Ticket Price Boycott

[C-man]

Couldn't see this posted anywhere but definitely thought it was worth mentioning. All over my Twitter feed today, which I was surprised to see given the media have rarely given a rat's arse about the plight of football fans.

Turns out that some Man City fans are 'boycotting' their game at the Emirates over tickets that cost £62. They have returned 912 tickets.

Paul Matz of the Arsenal Independent Supporters' Association, who by the way are a bunch of cretins, reckons it's because City are actually a small club and it takes time for their fanbase to grow at the same pace as their success.

Iain Macintosh's ESPN blog sums up the majority of my thoughts much better than I could ever do. I particularly enjoyed this extract...

Instead, we've seen the 21st-century response to the criticism of your football club or your football club's player, which is to disregard entirely the question of right and wrong, burst into tears and howl, "But THEY always do it and you never criticise THEM!"

Instead, we've seen snide remarks that this is the cost of buying your way to the top, or the nonsensical implied link between the wealth of a club and the wealth of its fans.

"Good news, love! City won the league, so Mr. Coggins has decided to double my wages! Sad about Trevor though; Blackburn Rovers went down so he'll be working in the post room on 200 pounds a week for the foreseeable future."

... which I imagine will be a stance recognised by a number of people on here.

Personally, I believe that City's protest will serve only to stoke up a bit of media interest. In reality, it has no affect. 912 mugs in red-and-white paid £62 within hours to render the protest pointless. I hope that block gets royally abused by both away and home fans.

The only way to make it a succesful protest would be to withhold all tickets and leave the away end completely empty, but we all know there's little chance of that ever happening.

Another article on the subject today focused on how Manchester United and Liverpool fanshave united because they are fed up of being charged top dollar to watch their team across the country, simply because they are big clubs. Good on them. If only we had this attitude, we might not be paying £32 to watch Barnsley this season.

In answer to the question above... £35 would be my limit.

[Corky]

My limit is similar to yours, maybe slightly lower, at around £33. I might pay more for a cup or play-off final type, but they are special occasions. Most league/ cup games I could take or leave for plus £30.

£62 is way too much, especially added on to the travel costs (food, drink and programme shouldn't count really as they are extras and food/ drink can be purchased elsewhere).

But you're right, it won't make a huge amount of difference as those tickets will be snapped up by locals.

[Leicesterpool]

What get's me is, you pay £62 to watch Arsenal play who already earn alot of money, and not just Arsenal I point out I talk about the rest of the premier league. Yet some fans some are reluctant to watch there local non league team yet it's a lot cheaper plus the players are lucky to get £100 at some levels. It's not so bad if you live near Arsenal but anywhere else go and follow your non league side and boost some money into the.

Also for Leicester fans on here if you live in Leicester and your haven't got a ticket for Bristol or can't afford to go then look at the fixture list and see who Barwell, Hinckley, Loughborough, Nuneaton & Friar Lane have got and see them play.

Non league clubs are dying due to the greed of the premier league.

[Les-TA-Jon]

Any sort of meaningful protest will take a hell of a lot of work. Barring any external factors radically redefining the PL or FL, or club's finances in general, it'll probably be decades before any of the changes they are thinking would be brought in.

Fact remains that the gates (therefore the fan's investments) are a much smaller proportion of club revenue.

To create a boycott - or a significant boycott - you've got to essentially organise 100,000s of people from across the UK, and will all be eroded away by those that still go to the matches regardless. Plus you're overcoming the "I've seen every game home and away for the last X years" attitude.

[acooling08]

£30 would be my limit for most games, although for a 'big' Prem away fixture, or a cup/play off final, I would go up to £40.

[Maybes]

Good post C-Man.

Fair play to the City fans.

We still had mugs that paid £36 last season to watch our dead rubber game vs Leeds on the last day of the season.

In the Prem I think my limit would be around £35.

[Soar Fox]

What get's me is, you pay £62 to watch Arsenal play who already earn alot of money, and not just Arsenal I point out I talk about the rest of the premier league. Yet some fans some are reluctant to watch there local non league team yet it's a lot cheaper plus the players are lucky to get £100 at some levels. It's not so bad if you live near Arsenal but anywhere else go and follow your non league side and boost some money into the.

Also for Leicester fans on here if you live in Leicester and your haven't got a ticket for Bristol or can't afford to go then look at the fixture list and see who Barwell, Hinckley, Loughborough, Nuneaton & Friar Lane have got and see them play.

Non league clubs are dying due to the greed of the premier league.

If you are around the West Midlands on Saturday I'm playing against Tividale Fc

[Harry - LCFC]

Great topic, glad this was brought up.

I'm under 18 so my view of a maximum price I'd be willing to pay will be slightly different to most people on here. Firstly, I'm much more bothered about the cost of the day as a whole rather than the price of the ticket itself . For example, Blackburn tickets were £25 this season which is high for me but I went because my travel was free that day, making it a fairly cheap day in reality. The maximum I'd pay for the day as a whole is £45.

Another good section from that article is about German fans protesting about pricing and the effect that had:

In 2010, Borussia Dortmund fans started the Kein Zwanni campaign against 20 euro (16 pound) tickets and boycotted the local derby with Schalke, preferring to gather outside to listen on the radio. Last year, some fans bought the tickets and then stormed out after the first whistle. Far from attracting the derision of other supporters, there was open dialogue and solidarity across the league. Dortmund's stance was applauded and since then clubs all over Germany have been forced to enter into talks with supporters.

Shows protests can have an effect but the trouble is their seems to be far fewer angry fans in England, there's a lot of disillusioned supporters but they just don't have the same bite that those in Germany seem to have.

[Kitchandro]

What get's me is, you pay £62 to watch Arsenal play who already earn alot of money, and not just Arsenal I point out I talk about the rest of the premier league. Yet some fans some are reluctant to watch there local non league team yet it's a lot cheaper plus the players are lucky to get £100 at some levels. It's not so bad if you live near Arsenal but anywhere else go and follow your non league side and boost some money into the.

Also for Leicester fans on here if you live in Leicester and your haven't got a ticket for Bristol or can't afford to go then look at the fixture list and see who Barwell, Hinckley, Loughborough, Nuneaton & Friar Lane have got and see them play.

Non league clubs are dying due to the greed of the premier league.

Not everyone can support 3 clubs you know.

It's either City or no one for me. I couldn't give two shits about Barwell and Hinckley.

[Kitchandro]

Great topic, glad this was brought up.

I'm under 18 so my view of a maximum price I'd be willing to pay will be slightly different to most people on here. Firstly, I'm much more bothered about the cost of the day as a whole rather than the price of the ticket itself . For example, Blackburn tickets were £25 this season which is high for me but I went because my travel was free that day, making it a fairly cheap day in reality. The maximum I'd pay for the day as a whole is £45.

Another good section from that article is about German fans protesting about pricing and the effect that had:

Shows protests can have an effect but the trouble is their seems to be far fewer angry fans in England, there's a lot of disillusioned supporters but they just don't have the same bite that those in Germany seem to have.

£16! I'd do anything for a £16 ticket

Got to hand it to those Krauts, they don't take no shit.

[Voll Blau]

Sadly it will take an almost total boycott of away ends from clubs for anyone to sit up and take notice. Even a few hundred turning up would just be cast off as "shit support bantz" by idiots in the home end who can't see the bigger picture, something our fans have been guilty of on a number of occasions.

[Harry - LCFC]

£16! I'd do anything for a £16 ticket

Got to hand it to those Krauts, they don't take no shit.

Yeah, to complain about a £16 ticket is unthinkable in England, especially when you realise that the tickets are for a top flight game!

It's worth noting that German fans have some ownership of their club which undoubtedly helps them argue ticket prices down. But none the less, the protests did have an impact so perhaps fans can affect prices in England.

[Harry - LCFC]

Sadly it will take an almost total boycott of away ends from clubs for anyone to sit up and take notice. Even a few hundred turning up would just be cast off as "shit support bantz" by idiots in the home end who can't see the bigger picture, something our fans have been guilty of on a number of occasions.

They're not really idiots if they don't have all the information. Just misinformed. I must say I never know how much prices are for away supporters at Leicester City because it doesn't have any impact on me attending a match.

Perhaps a fuller understanding of the issue would help supporters in this debate so they can stop taking sides and start arguing collectively for lower prices.

[Maybes]

They're not really idiots if they don't have all the information. Just misinformed. I must say I never know how much prices are for away supporters at Leicester City because it doesn't have any impact on me attending a match.

Perhaps a fuller understanding of the issue would help supporters in this debate so they can stop taking sides and start arguing collectively for lower prices.

I've had a look at our away end prices recently. Remember Barnsley adults were having to pay £26, not great.

The only good thing about our ticketing is the differing brackets we have.

Adults

18-21

16-18

Under 16

Under 12

Under 8

Not many clubs have that.

The talk of cheap tickets in German isn't all that true. Yes the terracing tickets are usually around €15, but then the seating prices range from €25 up to say €80 at the top clubs.

[Bert]

The worst thing about this is that just 3 years ago Arsenal were charging City fans £32.50. Very reasonable. Arsenal claim a change in category is the reason in hike.

If when we get up, I can't see teams charging us too over the top. £40 would be my limit I'd think.

[Guest MattP]

I've had a look at our away end prices recently. Remember Barnsley adults were having to pay £26, not great.

The only good thing about our ticketing is the differing brackets we have.

Adults

18-21

16-18

Under 16

Under 12

Under 8

Not many clubs have that.

The talk of cheap tickets in German isn't all that true. Yes the terracing tickets are usually around €15, but then the seating prices range from €25 up to say €80 at the top clubs.

I got one at Bayern Koln last year between the pen box and halfway about 15 rows up for 22 euros.

[Guest MattP]

Sadly it will take an almost total boycott of away ends from clubs for anyone to sit up and take notice. Even a few hundred turning up would just be cast off as "shit support bantz" by idiots in the home end who can't see the bigger picture, something our fans have been guilty of on a number of occasions.

Yep, it's amazing how we call the ones who dont turn up the idiots when we continue to fork out £36 to go to Leeds.

Football fans in this country are unreal, thick as pigshit.

Glad to see the Man City boycott getting some sort of press coverage though, hopefully be the start of something.

[C-man]

Yeah, to complain about a £16 ticket is unthinkable in England, especially when you realise that the tickets are for a top flight game!

It's worth noting that German fans have some ownership of their club which undoubtedly helps them argue ticket prices down. But none the less, the protests did have an impact so perhaps fans can affect prices in England.

For the biggest derby in Europe as well, £16 FFS!

Just to be pernickety though... They have actually only boycott Schalke once. The two instances Iain mentions were against Hamburg and the protest was on behalf of people in the seating area in the away end who were paying around €85 rather than the significantly cheaper terrace tickets.

[Corky]

Sadly it will take an almost total boycott of away ends from clubs for anyone to sit up and take notice. Even a few hundred turning up would just be cast off as "shit support bantz" by idiots in the home end who can't see the bigger picture, something our fans have been guilty of on a number of occasions.

And any reasonably aware Arsenal fan would know that Man City have been taking thousands to grounds, especially in the lower leagues, for years, so I'm not sure what the Arsenal fan C-Man mentioned was talking about.

[Harry - LCFC]

I've had a look at our away end prices recently. Remember Barnsley adults were having to pay £26, not great.

The only good thing about our ticketing is the differing brackets we have.

Adults

18-21

16-18

Under 16

Under 12

Under 8

Not many clubs have that.

The talk of cheap tickets in German isn't all that true. Yes the terracing tickets are usually around €15, but then the seating prices range from €25 up to say €80 at the top clubs.

Indeed, I've started to realise we're very tough with our pricing for away fans which will have lowered away attendances at the KP. What is pleasing as you say is that we have a number of groups - I study economics and in theory this system does generate extra revenue especially at lower league (Championship) clubs where demand isn't so high - so I'm a little surprised more clubs don't pursue this system of having different age categories.

sth

Maybe the German clubs raise prices because they have so many STHs who don't pay that much for their right to watch every game. The STHs are the ones the club really has to answer to so they can exploit the non-STHs to an extent with unreasonably priced tickets.

[purpleronnie]

It's hardly a boycott is it?

[Harry - LCFC]

@JamesMcManus1 Borussia Dortmund season ticket = £154. One ticket to watch Manchester City away at Arsenal = £62. Broken Britain.

Is this true?

EDIT: One of the replies to this tweet read: "It makes you wonder who really won the war."

[purpleronnie]

Yes, germany have a democratic system we have a free market.

[Alf Bentley]

For me, there's a big difference between an over-the-odds price that I'd pay once - and doing it again.

I've never been to, say, Old Trafford, St. James' Park, Goodison or Anfield, so would pay £40 to see LCFC play there once, but I wouldn't do it a second time (unless it was a Champions' League semi-final )

[Head Honcho]

It's taking the piss and something the PL needs to address...............saying that, If we were PL champions, then I would pay the £62.