We want to assure you that we have gone out of our way once again to make sure you, the fans, get the news first on Iron Maiden, and that those in the Fan Club get the privilege that we promise.

However, thanks to some pr**k accessing privileged information and posting all the dates and on sale details we did not have the planned time to execute this as we would have liked and would have had done.

So please bear with us, we are doing our best. The ticket agency are cross-referencing all entered member numbers against the Fan Club list. This takes time, which slows the ticketing process down. We will have this sorted by the end of the day.

Remember that fans are getting a full 5 days worth of advance booking on the tour so please stop your grumblings cos we're as pissed off as you are for not having the time to sort this out as we would have done.

And it really doesn’t help us if some of you go off the deep end on stuff all the time. The timing of info is very tough nowadays cos of the web and dishonest creeps jumping the gun. Myself, Val, Dave, Katherine, Skunk, Laz and the rest of the Maiden team do our best and don’t take anything for granted. You should understand this but also that we are not perfect – only nearly perfect! – AND WE DO BLOODY CARE!

So next time you want to whinge maybe you should consider this and that everything is being done that is humanly possible. And l would have thought for that maybe you should sometimes be just a little bit grateful instead of slagging us off?

- Rod