The City boss says he can understand the frustration of supporters asked to fork out fortunes to watch their side in action.
Hundreds of Blues supporters boycotted last Saturday's trip to Bolton in protest at being asked to pay é36 for a seat.
Although 1,600 City fans did pay to get in, that was around 1,200 down on last season's trip to the Reebok Stadium.
That move came after many Blues fans baulked at the idea of paying é35 to watch their side play at Wigan in October - with only 2,000 making the trip to the JJB Stadium.
Latics chairman Dave Whelan later apologised to City fans in his MEN column, admitting that it had been a mistake to charge so much.
The Blues are conscious of the effect that high admission prices can have on attendances, and slashed ticket prices for adults to é15 for Tuesday night's FA Cup replay against Sheffield Wednesday, with youngsters getting in for é5. It did not stop the Blues from recording their lowest home crowd of the season - 25,621 - but the club believe that reducing prices did help to boost the crowd on Tuesday night.
They have also cut ticket prices for the Southampton game on January 28 to é20 for adults and é5 for children.
Wigan Athletic have also cut admission prices for adults to é15 for many of their remaining home games as they attempt to boost crowds at the JJB Stadium.
But with the average adult seat for a Premiership game costing around é30, it is little surprise that fans at many clubs around the country are starting to question whether they are getting value for money. And Pearce believes the fans are right to question such high admission prices.
He said: "I praise them for not coming. All credit to them. They travelled in numbers to Sheffield to watch us play in the FA Cup, and all over the country.
"If prices are going to be ridiculously high for them, then I can do nothing but praise them.
"I would probably have taken the same course of action myself if I had been in their position.
"I would never knock anyone for staying away when the prices are that high.
"We did our best to cut the prices for the cup game on Tuesday, and we hope that it was successful in persuading a few of those who were umming and ahhing about going to Bolton to come along for that."
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They should be reduced so we can fill our stadium and get a better atmosphere also so we can attract big name players.
Fans will spend money once inside the ground. MCFC sort it out, attendances are dropping season by season since we've moved to COMS
For too many years now admission prices have gone up faster than the average working man's salary.There should be no reason why rices cant be 15 % less than what they are now. What City charged for the Wednsday game should be the norm! The fact is that you can go to any other league Europe and watch top teams such as Barcelona,AC Millanor Byern Munich play for as littke as £8-15. The money from televison just seems to drive up players salary demands wheen it should be used to keep gate prices reasonable, to conclude the way forward is salary caps for the clubs with a better distribution of the television money between the clubs. If this does not happen the premiership will be even less competative with fewer supporters who can not aford to keep watching such an uneven spectacle!
It's not only prices - having the game on TV also makes a huge difference. If it's on the Beeb one has already paid for it in one's licence fee, if it's on Sky then one can pop down to the pub or pay for that too. Either way it's it's a whole lot cheaper than paying £30+. The City game vs Wednesday was on the box as was the Newcastle vs Brum match - hardly surprising then that the crowds were down. Given how much money the clubs get from TV they have no right to complain about that. One final point is the standard of play - in football one just doesn't know how the team will play. In other areas of entertainment this isn't always so. Rarely I have seen a jazz group or classical music group have an 'off day'. Similarly at the theatre. I guess football is just like that - there's a lot of variation in the way the palyers perform from one match to another.
City fans should ensure that the stand against ticket prices works both ways. City and Southapton have ensured a good pricing policy is in place for the 4th round FA cup tie. Lets see both sets of fans vote with their feet and ensure its a full house, £5 for the kids means there is no excuse not to bring them along.
pearce is right but why do they only cut the prices for the cup games? our attendances are always 8000 short. shurley they would make mor selling programes and pies if they dropped the prices from ¿¿27 to around 20
Agree with all previous (5 at time of writing) comments. Just like to add that if they can bring back standing and help boost atmosphere and fun in the stands, then more people will turn out. There's lots of comfort and convenience to being at home or in the pub, but that does not compare to the feeling of being at the match and singing your heart out... by which you are actually participating in the match in a sense. Bring back standing.
Don't forget the Council get a cut of the gate above 34,000. Perhaps they should give City more incentive to cut admission prices. They could start by freeing City from any restrictions regarding naming/ sponsorship of the ground to improve other income streams.
The Sheffield Wednesday game was great. Loved it! 20 quid for me and my son, a flask of oxo, some smuggled vodka in a bottle of coke, crisps and a sarnie instead of the rip-off food (and i use the term food very loosely). King of the kippax instead of an extortionately priced program. Walked it home up Ashton new road with a bag of chips each, talkin' tactics and team selection and such.
Cheap night out!
Are you watching happy clappers?
I have just witnessed the first half agsainst Blackurn, who b4 this macth was behind us in the table. Not any more! How can anyone defend this total dross we have dished up in the fist half? Looked like Pearces boys were going for a 0-0 scoreline. Well no chance of that now. And no chance of a win either. My god what a useless bunch of no hopers!!!
Well after another disastorous performance against Blackburn Pearce, expect quite a few more to be following suit in the coming weeks. How many more times this season do we have to put up with the final score reading Manchester City 0. Pearce get your finger out, and get us a goalscorer in Asap. It will cost us massively if we don't. Not good enough city, infact it was absolutely woeful. Everything we've come to expect from a side managed by pearce.
Looking at the recent proformances CITY should be letting the fans in for FREE.Just watched the Blackburn game on TV and im glad i've not paid to watch DROSS.After we go 2 down we start to play a bit better, europe not a chance with out JB we do nothing give him £50.000 new contract. Need 2 new strikers creative midfielder, leftback or we will be going down.Just finished 22yrs in the army and that was the last time city played football decent at the top level.
What a load of rubbish all you Dunne and Distin lovers take note these two wasters did absolutely nothing today. Samaras is possibly the biggest wimp I have come across. Pearce needs to get rid of these wasters by the end of the week. City fans stay away until the board and Pearce and his cronies sling their hook too. The whole lot should have a month's wages stopped as for Blackburn they are dire also like Allardyce and his merry men - did Anelka play today?
With more of the abysmal football that was seen at COMS today, the crowds are going to get smaller. Football is now an entertainment busiiness whether we like it or not and with the prices being charged, the supporters quite rightly expect value for money. Mr Pearce, you were responsible for that dross served up today and must take the blame. You picked ateam totally lacking any pace or flair- Trabelsi, Dabo, Sinclair, Corradi, Jordan and even Ireland could not outpace my thirteen year old dog over 30 yards. The second half had a little bit more but does your team learn how to pass the ball during training? As for Jordan's efforts in defending the third goal, you should fine him two weeks wages for his total lack of effort! Also I think the time has come to give the Isaakson his chance. Weaver was not at his best today and his distribution is awful.
What a load of rubbish we were. We were so poor today it's a disgrace. The best thing about us is that we have a load of talented kids - when is someone going to have the guts to play them at the same time and get rid of our second rate journey men - who offer nothing... I love City, you love City - it's time for change - get rid of to the load of over paid idiots who play for us..CTID - just goes to show how important Barton is to us...Tugay took the p*ss
i think even at five quid to watch that shower of shoeshine, i'd feel ripped off. How pearce has the nerve to give corradi a shirt is truly beyond the wit of man. Ditto jordan - absolute dross. Trabelsi was a disgrace today. Like I posted midweek, its a miracle we could string more than a one match unbeaten run when we only have 6 players against the opposition's 11. Pearce, you havent got a clue. Thatcher sold, no replacement lined up, another cost-cutting measure for this 'not a selling club' . Wardle OUT.
Just got back home after another "exciting performance". Pearce is hiding from the truth. if we played exciting football we'd all pay the £36 or whatever but serving up this defensive, clueless football means unless you've already paid for it through your season ticket, you wouldn't turn up at all. It's supposed be entertainment Stuart.
The man has no idea and his backroom team should be back at Curzon where they belong,
Ray Bristol, does one have a classically trained ear or is one a RADA actor?
Errr hellooo why didnt we go for vincenzo montella who's just go on loan to fulham?? He's a goalscorer and has laready got 3 in 2 for fulham?? Psycho open your eyes.
Having high prices doesn't mean fans won't turn out, and low prices doesn't mean fans will turn out either. It's the same with City as with almost anyone else. If the team is successful and attractive, the fans will pay to watch. If the team is rubbish, the fans will stay away. Simple as that.
Price of entry has absolutly nothing to do with the attendances, it,s the pitiful excuse of a football team you turn out, you are total garbage and you know it, as i have said from day 1, get out of my club pearse your not even close to becoming a half decent manager... Coleman in..
As a serving soldier I spent many Saturday afternoons at Dortmund when they were quite good. The ticket was the equivalent of about £6 to watch a top flight game standing. Sitting tickets were from £10-£15 and that is watching some of Europes finest! Compare this with paying in excess of £30 just to get in to COMS (plus petrol, parking '''food''' etc to watch the complete dross served up courtesy of us being a selling club (and yes we are just that - we never even bothered to try to replace SWP or Nic Anelka) and it's easy to see why the crowds are down. Another point is that with all-seater stadia is that it's virtually impossible to get a bunch of mates together and that is also affecting the crowds. AFC Hamburg have parts of their ground which can be adjusted to replace seating with terraces quickly. They still only allow the same number of people in as if the seats were there to prevent a possible tragedy, but people are free to stand with who they wish where they wish. It can be done safely and efffectively, but it'll never happen. C'est la vie, last week my wife and I went to the match and even then they tried to separate us! I mean booking 2 seats and being asked if it's necessary for us to be together! Whatever next? It wasn't as if the ground was full!
With a £315,000 McLaren Mercedes in the City player's car park every week it is clear that average players are being overpaid in fact the City players would be driving Ford Fiestas if they were paid for performance. And it is time for Sp and his cronies to drive away for the last time his team selection and tactics once more are wanting and can anyone name a good signing made by this joker. No wonder the crowds are dropping off even sesaon ticket holders who have already paid for theri tickets are not turning up
Football is like smoking.A habit.Once you miss a few games for whatever reason you break the habit and stop going.
Today i sat at home.I have a seasoncard but looked at the weather,hassle with public transport,especially getting back from a later kick off and thought ''Sod it!''
When i saw the score i thought ''Thank God!''
39 years i have been going.But i will not pay anymore to watch absolute dross in a stadium with no atmosphere and a team that doesn't have ONE player to excite me or get me on the bus to the ground.
I am afraid it is time to hang up my seasoncard.
Why is one seat worth 15 quid and another seat is worth 5 quid? Why not have the price at a standard 10 quid per seat man or boy. If we went a bigger slice of the TV pie we should get better and earn it. On the BB race scandal, you can ring and complain to the media regulators, whose call centre is probably based in India whose employees are too busy burning puppetts to answer the phone. If every other foreign group comes out with we're not all like that when we refer to terrorists and the like then surely they must realise that we're all not like Goody. The whole reaction is typical really! Sorry got a bit off topic but who cares your not all like me!
What a laugh, didn't Lee Won Pen say that you're a 'massive club'?
30 years and still having a laugh.