I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received this email from Newcastle United – From despair to… | OneFootball

Whenever I receive an email from Newcastle United it is rarely, if ever, good news.

I am one of the 100,000+ Newcastle United members who rely on applying match by match for home tickets.

The emails from the club that I usually receive, always start with the same word.

That word is ‘Unfortunately….’

The full first sentence that kicks off these never changing Newcastle United emails is – ‘Unfortunately, your application for the Mags Member Ballot has been unsuccessful for our game against *FILL IN NAME OF LATEST OPPOSITION TEAM I WON’T BE SEEING AT SJP*.’

No surprise to me then, when just under two weeks ago I received my latest email, which was the ballot result for Newcastle v Barcelona tickets.

I can’t remember the last time I was successful in a ballot for home tickets, best part of a year ago I think.

Out of the blue I received an email from Newcastle United just before 3.30pm yesterday (Monday 16 September 2025).

THAT email I received from Newcastle United on Monday afternoon…

Dear supporter,

A small number of tickets have become available for our upcoming fixture against FC Barcelona on Thursday 18th September, including some seats returned by FC Barcelona from the original away allocation.

We are pleased to offer you a ticket as one of the next eligible supporters from the original ballot. Tickets will be available online from 3:30pm today and you will have 24 hours to login to your account, select and purchase the tickets. If you do not buy during this time, you will still be eligible to purchase tickets that are put for re-sale by season ticket holders unable to attend the game. Keep an eye on book.newcastleunited.com for any tickets made available for re-sale.

To secure your seats please login to your account on book.newcastleunited.com and select the seats you wish to purchase.

Thank you for your continued support.

Select your seat

From despair to….absolute elation.

I was Charlie getting his Golden Ticket in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. That was me.

I was so happy to see Newcastle United win on Saturday and Big Nick score that brilliant goal on his debut.

However, when you can’t get tickets for many matches, it is of course not the same.

One thing is for sure, nothing beats being inside the ground, watching it live.

I suppose I can count this as a ballot success at last.

Even if it was won in ballot added time!

I don’t want to give any other Newcastle United fans false hope, BUT when you read above what the club sent to myself and a fair few other Newcastle supporters, once it gets to 3.30pm this afternoon and time runs out for those like myself who received the email.