FANS and politicians are throwing their weight behind M.E.N. Sport's drive to win a fair deal on ticket prices for football fans.
We launched our `Make It Fair For Fans' campaign on Tuesday amid growing fears that the average fan is being priced out of Premiership football.
The English football elite has never had more money to burn - with a record global TV deal worth é2.7bn set to kick in next season.
It promises to be a cash bonanza for the country's top clubs with the Premiership title winners to get é50m in prize money, and even the team finishing bottom picking up é30m.
But many Premiership clubs are failing to pass on some of the windfall to the fans with ticket prices at sky-high levels.
View
And it looks as though fans and politicians alike have had enough.
Blackley Labour MP Graham Stringer, an avid United fan, has a clear view of where the é2.7bn windfall from global TV rights will end up unless fans speak up.
He said: "The Glazers, Abramoviches and the best paid footballers in the land, such as Andriy Shevchenko, will get the money in profits and salaries - and that is just wrong.
"I applaud the M.E.N. campaign because the fans should benefit with ticket prices reduced. If football doesn't identify the problem, we will have a situation where there are no young people present and it will become a sport for less vocal old people."
City fan Mark Hunter, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cheadle, said: "I congratulate the M.E.N. on this campaign. It's about time that the rising costs of match tickets, particularly in the Premiership, was taken seriously.
Loyalty
"What is obvious is that there are fewer family groups in attendance and it's simply because it costs too much."
David Sumberg, a Conservative MEP for the North West, said: "I give 100 per cent backing to this campaign. The core of the game in this country is the loyalty of the ordinary fans, who do so much to make the atmosphere - and therefore the spectacle - attractive."
Dave Wallace, the editor of City fanzine King Of The Kippax and formerly the club's "fan on the board," said: "It's a tremendous campaign. This has been an issue that has been creeping up for some time and supporters are seriously beginning to vote with their feet.
"Crowds, except at the top four clubs, will continue to dwindle unless prices are reduced.
"Six thousand City fans went to Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup at é19 a ticket, while fewer than 2,000 went to Bolton, where it cost é36. That says it all. Generally, the City board reduces prices for some games. But they could do more."
Mark Longden, chairman of United fans group IMUSA, said that fans are sick of being overcharged, especially at away games.
Highlight
United fans have suffered several times this season at the hands of clubs who have charged top prices because the Reds are in town.
He said: "Anything the M.E.N. can do to highlight the issue will really help.
"Clearly ticket prices across the Premiership should be reduced in light of the new TV deal that kicks in next season. That was a windfall no-one really expected.
"But the thing that grates with United fans more than anything else is price banding. Daft as it might sound, a lot of people would probably accept such high prices if they were the same week in, week out.
"But how can a club such as Fulham justify charging United fans é46 to watch them at Craven Cottage, when Wigan fans only paid é10 when they went there?
"I would like to see a standard ticket price of é15 across the board, whether that's to see Wigan at Fulham, United at Fulham or United at Arsenal.
"I think the will is there to do something from the Premier League, from its chief executive Richard Scudamore, and from people such as David Gill at United. They have to do something to protect the fans - particularly the away fans."
What do you think? Have your say.
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
double standards its all so called shaft utd.
I can remember paying ¿¿2:50 standing in the utd road paddock and the stretford end which i liked watching from.
Lunacy with todays prices.
I last was given 2 tickets from a mate who couldnt go to the copanhagan game ¿¿40 a ticket.
I cant afford to watch my team unless tickets are dramatically reduced to prices were i can afford to then watch.
In germany at most grounds its dead cheap as i found when i was visiting friends in munich.
Its the same in italy and spain.
Great campaign. I can never understand why away fans have to pay more than the home fans for equivalent seats - look at Bolton away recently (vs City). Nowadays the majority of profit is from TV and not gate receipts, therefore I would like to see clubs putting all the profit into improving ground facilities or to reduce prices so they just break even on gate receipts.
Just seen on Sky a Tottenham fan who has paid ¿¿61.00 to watch his team play Arsenal reserves in Carling Cup tonight
This campaign is a good idea. It shold have been in force three years ago though.
Clubs must cut the ticket prices to keep a live following.
Great campaign, clubs don't need to charge as much as from next season with all the money from the TV rights, so why not reduce season tickets as well as home/away match tickets!! This will go some way to filling up the grounds at many clubs. I have a season ticket for Man City and have noticed the crowds fall from 46,000 to 40,000 and now 35,000 for typical matches in the space of 3 seasons! Due to the high prices and if the match is on Sky, some fans prefer to stay at home. Why not reduce prices, fill up grounds and see the team perform as a large vocal crowd is the 12th man!
Great idea - but do not expect Glazer will listen to your campaign
after being on waiting list at man city for season ticket for 5 years, i finally got my chance when they moved to the new stadium. i now pay ¿¿310 for my sons season ticket which relates to ¿¿17.22 per game,why is it if you are a city 4 life member you can purchase 2 home game tickets for ¿¿5 each and a recent visiting teams junior fans paid ¿¿14 for the game.
where is the loyalty in that, mind you who am i ???
goodbye mcfc
I would be happy with £25 per game for adults and £5 for kids. If they dont start doing something for kids then crowds will completely die before too long.
Away prices for City fans have been a disgrace this year £36 at Bolton and £35 at Wigan who have now reduced prices to £15 and £20. That is more like it
Great campaign, but don't forget to start one about fairer distribution of the TV money as well.
No matter what the price of a ticket is fans are going to get fed up when 90% of the quality players are hoarded by just 4 clubs.
I admit ticket prices are rip-off in the Premiership, but at City it's mainly due to the fact that under Pearce the entertainment factor is ZERO! I think if they were charging a fiver people would still think twice in paying! If the product is good people will always pay for it!
For a start MUPLC should give more tickets to visting fans, a paltry 3,000 from a 76,000 capacity is quite pathetic. Are they afraid it will give their opponents an advantage or have they forgot what a real atmosphere should be like. Maybe they are selling more tickets at higher prices for visitng fans from Singapore and Malaysia.
Prices should be cut, but this would not bring the fans back. Any prem match you want can be bought on foriegn satellite tv. Plus its cheaper to watch a match in a pub than to attend. I could have got roughly 22 pints of bitter for what I paid to watch city in the derby. United fans cry about what they are charged at away games. Well I paid £44 to be cramped against a concrete wall. One price for all teams none of this A to C gradings.
Prices aren't the only concern but reduciing them will help. I would like to see a family deal - Adult season ticket around £500 then first additional family member £200 etc. This would help people who want to take there children once they pass 16. I have 2 children who would come to City but it just doesn't cost in for youngest as any midweek games finish to late, plus you can probably pick a ticket up for £5 as previous comment stated.
What football clubs have to realise that not only are the ticket prices too high but the entertainment value especially at City is not worth paying anything for. When will the numpties realise that the fans are no longer walking through the turnstiles with blind loyalty. In order to attract the fans back, make the football entertaining, reduce the prices drastically and somehow generate an atmosphere which will keep people coming back.
I have just been charged £44 for a ticket to the Lille match. This represents a 13% increase on the normal price of £39 I am paying for a league match.
Now I know what the G in Glazer stands for "GREED"
I'm a Bolton fan living 150 miles away on an average yearly salary, I can't afford the petrol costs and a full ticket price, despite being a fan for 32 years and Bolton being at their best league position for years!
Make the average working man to go to the games and get the atmosphere in the grounds back again
great campaign keep it up why dont clubs drop the prices by 50% for games not on sky and reward season tickets holders with free entry to all cup games played at home also make new rule for away games you charge what the other team charges you for an away game
Firmly agree that football in this country has got out of hand.
Gone are the days of different clubs (OTHER THAN THE TOP FOUR) of ever having a great set of lads and a good manager who could actually win them the league.
Even the FA Cup is tarnished by the same T4 teams.
Basically if your team isn't taken over by a big league millionaire than don't expect very much.
Time for fans of the remaining big clubs (and I include ourselves) to vote with their feet and force through wage capping and minimum 5 domestic player representation to even things up a little.
Wouldn't mind paying the same price next season if:-
We were scoring goals, the security firm stopped attacking our supporters, you could buy a pint without queueing for 15 minutes at half time, and they didn't run out of pies every week. It must come as a complete surprise to the catering staff to find there's a match on. OK I realise that we'll never get any sense out of the security or catering companies, but City may be able to spend all the fans money on buying a Premier-League proven goal scorer. That would do me.
Moan moan moan...if you dont
like a film dont go, if the tele's bad turn over.
Its still £7 to see FC The Pride of Manchester.
Well done MEN. The cost of watching football in this country is absurd.
Lower ticket prices NOW, before we lose the next generation.
Best wishes
Steven Powell
El Gordito the Gooner
Here's a suggestion. Vote with your feet and stop attending the games. Lets turn the tables on the clubs instead of them relying on misplaced fan loyalty when there is no loyalty at all coming from the Directors, players or the staff. Have a read of this from last season. Some very pertinent points
football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,1551650,00.html#article_continue
Non-league is the way forward...
It doesn't seem to matter what price the tickets are! Especially at City, if there's a midweek game or it's on PremPlus then no-one seems to bother!!! Even seasoncard holders don't bother, you've paid dearly for your ticket so why not go and support your team vocally. They really need that!! Oh and a high calibre Premiership striker would be nice too, obviously.
Cheadle blue you are spot on with your analysis.Wage capping is well overdue,the principle is morally right,getting such a policy to be watertight is going to be difficult..but it doesnt mean we shouldn't at least try...such a policy at least lays down the right line.I also feel that it is vital to re-establish a link between a community ,it's club,and it's players.In the premiership,this link has further eroded..teams often bear no connection to their locality...making their team name merely a flag of convenience.This isn't a nationalistic argument to me,it is about community pride,as well as the hopes and aspirations of local kids.The imports and transferred have a place,but that must be balanced with other factors.I think that the free market in soccer has failed the fans and the communities,huge ticket hikes,have priced many unlucky fans out of the game...clubs are at times divorced from their communities (though I would like to praise the work of City in the Community,and Man City for their work in challenging prejudice,and connecting with many local people from all Manchesters communities).
I feel the higher ticket prices are contributing to some poor atmosphere at games as well. Apart from reduced attendances (which luckily is not affecting United at present), attending a match is becoming something only the higher class of folk can afford.
By the time you have paid £30-35 for a ticket, parked the car for £5, bought some food & a drink (£2.70 for a warm bottle of bud) then your looking at the best part of £50, and thatâ€<sup>TM</sup>s without travel cost's, program's etc. And then comes Europe and the cups, sometimes your looking at two games a week. I really don't know how parents with kids afford it, and I feel for them!!