Apologies in advance for the depressing (possibly tedious) tone of the below post: So, as a London-dweller who is normally busy(ish) on weekends, I don't get to attend a whole lot of games (be it Norwich or any other team). I have attended a couple of our recent cup games against Fulham (around £15 if I recall correctly), and thought I'd see if there were tickets left for the Fulham league game this weekend. Ticket: £30 No thanks. £15 I would argue was just about reasonable. But £30 (especially considering it's a second tier league game)? Nope. Not for me. Don't get me wrong, I could afford to watch the odd game at that price, but the economist in me just doesn't think 90mins of football (coupled with the expenses of getting to the ground) is worth the price. People can say I'm a crap fan or whatever (or that I'm not expressing any new/revolutionary thoughts about football), but I find myself seriously questioning, as a non-season ticket holder, whether I'm going to attend any more professional Football League/Premier League matches ever again. It's just not worth the money, in my opinion.
Not a crap fan at all. If it's not worth the money to you, then you are perfectly right to not go. I don't see why anyone should HAVE to go to games to be a "proper" fan. I have to admit, though, I am not particularly fussed by this amount. It's probably lower than we will charge for the return game (though admittedly our stadium will probably be at max capacity, whereas Fulham it looks like it might be quite empty). The bottom line is that, with inflation, Championship prices are comfortably in the £20-£30 mark at just about every club.
Just to clarify, Rob, I wasn't necessarily singling out Norwich or Fulham in my comments, more professional football in general. You're quite right that £20-£30 is 'the norm' for the Championship. It's just that that is an amount I'm not prepared to pay.
This is my first game this season as I live in London and have 3 kids. On the matchday thread against Rotherhan I was called out by toughmeyellowgreen as not being a proper fan with "how many games you been to". I am 38 and a city fan since a kid attended years of **** matches when i could but this anonymous poster questions my loyalty and passion for my chosen team. It cost me £50 for me and my daughter to go as she was 8 yesterday . The main reason i use this site is to get news about our team as it happens especially living away from Norwich and don't expect snyde comments about how many games i get to a season. There has not been a game Norwich played in for the last 20 odd years that i haven't known the result be it by radio 5 teletext or the internet . I hope KIO returns to spend his time writing one because the attack on me put me off writing another thread . It's easy to do **** all and moan about things .
Sorry, yes I misunderstood. Completely agree that prices are too high. I actually think this needs to be looked into more than the grassroots stuff - football is becoming an elitist sport that only involves the wealthiest, which flies in the face of the whole idea. I know it's something that's been said before, but it's worth repeating - the German system is much, much better. We need to look into that. And scrap the ban on televising 3pm matches - that was pointless. The Sky millions should have been partly spent on bringing down ticket prices, that's the real shame of it.
23 you please carry on with the matchday threads, toughmeanyellowandgreen posts on here once in a blue moon so he doesn't qualify as a not606 Norwich fan! You are the main man bro, go for it!
Although I agree that yes, the German system is better, it is still not as good as it could be. As I understand it, the German system generally benefits season ticket-holders (season tickets are very cheap indeed compared to England). However, fans looking to attend irregularly still have to stump up quite a large amount for even the cheapest seats, particularly for top-tier games/teams.
Fair point - though in their second tier I very much doubt an irregular ticket comes close to £20, even if the standard is lower than the Championship! You'll always have the Bayerns, Barcelonas and Arsenals of this world charging high prices
FYI 23, I never said you weren't a proper fan. I asked how many games you'd been to as you appear to think your opinion on Grabban is more valid than people who have been at the games and have seen him play. You know that's true so stop trying to make it something that it's not.
I have watched most matches on streams tv or highlights and it's pretty much the same as being there apart from the benefit of replays. Only you know how you meant it.
I certainly would never suggest that you're a "crap fan" for not wanting to cough up £30, but I have to say if you seriously expect to be paying £15 entry for a match like Fulham v Norwich this early in the season then you're pretty out of touch with the game. I don't actually think it's that unreasonable personally, though I accept I may be in the minority. Though that said, I was able to pick up some bargain tickets last year - £25 at the Emirates, £20 against West Ham and Palace and I think I might have only paid £25 for the Craven Cottage game. They were obviously skewed by the fact we were a category C club whereas this year we'll no doubt be seen as category A by the Championship clubs.
The sums involved with being an Arsenal fan are staggering. I'm also astonished at how expensive matches in the Conference are. How the hell can they demand £300+ for a season ticket?? Unsurprising that we have the highest price for cheapest season ticket, though obviously disappointing. However, I can't help but laugh at all the Leeds fans complaining about the price of a ticket to watch us when their ticket prices are almost exactly the same... Check out the German ticket prices though!! £11.75 to see a Bayern match (admittedly probably against the weakest team in the Bundesliga, but still!)
I agree with you Munky. Obviously prices go up year on year, they're never going to stay at two shillings and sixpence for years on end... I try to work out something equivalent and what value you get out of it. So for me you can easily spend close to £20 going to the cinema (especially in London) - is going to a live football match (which takes a similar amount of time) 50% more enjoyable than the cinema? I'd say so. Don't get me wrong JK, I'm still bitter about how expensive the cinema is! It's just that all these things seem about equivalent. Though it is bewildering when prices go up faster than inflation.
Fair enough bors. I'm certainly not going to chastise anyone for paying the £30. If one feels it's still value for money, and one gets '£30 worth of enjoyment' out of it, then there's not really an issue I suppose.
Some interesting stuff from that price of football. Unsurprisingly we were the most expensive club per home goal last season, just short of £30 a goal. There's also a pretty good article about a group of people who manage to do a weekend in Dortmund, including a ticket for a game, for about £65, which is on a par with Arsenal tickets. Might have to look into giving that a go some day.
