All tickets are digital and should be downloaded to your smart phone immediately upon receipt