Derry City season tickets - 'Demand will outweigh supply'

Derry City Football Club is expecting to deal with its greatest ever demand for season tickets ahead of the 2023 season.

The renewal period for current season ticket holder will begin this Wednesday, November 30 after which they will go on general sale. With close to 20,000 fans travelling to Dublin for the recent FAI Cup Final victory over Shelbourne, the club is in no doubt that some supporters will be left disappointed due to the limited capacity at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

But with a new online renewal system in place, the club insist that current season ticket holders will be GUARANTEED a ticket for next season if they wish to renew.

Club Director Robert Martin is urging season ticket holders not to panic.

“Anyone that holds a season ticket is guaranteed it if they wish to renew it for the coming season, 100%,” he insisted. “The majority of people should be able to renew online. There is no need to panic if you don’t receive an email this week. We will make sure that everyone’s ticket is reserved.

“There will be massive demand and we are expecting that demand will outweigh our supply obviously because of the seating capacity in the stadium.

“It does put us in a difficult position. We seen it last season with most matches last season when we couldn’t fit everyone who wanted a ticket in. We did have a capacity restriction imposed on the stadium, but now that we are using an online seating plan, that should allow us to go to 100% capacity and we will be talking to the city council about that in the coming weeks.”

With the Candystripes finishing in second place in the Premier Division and winning the FAI Cup for the first time in eight years in the 2022 season, the interest in the club is at its highest level in many years. Manager Ruaidhri Higgins and the players have had a hectic schedule visiting local schools every since the cup triumph such is the fascination in the club and that in turn is expected to lead to a healthy interest in season ticket sales for 2023.  

“Without a doubt, this will be the biggest demand we’ve ever seen for season tickets,” Martin agreed. “Last year we seen a huge increase on the pre-covid season ticket sales, and we’re expecting it to be even higher now due to the success of the team. It’s going to be a busy period for the club. I would say the three-week period right up until Christmas is going to be very hectic, so the more people that renew online, the easier the process will be for the club.”

Patience

The interest in the club has increased significantly since Higgins arrived as manager with hundreds lining up in the freezing cold at the Brandywell last year to get their hands on season tickets for 2022. The club are keen to avoid a repeat of that this time around.

“We appreciate the patience of those that queued for hours at the start of the 2022 season to purchase their season tickets, but we strongly encourage people to renew their season ticket online,” he reiterated. 

“Supporters purchased match tickets online for matches throughout the season.  It will be much faster process for supporters, and it also allows our volunteers to focus their time with elderly or vulnerable supporters that may not be comfortable with the online process.

“It’s unfair for supporters to be standing queuing at this time of year, because we don’t have the infrastructure there for people to be queuing for hours. It’s also unfair on council ground staff who are already dealing with their regular business at night without having 400-500 Derry City supporters lining up to collect tickets, buy tickets or reserve tickets. It’s to make it a smoother process going forward for everyone and to avoid that inconvenience.”

Derry City Season Ticket Information

Season Tickets for the 2023 season will be priced as follows:

Adult (Mark Farren & Southend Stand) - £260

Concessionary (Mark Farren & Southend Stand) - £210

Underage (Mark Farren & Southend Stand) - £70

Season Ticket Renewals begin on Wednesday, November 30

The initial period will be for the renewal of 2022 season tickets only, and no additional season tickets will be on sale at this time.  Details on any general sale will follow in December.

Full details of the season ticket process are available on the Derry City website.