Well spotted. Yes, it is still there! Why? Not sure what issue this helps with or fixes? Plus, the renewal date is before the last game of the season and renewal usually opens months before that, long before we've had all our home games anyhow - so not sure how this is workable?
Passing the ticket on by transfer is fine, I do it when I can't attend, but (1) you can't always guarantee someone's able to take it and (2) if they do, what if they can't go at the last minute due to something? This puts unnecessary pressure on. I'm not impressed by them policing our use of a ticket we've bought and paid for. Maybe they want to push into the resale or donation to the foundation?
It's ridiculous. Even more so set against the context that games are moved all over the place, sometimes at relatively short notice, for TV. I'm OK with that side of it as it's a relatively short journey for me, but my pal does shifts and has ended up missing games this season as they were shunted to times he had unavoidable work shifts.
It definitely leaves me asking, what's happened in previous seasons to inspire them to do this? Is this pre-emptive against boycotts?
I suppose they want to make sure the seats are filled and aren't going empty. Even if the seat is sold and they have their money, they will want people coming and spending money on food etc.
I can see both sides of this, one the one hand it is very clear from attending games that many tickets go unused for much of the season, presumably owned by ST holders who only attend the "bigger" games. The club are probably trying to "encourage" these ticket holders pass on or give up their tickets to the club or regular attendees so they can make more money and keep the attendance figures up. There are many cracking seats at OT which go empty for much of the season, many ST holders try hard each season to move their seat, if we want to give the club the benefit of the doubt, serial non attendees are the primary target.
If we want to be a bit more cynical, as already mentioned in the thread, if the club has the ticket sold back to them from an ST holder they can sell it at a higher price to members.
Obviously short notice fixture changes are going to be a factor in why people cannot attend, next season is going to be packed with midweek fixtures I believe, due to the WC being held in what is usually the busiest period in English football. I hope that there will be some leniency in the renewal decisions if many ticket holders couldn't attend due to fixture changes, however if you give the ticket to the game back to the club rather than a friend who may or may not be able to go, this will count as our ticket being used. I suppose with that option it is up to the ticket holder to make the wisest decision if they want to keep hold of the ticket for the following year.
I must say I think on the whole its a positive change, ticket holders have the option to not go (forward to a member who can definitely go, or give back to the club), and the club keep the seats full/can resell tickets at higher price/can move other ticket holders around. One thing which isn't clear is whether giving your ticket back to the club will affect your away ticket credits, I suspect it may.