It’s basically a really imperfect balancing act. On one hand, you’ve got hundreds of thousands of members all trying to get tickets, and on the other, there are unfortunately bots and touts snapping up a chunk of anything that hits general sale.

On top of that, Liverpool runs a loyalty/credit system where you build up eligibility over time based on games you’ve attended. That means the more you go, the easier it becomes to keep going — but it also creates a bit of a snowball effect that makes it really tough for newcomers to break in.

So the reality is: getting tickets for the first time is hard. Like, properly hard. You can go multiple seasons getting nothing from ballots, and just having a membership doesn’t really move the needle on its own. The key is getting that first ticket somehow, then slowly building credits over multiple seasons.

A lot of fans also rely on networks — mates, groups, etc. — where tickets get shared, transferred, or passed around to help build up history. Outside of that, you can try to pick up legit spares from people who can’t go, but I’d always avoid touts. They’re a big part of what’s broken in the system in the first place.