Football fans are the heartbeat of professional football, without the hordes of supporters piling into stadiums all across the world where would the beautiful game be? The fans keep their clubs ticking over, whether it be buying the merchandise or stumping up the cash for match day and season tickets. Most are fanatical enough to pay whatever their clubs demand, however, this doesn’t mean they are happy about it. This month has seen the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City all increase ticket prices by around 6%, with 2.5% of the increase a result in the VAT increase. So I want to explore two sides of the argument; firstly, was this inevitable, due to the current financial climate and just a reality we have to accept? Or is it a case of clubs holding the genuine football supporters to ransom with hiked up prices?
Prices are going up all the time in all areas of life, whether it be the price of petrol, alcohol or food and it would seem that football tickets are just another one to add to the list. There was a wide expectancy from supporters of Premier League and Championship clubs that there was going to be an increase in ticket prices for next season, but it’s not until it’s announced that it really hits home with the fans. This is an area where football clubs have complete power over fans, for if they want to watch their team, most fans will still hand the money over. At the end of the day a football club is a business and it needs to make a profit to survive, so increasing ticket prices is just one of the ways to do it.
From what I have read about the situation the three clubs I have mentioned above have genuinely increased their prices to cope with the VAT rise and have tried to be as reasonable as possible. In this extract from the BBC website Keith Jelley, of the Liverpool Supporters Club, said: It’ll be a disappointed reaction from fans but I think it is fair.” The match day tickets at Anfield have only increased by a pound for seats in the Kop and £2 everywhere else, which doesn’t seem a lot, but when added to a season ticket becomes a bigger deal. However, it’s not quite as reasonable at newly promoted QPR, they have increased season tickets at Loftus Road by 40%, a rise which has incensed many Rangers fans who think they are being exploited by their wealthy owners. In this instance I feel QPR are taking advantage of the nationwide ticket increase and are benefiting from their promotion financially at the fan’s expense.
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ST holder at Anfield, so can’t complain too much about the rise, but nowadays it’s really the TV paying the money and not us fans buying tickets and merchandice!! I think they would even earn more if we weren’t there,just think how much they could save on staff, police, stands and it goes on. It might end up that way one day! 🙁 Probably also why many clubs don’t take much note of their fans!!
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