[Kenp]

Our family of 5 (wife, 2 teenagers, and a 12 year old) have been 7 year MLS season ticket holders.

After watching the EPL for the last ten years, we're visiting England the 3rd week of February and wish to experience the real McCoy.

We're targeting Liverpool vs. Bayer Leverkusen for the 2/22 Champion's League tie, and Southampton vs. Arsenal on the 26th.

Going through touts seem about the only way to secure tickets, but I'm really leery of the terms and risks involved. Besides the high costs (which may cause us to only catch one event) and the general uncertainty, the seats could be 5 singles, which won't do (3 and 2 is OK).

Does anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with going this route, and could recommend specific sites or other alternatives?

We have tried calling Liverpool FC, but our timing has been off so far.

Thanks in advance.....

[Dave_M]

Arsenal being an Away game might not be too much of a problem. Certainly you will have problems getting away tickets from a tout, and they will be singles as you say.

Provided the southampton game doesnt need "away credits" you might be able to just get tickets from the Arsenal box office...

Have a word with RickB in the Arsenal forum. He can probably give you better info than I can

[Captain Splarg]

check the websites for liverpool and Southampton and see when tickets go on general sale. Call the club and book by phone when they go on general sale.

[Scouse]

a 'mate' of mine bought 8 tickets in a row for Liverpool vs Olympiakos (CL game) when they went on general sale.

if you get in early enough, you should be alright simply buying 5 tickets direct from the club.

...if you're into that sort of thing. *cough*

[Boro_lad]

just keep your eyes on the clubs websites, (best bet is to get tickets in the southampton end maybe for that game) they will tell you when tickets go on sale and who to ring up.

[HiFi]

Call the ticket offices for the stadium where the matches will be held. I'd advise against calling the away team as the away supporters are generally a very rabid bunch, so there's a slight chance it might not be the an enjoyable experience with the kids. The atmosphere is am important part of being at an EPL match.

I know Chelsea offers tickets to Supporters groups before they go on general sale. So it might be worth your while to do a search for UK & US based team supporters groups and see if they have any special arrangements with the club ticket office. Also have a look for discussion forums on "unofficial" supporter-run web sites for each home team. They are usually filled with season ticket holders, and if you post a nicely worded request for tickets, they may know of other season ticket who can not go and would like to sell their tickets. They want to deal with the touts even less than you do, so they would be happy to know where the tickets were going.

Good luck.

After living in Southampton 9 years ago, we've gone back to the UK every couple of years and we see a match. Feel free to send me a PM if you need any help.

[Digger Barnes]

I saw 9 English League games in 14 days on Holiday a couple of years ago, I had no trouble at all getting tickets, all I did was email or call the Clubs and ask about the availability of tickets for the games I wished to see. Chelsea even gave me 3 tickets for free or forgot to charge me, either way I was happy.

Two of the games I saw were Liverpool, at Home versus Villa and Sheffield Wed.

You should have no problems getting tickets for Championship or First Divison clubs matches, I saw a few lower league games on my trip, I enjoyed them more then the Premiership games, I would recommend it if you get the chance.

Whether you phone or email, mention your a supporter of the club your trying to get tickets for and add that this will be your first time watching them Live.

Kevin

[ATL Blue One]

Yes contacting the clubs websites for tickets is always the best way if your overseas. If your not particular about a certain match you should have no problems finding tickets to several games duing your stay.

[Matt Clark]

Isn't it about time this information was placed in a sticky at the top of this board? I'm not being an arse here, no offence and all that and I do hope the replies prove useful, but I count three such threads in the past week now. And that's not unusual in itself.

(the Leverkusen game, just by the by, might actually be tricky - you may need a stub per person from the Olympiakos game, dependant on how the club judge likely demand prior to issuing tickets, which is likely to be strong, given that we're talking about the quarter-finals of he European Cup.)

[monkeyhead]

someone should make this into a sticky

DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE

optasoccer


for example they want over $1000 for Arsenal vs Man Utd


to add insult to injury, the plan of the ground on the arsenal page shows the real ticket cost for each section of the ground

if they included flights it would still be too much