Enough is Enough...

[sharrowblade]

Seriously disheartened about the way our national game is going.

As you know its just me and the mini monsters (15 and 14)

Home games - Season Ticket done and dusted

Swansea - £60 ( £30 x 1, £15 x 2). For a game which involves an 8 hr round trip. Kicks off at 5:30pm and is on Sky. Where's the logic in that.

And now to top this, Barcelona.....whoops sorry, it would be cheaper to fly to Barcelona, have a Pint, a tour of the Nou Camp and fly back then to go to bloody NORWICH.

£75 for them and me. £35 x 1, £20 x 2).

Well I ain't paying for Farke's hair gel.

Bloody scandalous. Enough is enough
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A Sheffield United Programme guide

[goonerboy]

Is there no price cap for away supporters in the Championship ? In the PL its now £30 max but Arsenal subsidise each away ticket so we only pay £26 per adult ticket which makes a massive change from the £55 we used to be charged regularly.

[sharrowblade]

goonerboy wrote:

Is there no price cap for away supporters in the Championship ?.

No, I'm afraid not
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A Sheffield United Programme guide

[Dorking]

Ipswich and Leeds were more expensive than that when Palace were in the Championship 6 years ago.

[Five and In]

Completely understand your frustration Sharrow.

The Swansea match highlights the problem that concerns all fans, yet the powers that be ignore.
Where is the incentive to travel that distance for a Saturday evening match that is on the box anyway?
Fans have been taken for granted for too long and I don't see it changing anytime soon as it's more important to keep the TV companies happy in the eyes of the mob that claim to run the game.

I have said on many occasions that I'm so glad that I did my thirty years or so of travelling to almost every Spurs game home and away in an era where matches kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday and only European or Cup replays etc were in midweek.
Also, if Spurs didn't have a midweek game, I'd quite often pop to Highbury, Upton Park or Brisbane Road and pay on the gate, just to take in a match.
There's no way that I could have racked up the volume of games that I saw back then in this era.

[GreatBarrWolf]

I completely sympathise with everything you say. For Monday night's FA Cup tie with Liverpool, Wolves dropped there usual matchday prices, however, that only dropped prices a little and there was considerable moaning in these parts, hence, the surprisingly low attendance.

On the positive side I did hear that Aston Villa gave free entry to their FA Cup tie at home to Swansea to all season ticket holders. I'm not sure if they charged them to leave the ground at the end of the match however!!!!

GreatBarrWolf
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[CodeXIII]

Under the previous TV deal back in 2008 ALL Prem Clubs could have sold tickets at a fiver and still made more revenue than the season before and Im going back to 2007/08!! I worked closely with a then Prem Club and the owner basically broke even on transfers and reemed the club of about £15m a year. God knows what's happening these days!!!

Germany has the right approach but until all fans from all clubs say enough is enough and teams are playing in empty stadiums the owners / shareholders will keep milking every possible revenue stream ie the fans!

It's easy money hence why since the Glazers took over United we've seen a plethora of foreign owners front up some cash knowing they can take that back within 2 or 3 years in profits, asset strip by selling players and even with relegation they get 12 months of parachute payments before selling up or settling for less profit each season. They're all businesses no matter how 'fan friendly' they try and portray themselves.

Football is rotten from top to bottom (Prem & Championship) so spend your money locally at a grass roots non-league club for a fraction of the price, meet the players, get an autograph and probably have change out of £40 if you've got two kids. The players are playing for the shirt, it's local and you're supporting the community.

I stopped going to Prem games in 1995 when prices went up 90% to watch the same squad of players, same seat but almost double the price....I don't think so!
Seriously, Prem clubs are taking the pi$$ these days with charges for membership schemes, mascot waiting lists, priority parking, etc etc etc. BEFORE you've even got a ticket!
Add in ticket cost, drinks, food, travel, programme, club shop visit, meal, tour...

Simply, they're not interested in local loyal fans but the day trippers and overseas visitors now take priority.

[Flaming Pie]

I agree with Sharrow about the greed of lots of clubs, but some aspects of the modern game are not all negative. Was having a chat recently in a hotel about modern day football. Someone said that the game is now all about money and that this is ruining football. . I mentioned the story about Bradley Lowery’s parents going into the Everton dressing room a few years back when the Blues played away at Sunderland. They asked for a donation towards their young boys hospital treatment. He had a rare form of cancer and sadly has since died. They walked out of the dressing room with a cheque for £250, 000. Someone then mentioned that he did not follow football, but one of his mates had played for Everton in the 1960s. As it turned out , the player in question was a very famous former player who had played for England. I won’t name him, but the player in question had approached most of his former clubs for financial help for urgently needed hospital treatment. He was in a lot of pain. They had all knocked him back.Someone told him to try Everton. I think it had not been a happy departure at Goodison, but he tried them. Within a few weeks he was in hospital having the much needed treatment, paid for by Everton. I know other clubs are very good with their charitable work. I agree that football today is just a business, but there is still some positive things going on.

[Footyfan]

Flaming Pie - yes there are still some good news stories, My club Leeds Utd have been helping a ypung boy who is seriously ill.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-41652398

I do voluntary casework for a well known military charity and was involved in a case with an RAF veteran who was also an ex-pro who was suffering from severe dementia. I contacted the PFA on his behalf for property adaptions and they came up trumps. All ex-pros have access to the PFA for financial asssitance.

[Flaming Pie]

Footyfan, it’s great what Leeds are doing, and also your input with helping out the ex-professional . Some good people out there. As the original post said, however, it must be horrendous trying to take a couple of kids to follow your team , with the ever increasing costs and all that .

[sharrowblade]

Five and In wrote:

Where is the incentive to travel that distance for a Saturday evening match that is on the box anyway?

There isn't. By the time, I've thrown in the expense of getting there and food and drink. I have to ask myself could I do something else with my £140.
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A Sheffield United Programme guide

[sharrowblade]

CodeXIII wrote:

so spend your money locally at a grass roots non-league club for a fraction of the price, meet the players, get an autograph and probably have change out of £40 if you've got two kids. The players are playing for the shirt, it's local and you're supporting the community.

I already do that, Code XIII, we have season tickets at Sheffield FC, Northern Premier Div 1 East
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharrowblade/sets
A Sheffield United Programme guide

[sharrowblade]

Flaming Pie wrote:

Some aspects of the modern game are not all negative.

I agree Pie, a lot of the work the clubs do within the community is very good and the Bradley Lowery gesture by Everton is wonderful.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharrowblade/sets
A Sheffield United Programme guide

[sharrowblade]

Thanks for all the replies guys and the input.

Lets get one thing cleared up, its not that I cannot afford it. Thankfully I Can, but appreciate others especially the first month after Christmas will find it a struggle.

As I've mentioned before, 5:30pm on a saturday night is a neither here or there kick off time. We'd get back about Midnight, and laddo's got a game sunday morning. As it happens, I'm working the decks that night so its a no go anyway. Been to Swansea before so its not a big disappointment.

Regarding the Norwich game, this is one I've been looking forward to this season because the boys haven't been.

But, I've got to draw the line somewhere. Appreciate that its basic economics...supply and demand. They'll probably sell out, so they'll continue to charge it, (I'm not naïve we aren't exactly cheap neither) and to all the Blades that go, I wish them a safe journey, but we won't be with them.
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A Sheffield United Programme guide

[DySporting]

Norwich use or definitely used to use a category system so games v the top teams and the portaloo boys would always be Cat A -

I’d imagine that’s still happening so Reading would probably be Cat C and £7-8 cheaper.

I’m not defending the prices because £35 is steep for championship football but Norwich are regularly at about 98% capacity for every game so they aren’t going to lower them when they virtually sell out every game.

edit - 5 different bands - £15 cheaper for the cheapest game - it’d be interesting to see the breakdown of which game was which band

https://files.canaries.co.uk/hospitality/2018-19CasualMatchPrices.pdf

[sharrowblade]

DySporting wrote:

I’m not defending the prices because £35 is steep for championship football but Norwich are regularly at about 98% capacity for every game so they aren’t going to lower them when they virtually sell out every game. edit - 5 different bands - £15 cheaper for the cheapest game - it’d be interesting to see the breakdown of which game was which band https://files.canaries.co.uk/hospitality/2018-19CasualMatchPrices.pdf

Quite right Dysporting,. As we've both said, its supply and demand. Doesn't make it right. Rotherham was £43 all in, and that's a local derby, so in my mind Delia's taking the mickey.

Can't wait to see the prices at the rust bucket in March

League 1 did have its advantages
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A Sheffield United Programme guide

[derby1884]

There's a reason that attendances at non-league level are (generally) rising....
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