Hardly a shocker that you don't understand that basic fundamental of why football clubs actually exist. Do you go to the game btw? I've never asked you that or heard you mention it?
Why is it sad? Is it sad that the average fan can't afford to buy a Bentley? No, because that's the price that you have to pay in order to be able to buy one. Not everyone can, but there are enough who can to keep Bentleys at the price they sell for. It's business. I know all the emotional arguments about "football belonging to the supporters" and "a football club is the heart of a community," but it's all sentimental bollocks! Football at the highest level is all about business, whether fans like it or not. The faceless corporates would happily have games played behind closed gates, if they thought they could get more money that way. The faceless corporates will put the ticket prices up across the board, when they think they can get away with it. It really is as simple as as brutally economic as that. Sadness doesn't come anywhere near to being included in that equation.
You can patronize me all you like, but I understand the realities of modern football far, far more keenly that you obviously do. You are sentimentality attached to something that is being raped by clever corporates for what they can make from it. You might as well go and fall in love with a sheep in a farmers field, for the good it's going to do you! Love that sheep as hard as you can, it's still going to end up hanging in the slaughterhouse. There are plenty of football teams out there that you can support, if feelling that your poxy £20 across the turn-style is actually making a difference, but don't expect those prices at the top Prem clubs. That's all I'm saying. As for me going to games - I used to hold a season ticket for several years, at a number of clubs, as I have moved around. These days, with my current family circumstances and my work, it's impossible to get to more than a handful of games a year. When I see Spurs, it's usually at an away ground. Yes, the ticket prices are shocking, but I buy them because (a) I can afford them, and (b) I choose to spend my £50 or £60 on that ticket as opposed to some other form of entertainment. I daresay that a night at the opera is priced at a level that would put me off buying a ticket, but I don't like opera, so it really doesn't bother me.
It's far from 'sentimental bollocks', it's the reality of what clubs mean to local people, especially in deprived inner cities. The same clubs that were built on the foundations paid for by the working class men who paid at the turnstiles, long before TV revenues started filling the coffers. The Sky era TV cash has attracted people who are little more than venture capitalists. It's due to their existence that the very fans that were the lifeblood are now being priced out. The formation of clubs like FC United of Manchester have come about because supporter said - enough! This is no longer the club I recognise and we'll start again. The point about the RS is that their owners simply don't have to increase prices to that level, theyre choosing to. It's not due to some business necessity, they're testing the market to see what it'll take. (Don't talk to me about business btw, as know more than you ever will) that s the ultimate point, they're seeking to recover their investment in double quick time, without regard for the supporters who will be priced out. I for one think that those venting their anger at that, are right to do so, and blimps like you seeking to patronise their stance and sneering at them for having the temerity to challenge the CUSTODIANS of THEIR CLUB, are way off beam. It'll probably make no difference to their proposed pricing, but that's not the point, it sends a message that might make them think harder and longer before further eroding the ability of their hardcore fans to actually attend the match.
I suppose the most effective way to protest is not to buy the tickets at all. They would have to lower the prices then.
There will always be people who can afford these price increases but it doesn't make it right. Your point seems to be that they'll do what they want and there's nothing that can be done about it, you may well be right but people making a stand against this can only be a good thing and may in some small way make a diffrence.
Maybe but you never get the numbers. It would only work if thousands stayed away and we know it will not happen.
If a significant number of people leave it'll be covered by the media and draw enough attention for the powers that be to at least consider any future price increases. It's not going to change the face of football but it might make a small diffrence and sometimes a small beginning may grow into something worthwhile. We're all to comfy and happy with life in the UK and have forgotten how to get out there and fight when something isn't right.
It's footy fans for you though. Look at the **** conditions people were prepared to put up with years back just to watch a game. You wouldn't accept that in any other aspect of your life. I remember being in fear of my life travelling to and back from some grounds (as I am sure we all were) but still did it week in week out though. It's bloody mad - if that was happening on your way to the shops you'd soon have found another place to buy stuff!
The only way to realistically bring about a change is for significant numbers of fans to boycott games - leave the stadium half empty. Financially, it wouldn't affect the majority of owners much at all, but with all the media coverage of football nowadays, it would be bad for business for people to see half empty grounds and protest groups on their Telly. But, as Dan says, it would take a significant and organised group to be able to achieve this. The clubs will bet that this won't happen.
Exactly. Football supporters are a different breed, without doubt. The clubs know this, and let's face it, if tickets were £100, fans would still go.
This again is something that gets to me, it really shouldn't be so much it's fleecing the people who have made you what you are, and then you'll get the spoit ****ers moaning about people downloading for free or moaning about free apps like Spotify!
Some really good points here. You're right earlier, when you talked about clubs meaning so much to local communities. At the big clubs, and Liverpool are a big club, a lot of people attending games aren't even from the city. HIAG has a point though. Unfortunately, football clubs aren't really the communal hub they used to be, they are a business. Simple as that. And you're right, the locals may well be forced out, but there will always be the fans from outside that will pay the price and attend games. The innocence of football was lost years ago. Sad but true.
