FREE beer, chip butties and the odd dramatic price slash... football is fighting back against the recession.

As our economy implodes, food and fuel prices rocket and the threat of unemployment and financial hardship bites hard, the beautiful game is being forced to apply another layer of make-up in a bid to woo supporters.

The crisis is being most keenly felt in the Premier League, where admission prices have already been cranked up to breaking point, and where the new breed of middle-class fan is feeling the pinch for the first time in decades.

Interestingly, the smaller clubs appear more immune from the downward spiral than the Premier powerhouses.

The likes of Stockport, Rochdale and Macclesfield are used to living with economic difficulty. It is a fact of life, and tightening the financial belt by another notch is something they have always done, whether the country is in boom or bust.

The full effects of the economic downturn are yet to be felt, but already there are signs that it is having an effect on football.

With City announcing prices are being slashed for UEFA games, MEN Sport has taken a look at how our other local clubs coping with the crunch.

UNITED

Despite the fact that main sponsor AIG was one of the most spectacular casualties of the second Wall Street Crash, the Reds remain confident that their vast worldwide fan base and on-field success will see them surf smoothly across the choppy waters.

The effect of the credit crunch on the club's £660m debt remains to be seen, but voices emanating from within the club remain soothing and confident.

There has been a slight down-turn in the take-up of corporate facilities at Old Trafford, but the 0.3 per cent drop in home gates this season is nothing more than a superficiality.

BOLTON

Caused quite a stir when they revealed that they are hoping to attract back missing fans with the offer of free drinks for the first 1,000 entrants to the Fanzone between 12 and 1pm.

But the club is also offering its loyal supporters free travel to some away games and have slashed ticket prices for the North and South Stands from £26 to £15 for Saturday's Lancashire derby against Blackburn, leading to a sell-out in those areas.

WIGAN

Dave Whelan has introduced an ethos of financial prudence at the JJB Stadium which, along with the football nous of Paul Jewell and Steve Bruce, have kept the club punching above their weight in the Premier League.

But the club, mindful of the fact that Wigan is not the richest and most populous area in the country, have made a commitment to peg back ticket prices anyway.

Said a club spokesman: "Our ticket prices are very reasonable, with season tickets starting at £250 and match day tickets at £14."

OLDHAM

The Latics have had their best start to a season for quite a while, but crowds are down on the same period last year.

To try to tempt the stay-away fans back, Oldham are offering free tickets to the Leyton Orient game in December to fans who buy tickets for the next two home league games, against Scunthorpe and Yeovil - providing the Latics win both matches.

They have also introduced the opportunity for fans to win two ten-year season tickets, worth £7,000, in a hit-the-crossbar competition at half time of home games.

STOCKPORT

Supporter-owned County have frozen ticket prices for the last five seasons - they haven't increased the cost of going to the match since the club was relegated from the Championship.

Junior season tickets for Edgeley Park work out at £2 a game, and the Cheadle End admission price of £16 is one of the cheapest in League One.

As a result, and in contrast to neighbours Oldham, crowds are up on last season.

BURY

The Shakers, perennial financial strugglers, shocked everyone by announcing a near £1m profit recently.

A great start to the season and a 15 per cent rise in gates - the biggest of any of our nine professional clubs - sees Bury positively booming.

"We have only felt the effects in terms of one or two people who normally advertise with us pulling out," said spokesman Gordon Sorfleet.

ROCHDALE

Dale are another club used to living on the breadline, and reliant on a knot of loyal fans.

"We are still living off the back of the good football we have been playing, and the effects of our Wembley trip last season," says projects manager Stuart Ashworth.

"Merchandise sales haven't been affected, with 1,600 replica shirts sold this season already. We have the kind of fans who, if they are down to their last £15 and have a match to go to and a family to feed, the family starves."

A reciprocal deal means junior season ticket holders will be allowed into the two fixtures against Notts County for free.

MACCLESFIELD

Gates have plummeted by over 11 per cent, and only three League clubs have a worse average than the Silkmen's 2,034 this season.

How much of that nose-dive is due to the financial fears of their fans, and how much to the club's shaky start to the season is difficult to tell.

But the club is on the front foot in terms of attracting and keeping supporters - they even offered free chip butties to both sets of supporters, both from Macc and Aldershot, who stayed behind in the McIlroy Suite after the game to watch the England match on television.

"We have been feeling the effects, especially on the dining side, with numbers down," says new commercial manager Penny Baguley.

"But we have introduced special offers such as the free chip butties last week, and drinks loyalty cards, and everyone through the turnstile for the game against Lincoln got two free drinks vouchers."

"We have also taken a different approach with sponsors who can still assist us."

Tweet