FIVE-YEAR ROLLING TAPS

The new five-year rolling TAPs system is designed to strengthen both home and away support by ensuring ticket access better reflects recent attendance.  

Since their introduction in 2013/14, TAPs have accumulated without expiry, which has led to some fans maintaining high TAPs balances even if their recent attendance has been low. As a result, fans who attend more frequently in recent years may be in a lower priority TAPs bracket for purchasing tickets to high-demand matches, compared to those who attended more games in the past than they do now.  

For example, over 1,000 season ticket holders who are in the top TAPs bracket (4500+ TAPs) have not attended an away match in the 2024/25 season, up to and including the Crystal Palace match. Similarly, over 1,000 current members who are in the top TAPs bracket (750+ TAPs) have not attended a home match this season, up to and including the Liverpool match.  

Our solution is to align TAPs balances with more recent attendance, ensuring fans who regularly attend matches are rewarded. The rolling TAPs system ensures active and newer fans have a fair opportunity to secure tickets for high-demand matches, while still recognising the loyalty of long-standing supporters.  

The new system rewards fans for consistent attendance at home and away matches. By focusing on the most recent five years of attendance, the system ensures that active supporters have better access to tickets for high-demand games.   

There are also benefits for families and groups. In the new system, if you regularly attend both home and away fixtures with your family and friends, your TAPs total will increase at a similar rate. Over time, the purchasing windows available to you will align, making it easier to purchase tickets together.  

TAPs earned before the 2022/23 season won’t be included because the new system focuses on rewarding recent, consistent and active attendance. This ensures that fans who actively attend matches now are prioritised for ticket access, rather than those who may have accumulated TAPs but no longer attend regularly. 

While we value long-term loyalty, the goal is to create a more balanced system for all fans and ensure TAPs totals reflect ongoing engagement.   

The decision was made after extensive consultation with fan groups, internal reviews, and benchmarking against other Premier League clubs. Feedback helped shape a system that is more balanced, rewards consistent attendance, and better reflects our active match-goers. The plan was carefully reviewed and approved to ensure it meets the needs of our supporters.   

We will provide season ticket holders and members with personalised communications before each season to share their up-to-date TAPs balance under the new system.  

The five-year rolling TAPs system will take effect from July 2025, ahead of the 2025/26 season. At this time, existing TAPs will reset, and your new TAPs balance will reflect points earned from the 2021/22 season onwards, and TAPs earned before 2021/22 will expire. From this point forward, TAPs earned during the season - including for friendly matches - will continue to add to your rolling total.  

Each time TAPs are earned, they are logged in our data warehouse, recording the number of TAPs awarded along with the date and time. Using this data, we’ve created a yearly breakdown of each fan’s TAPs to calculate how many have been accumulated each season. The five-year rolling TAPs total includes all TAPs earned from the 2022/23 season to the present. 

At the start of the next season, your TAPs will be reset to include the accumulated TAPs from the previous four seasons. Any TAPs earned during the upcoming season will be added to your total throughout the season.   We will provide season ticket holders and members with personalised communications before each season to share their up-to-date TAPs balance under the new system. 

TAPS will be earned for both home and away games based on attendance, within seven working days of the fixture.

To find out how many TAPs are earned for each fixture visit the Ticket Access Points page.  

At the end of each season, your TAPs will refresh to only include the previous four seasons, and you can add to your total by earning TAPs in the upcoming season. Any TAPs earned prior to this period will expire.  

No. TAPs earned before the 2022/23 season will no longer be included in your balance after the reset. From the start of next season, only TAPs earned in the most recent five years (from 2022/23 onwards, including 2026/27) will contribute to your rolling TAPs balance.   

Yes. Under the five-year rolling TAPs system, TAPs earned in each season are included in your total for five years. If you miss attending matches in a season, your TAPs total in future years may be impacted as TAPs earned in previous seasons expire. This could mean that you may not be eligible for the same priority window for purchasing tickets, if other fans have more TAPs than you. You can rebuild your TAPs total and maintain access to tickets for high-demand fixtures by attending more fixtures the following season. 

Priority for ticket purchases will be based on your ticket-buying history over the past four seasons, plus the current one. The more matches you’ve attended (both home and away), the higher your priority will be. However, if you haven’t attended many fixtures, your priority level for purchasing tickets may decrease over time as TAPs expire.     

To maintain priority access for active supporters, season ticket holders who meet the TAPs threshold for the first on-sale window of high-demand Category A away matches will be guaranteed the opportunity to purchase tickets when they go on sale. This ensures that those with the highest TAPs retain priority access during their designated window. 

With the five-year rolling TAPs system, your ticket priority is determined solely by your attendance at home and away games over the past five seasons. Regular attendance during this period will therefore result in higher priority for ticket purchases. Please note that TAPs earned before the five-year period will not be included in your total.     

The rolling TAPs system rewards those who regularly attend home and away fixtures, giving them higher priority for ticket purchases. If you only attend a few games each season, your TAPs will be lower, which may reduce your priority. However, away fixtures regularly reach the ‘all season ticket holders’ window, meaning tickets are accessible for most matches. We expect this trend to continue.     

For most fans, the new system won’t significantly affect your opportunity to secure tickets for away games or cup matches. This season, our data shows that for the majority of fixtures, tickets remained on sale through to the “All members” window, meaning tickets have consistently been available to season ticket holders and those with higher TAPs. We expect this trend to continue.

The five-year rolling TAPs system ensures that active attendance is rewarded, giving regular attendees a fairer chance at high-demand fixtures. Additionally, priority windows will still provide those with the highest TAPs the earliest opportunity to purchase tickets.   

TAPs can only be awarded to the fan number associated with the ticket purchase. If you regularly attend matches, it’s important to ensure tickets are correctly assigned to your fan number to accumulate TAPs.   

If you regularly attend both home and away fixtures with your friends and family, your TAPs total will increase at a similar rate. Over time, the purchasing windows available to you will align making it easier to purchase tickets together.   

Yes, if you regularly attend games with your children and purchase tickets together, your TAPs total will increase at a similar rate. Over time, the purchasing windows available to you will align making it easier to purchase tickets together.     

If you regularly purchase tickets as a group and attend matches together, your TAPs totals will naturally align over time. This means that as you continue attending matches together, you’ll move through the priority windows at a similar pace, making it easier to purchase tickets as a group. 

Year 1 (2022/23): 100

Year 2 (2023/24): 200

Year 3 (2024/25): 300

Year 4 (2025/26): 200

Year 5 (2026/27): new TAPs from this season

Total TAPs: 800, plus any TAPs earned in the 2026/27 season

Yes, TAPs from the 2022/23 season will still be included. The 2022/23 season is the first year that TAPs contribute towards your five-year rolling total, and all TAPs accumulated from that season onwards will be included in your total.  However, 2022/23 TAPs will no longer contribute to your total from the 2027/28 season.  

The five-year rolling TAPs system aims to fairly reflect and reward attendance over recent seasons. We understand that every fan’s circumstances are unique and there may be exceptional circumstances that have prevented fans from earning TAPs in recent seasons, impacting their TAPs total under the new system.  

To ensure fairness, you can request a review of your rolling TAPs total in cases of exceptional circumstances. Please fill out this form and we’ll review each application on a case-by-case basis. 

Find form here.

Exceptional circumstances typically include situations like:   

• Disabilities and long-term health conditions

• Long-term caring responsibilities.   

• Maternity and/or paternity leave

• If your situation isn’t listed here but you believe it qualifies, please use the form below to request a review.  Please note, higher education and work commitments are not considered exceptional circumstances. 

Find form here

Even if your situation isn’t explicitly mentioned, you can still submit a request. We will carefully review each case individually to ensure fairness.  

Unfortunately, manual adjustments cannot be made for tickets that were not assigned to your fan number at the time of purchase.   

The exceptional circumstances form will be available from week commencing Monday 10 February and will close on Friday 7 March. Once the form has closed, we will review all submissions and aim to provide a response to each individual by Wednesday 30 April. If we require additional information during the review process, we will contact you directly.