Bit of an interesting situation and I am hoping I can get some advice here. First up, I am not a Palace fan and don’t even support an English team. I am originally from Scotland and support what used to be my local team. I have lived in Bromley for the best part of the last 20 years I have watched Bromley more than anyone and I am always happy to tag along if one of my mates has a spare ticket for whatever teams they support.

At the start of the season, my girlfriend’s boy concluded that supporting Chelsea was childish and he realised that most Chelsea fans are, in his words, glory hunting racist w***ers. His family are from the Palace/Croydon area and his Grandparents lived in the shadow of Selhurst Park for most of their lives and therefore he choose Palace as his team. I thought a couple of losses against the big boys might change his mind but to be fair he has just become more dedicated.

He turns 16 on the 2nd April and I would love to take him to the Arsenal match that night. However, the ticket prices online are frightening and much as I like the kid, I just can’t afford it. I get that spare tickets against any London team are going to be rare as rocking horse s*** and therefore I wanted to ask first, are there any matches that I am likely to get tickets for around then and secondly, what is the best way to get tickets without having to sell a kidney?

I am planning on taking him to the Bromley v Palace preseason friendly, assuming it is on this year. Is that likely to go ahead as normal?

Thanks for any help.

Also - Your girlfriends boy should be commended on his judge of character.

Also - I have seen some last minute ticket sales on here for games, admittedly usually because someone has just tested positive for Covid and only found out a day or two before the game -

For sure its really hit & miss & you wouldn't have the comfort of being able to tell him in advance that you have tickets for Palace Vs .......... whoever - but if your willing to take the chance it is a possibility.

I think that you need a membership of some description if your going to buy any tickets from the club either online or direct from the ticket office -

Before you buy a membership I would investigate thoroughly the different types of membership available to make sure that you don't waste money buying one type when another type of membership would be more suitable -

If you buy tickets off the HOL website its probably easier (no membership) but I have my concerns as to how easy it is now with tickets being electronic ( I don't know how transferable they are) & the whole covid vaccine status being checked - for example I don't know what happens if the ticket has one name on it & then you have to show covid vacc & it has a different name on it - -

Maybe someone else with some experience of that could comment.

I have always suspected clubs were introducing electronic tickets to stop fans swapping them over. I had not contemplated the effect covid restrictions would have.

I am hoping that in the long run, the boy may even buy his own season ticket but that is likely to be a few years away.