Do they not just work their way down the STWL until they reach their quota if ones above on the list say no?
I believe this is what happens going on what people have said in the past - 1000 new ones will be created so the 1100ish figure above in theory is about what we should all see. It really wouldn't shock me to see us all go down 1000 exactly though. I think the club (or the owners) clearly don't like having STs at all and anything they can do to make a seat GA instead of ST, they will do. I suppose at least in the last year they have been more transparent about ST returns and released figures, but we still don't know how many favours are done behind closed doors, whether it's a case of who you know in the Ticket Office or what, but even recently on here there's been a story of a name change in a ST which shouldn't be happening now.
It also wouldn't shock me one bit to either see the waiting list abolished altogether at some point in the future or for the club to say that they won't be issuing new ones when old ones are returned. They won't have any legal obligations to those of us on the list, and there will come a point where they can start to make the (reasonably fair) argument that someone who put their name on a list 30 years ago has an unfair advantage on younger supporters who weren't able to. I should be around 2500 when this update is done, so probably 20/25 years more to wait. I'll be 64 in 25 years, I went on the list when I was 19. Is it fair for me to get one then ahead of younger people who have never had the chance to put themselves on the list? I obviously wouldn't be turning it down and you never know what happens, we could be relegated and things change, but it doesn't seem like a sustainable system for the future.