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Maybe it took seeing the digital ticketing chaos at Liverpool, maybe it was some of the teething problems some fans experienced at the London Stadium at the weekend, but with the dust barely settled on the first serious experiments with ticketless football, West Ham have seen sense.

Apart from the first couple of home league games, while the club no doubt get their technology in order, fans will be sent just one code for the entire season to access the stadium.




There are other modifications that can be scrutinised elsewhere on the KUMB site, but this one obvious move to simplify the whole new system and take the strain out of waiting for emails that, some might say, never flamin’ well arrive.

At our place on Saturday there were plenty of issues with the QR code, people being told what mobile phones didn’t work, kids getting in and their dads’ standing outside, printed codes not being accepted. It goes on.

But what happened at Liverpool at the weekend with a 30-minute delay to kick-off, long queues outside the ground and two announced delays, may well have concentrated a few minds.

Liverpool have been more open about their plans, more inclusive. We have given the impression of secrecy, whether true or not, and there were still fans on social media at the weekend asking when the season tickets were being sent out.

That shows a few things. Many fans do not bother with websites, a third of the country do not have smart phones and about a quarter do not have decent broadband access, if at all. So fans can be forgiven for not being able to keep up, with emails to fans on the situation few and far between.

Where I live, in the frozen north, these are genuine issues. And I say this carefully knowing my audience here. But in the metropolitan areas, the south and London, these issues are barely relevant.

I have friends and family in the Lakes, Yorkshire and the north west who do not have broadband and I know this is difficult for you lot in the royal republic of Essex to comprehend.

And what we have discovered in the pandemic and during the nine weeks of home schooling is just how inadequate many are served in the digital age. Print your ticket I hear... well during that schooling period, nobody in my street had a printer and I ran off thousands of sheets of school work for friends and family.

So when I hear folk saying how easy it all is and you should learn and get a grip, I struggle to be polite.

In some says I don’t expect the club to fully understand this. I must admit to being apprehensive about the new system and I had the first brick mobile phone in the village way back in the 1970s. In those days you would see it parked on the bar to impress people (sorry, got all misty eyed there for a moment).




But the point is, if it could go wrong for Liverpool, who are very savvy and user friendly, it could go wrong anywhere.

Nobody can dare risk a Premier League match delayed for 30 minutes, considering the amount of worldwide TV coverage, the betting industry and credibility the Premier League has. It would be chaotic.

There are still questions. Are all clubs linked to the same systems? How are they handling away tickets and why are Sunday’s tickets for our fans at the match at Newcastle of the paper variety? How do we plan to handle away fans - will their tickets be paper and what happens if there are problems distributing tickets on email? The thought of a serious problem at the away end at our place doesn’t bear thinking about.

Saturday was bright and sunny, there were about 20,000 there and problems could be isolated and acted upon. But what about a bitterly cold December night with it pissing down and hordes of fans desperately trying to get there for an 8.00pm, even 7.45pm kick off? It doesn’t bare thinking about with 60,000 there .

All that is to come for the good folk at the LS, for now we have to be thankful that a decision has been taken to provide one code for the entire season.

There are a goodly few of us who travel from all corners of the country, even for night games. Early booking of trains for example makes things a lot cheaper, travelling when you are not sure if the email has arrived is just too much stress. So well done West Ham for coming to this sensible solution.

And well done too to the West Ham social media family. Our friendly rivals over at C&H have been seriously banging on about this for weeks, here on KUMB it has been a constant topic of the Forum and there have been plenty of articles decrying the stupidity of the previous plans.

Right across the websites from Crossed Hammers to Boleyn Days, WHTID, OLAS and Trans Pennine, there has been constant debate and it has paid off. Hammers United and WHUISA have lobbied loudly on the ISA, and will continue to do so next Monday at the sub committee meeting that handles these things.

It has been a collective effort, the West Ham family in action. Well done, everyone.

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