The whole crux of your argument is that local 'fans' should have cheaper tickets. Does that not apply to 'spares' then? You are trying to make one argument and then contradict yourself. You are trying to say you are more entitled to a Liverpool home ticket because you and your MIL live in Liverpool, than someone who lives 300 odd miles away, that buys at least 8 tickets for every home game, and has done for the past 10 years. You work it out.
No what I am saying is there or should the be a price structure whereby the locals get a discount ? Thats the discussion ? I believe it would help local football .
Because say if Tranmere offered for a season £5 for a kid and £10 for an adult every game they may get more than just over 30% capacity in their ground and over a period of time the fans would get an affiliation with their club as opposed to instant gratification with the Liverpool ones , around the Country this would only be a good thing surely ?
Liverpool (and most Premiership clubs) do not need to discount their tickets to increase attendance. As a local I can get a ticket for most games via different sources, this at a cost of course (as a local I do not expect the club to subsidize me going the game, why should they?). Liverpool could allocate the whole stadium to season tickets, but they do not do this as they want tickets to be available on a game to game basis to increase the amount of fans able to see the team. The myth that tickets are impossible to get are exactly that, buy a fan card at the start of the season and I guarantee you will be able to go to atleast 1 game, decide you want to go the Derby a week before and what do you really expect? If you are a local, a fan, that talks to other fans, I find it hard to believe anyone is unable to purchase tickets for a couple of games (should finances be available). Your example of Tranmere, I would suggest they discount to all fans, not just locals.
But you don't say whether it should happen or would work ? Smaller clubs should be given or give themselves the chance , it's like a stolen generation of cling ons every well generation !
No, it would be a terrible thing. Tranmere currently charges ticket prices of around £20-25 for an adult per game. If they dropped their prices to £10 for locals, then they would halve their gate money. Even if they attracted 50% more fans they would still lose out on vital revenue. Congratulations, you've just bankrupted a local club Also, how do you define a "local area"? All you are going to do is help out clubs like Chelsea, who have millions of fans nearby, when compared to clubs like Tranmere whose "local area" has about 80,000 people in it. If anything, Tranmere will lose out on fans as all the Tranmere fans who live in Liverpool suddenly find it cheaper to go and watch Liverpool and Everton that to watch Tranmere. Price discrimination is also illegal under EU law.
Whats the population of Birkenhead ? North Wirral ? If Tranmere only attract 30% capacity as it stands they should be helped to do something , they used to play their games on a Friday night to try and combat this remember ?
Should it happen? No. Would it work? No (I have lived in Liverpool for the last 7 years, was born on the Wirral, spent my teens in Australia, do I classify as local?) Do I need to go to the game to support LFC? No Do I know dozens of people of all ages who support LFC who have never set foot inside Anfield? Yes Do I know dozens of people who where either not born in Liverpool, or have never been to Liverpool who support LFC? Yes Does going to the game make your a bigger/better supporter? No Does being a local make you a bigger/better supporter? No At the end of the day the argument is flawed as if you enjoy Football you will latch on to a club to support regardless of going the match or not, ask around and see if any supporter made their choice of team based on cheap tickets. How do you decide the level of discounting to attract new, local support? 10%, 20%, 50% I know some people who wouldn't go if the tickets were £10 as they simply cannot afford luxury expenditure (especially families). Market forces will dictate ticket prices, clubs like Tranmere will no doubt be doing all they can to attract game going fans and will price their tickets accordingly. Is it wrong that the regular fan has been priced out of going the match? Yes, but I'm afraid that's the world we live in and in fact the suggestion that discounting to attract local fans will only bring a great deal of headaches as it would be wide open for abuse
Population of Birkenhead is around 80,000. And Tranmere is not the only club in North Wirral. Perhaps you should "help" Tranmere increase their capacity by moving them to a smaller ground? If their stadium was the size of Crawley and Stevenage's then they would be close to sold out.
Pretty much does though, especially if you live close enough to get to games. What kind of support is it when you don't want to go to games and cheer on your team?
Big club fans who whore themselves to foreign markets will argue tooth and nail it does not , the same way they say the Premierleague is the best league/Players/grounds argument .
What do you feel about instant gratification fans from afar then deciding to support Liverpool as they are one of the fashionable clubs as opposed to supporting their own side ? I say again if we were all like them then there would only be a few sides in the Country ? And why does someone exactly support another football team when they have plenty of their own in their own Country ? I simply dont understand it , why ? What do they get out of it ? And why dont loads of Singaporeans support Barnet or Bristol Rovers ? They would get respect if they did ?
Yeah, ok yes I agree to a point. I get to about 10 games a season, but I still wouldn't call myself a bigger fan than say my cousin that hasn't been the game for a couple of seasons (his issue is mainly finances) but then again one of my friends goes to every game home and away and I would say he 'supports' the team more than I, but then his circumstances are very different to mine. So I guess there is a difference between supporting a team by physically cheering 'supporting' your team on the pitch and supporting from afar. As to 'What kind of support is it when you don't want to go to games and cheer on your team?' I don't think there will be many who don't want to to go, but people have different circumstances
I really don't know is my answer to that, I had no choice in who I supported. Why someone from Surrey would choose to support a team in the North West is baffling, but I guess they have their reasons I think its obvious why Singaporeans don't support Barnet or Bristol, access. I remember in the late 80's as a kid being in Singapore and going on a Rickshaw and the bloke asking where we were from and when replied Liverpool (technically not as from the Wirral but seriously who outside the UK knows were that is?) he went mad talking about football, in many ways Asia has much better access to games on TV (all Saturday games are televised) but you would be hard pressed to find games outside the Premiership and the big teams are always going to attract a bigger fanbase.
Simple answer... it's the premier league. It's a commercial money spinner and is broadcast across the world. Why would people from Asia support Bristol Rovers or Barnet if they are NEVER going to be able to watch them play? It would get pretty boring wouldn't it? Also the quality of football in these nations is pretty poor, they probably do watch and support teams in their own country. But they don't have the best players in the world like European teams do.
I said in an earlier post that LFC has had out of town support since the 60s(Ireland,Lancs,Wales etc)at a time when our ground capacity was 57,000-55,000 and it was a pay at the turnstile on the day basis, many of those out of towners passed their support of LFC on their kids, should they be deprived of tickets? Our ground capacity has decreased to 44,000 due mainly to seats replacing terraces in the Kop and the Anny Rd, so since our 'glory days' our attendances have decreased so where are all the 'clingons' you talk about?, as pointed out tickets are on sale to anyone(within certain club rules)and one possible flaw that snookers some locals getting tickets could be not possessing jobs, credit cards etc.? I use to have a season ticket for the Anny rd south side but was in the queue for a kop season ticket which i got and kept going until the seats went in and let it go because of the price, after that it was still pretty easy to get tickets until automated ordering etc came in, i now share a season ticket with 3 others(arguments non stop.)and if there's a chance of a ticket by other means its a bonus, i don't blame out of towners or 'clingons' for any of that i blame the incompetence and lack of foresight by David Moores for not increasing the ground capicity or finding investment to build a new stadium while he was the 'owner'. Until we get a refurb done to Anfield to increase capacity FSG are putting themselves in the firing line.
The OP keeps mentioning 'instant gratification' from faraway fans. I've been getting instant gratification for over 35 years then. How does that work, and should I be grateful by now?
