Fanaticism Backfires on Raiders : Pro football: Club’s bungled ticket sales efforts met with anger, threats of violence.

The Oakland Raiders cultivate a bad-boys image, but that attitude backfired when fans angered by ticket foul-ups brandished guns, threw chairs and threatened the staff.

Outgoing ticket director Steve Ferguson said fans were frustrated by the controversies over expensive “personal seat licenses” and the failure of the team to offer season-ticket holders coveted seats for the Dallas Cowboys’ game.

“There was one incident in our office in which a fellow who was frustrated set a gun on the table and said to the customer service person, ‘Are you going to take care of my problem, or am I?’ ” Ferguson said.

Fan anger over what officials admit were Raider ticket-marketing glitches has calmed down substantially since peaking in August and September, Ferguson said. But the going has been rough for his employees.

“We brought in some crisis counselors . . . to teach coping strategies, because workers were beginning to take it personally,” Ferguson said Thursday. “Things were really getting edgy there for a while, and it helped.”

There were even times when private security guards had to be called.

Pinkerton guards were brought in after personal seat license holders, irate over the Nov. 9 handling of extra single-ticket sales to the Cowboys’ game, stormed the marketing office.

“I had employees crying in their cubicles dealing with the ongoing onslaught,” Ferguson said.

Despite having to cope with irate fans, officials at the ticket agency said they are getting things under control. Ferguson, who was only on loan from the city of Oakland, is stepping down.

He will be replaced by Ray Krise, a former administrator for the Oakland A’s. Krise has 32 years experience in professional sports administration. Meanwhile, agency officials admitted Thursday that marketing costs are already approaching the $6 million initially budgeted through September 1996, but insisted there is no cause for alarm.

As of Wednesday, approximately 39,150 11-year personal seat licenses and club seats had been sold, something Krise said is “an amazing feat” for a four-month marketing effort.

The sales represent $62.5 million in revenue, shy of the roughly $75 million that marketing officials estimate they will need by next year to avoid taxpayer subsidies to finance the Raiders’ return.