The FSF and Virgin Media have today announced that fans of each Premier League club will benefit from a subsidy meaning tickets for an upcoming away game will cost no more than £20. The subsidy, provided by Virgin Media who sponsor The FSF and also Southampton FC, is a show of support for The FSF’s “Twenty’s Plenty” campaign which aims to cap all away tickets at £20. We have been working with the FSF over the last few weeks on this. The idea was that the clubs would sell away tickets at the reduced price and claim a lump sum back from Virgin Media. Although some clubs were happy to get involved, many were not, including Hull City. The reasons cited by City were an ‘administrative burden’ (which is hard to accept since they would only have had to make out a single invoice) and a conflict of interests between Virgin and one of the club’s partners. However when the Trust contacted this sponsor they confirmed they had absolutely no issue with the club working with Virgin to provide this benefit to supporters. The club also said they would prefer an offer on official club travel, though didn’t say why. We explained that a significant number of fans don’t like to use official club travel and many don’t even live in Hull, making it much less inclusive than a ticket offer. It’s important to note that we’re told all clubs were advised by the Premier League not to participate, and most accepted this advice. Because of this the arrangement is that each supporter who buys an away ticket for the subsidised matches (ours is Stoke away) must apply to Virgin individually for their ticket subsidy. We recommended to Hull City that the offer would attract a larger away following than normal and that a full allocation of tickets should be requested so that no one misses out. The club opted instead for a reduced allocation, apparently because City’s away crowds this season haven’t been large enough to justify it. It’s a shame that after Marco Silva has repeatedly called for fans to attend games and with City struggling on the road, the opportunity to pack out the away end in a crucial upcoming match has been rejected. We’re sure that with co-operation and engagement from the club, Marco and his players would be supported by a strong crowd home and away. Click here for full details of the FSF ticket offer and how to apply. http://hullcitysupporterstrust.com/...-the-fsf-and-virgin-media/?platform=hootsuite
"It’s important to note that we’re told all clubs were advised by the Premier League not to participate" Assuming there isn't a typo, that's a remarkable stance for the PL to take. What was their justification, do we know?
I guess it undermines their £30 price and they don't want anyone interfering. Another set of ****ers.
I'm not surprised with the Premier League's response to this initiative, BT spend an absolute fortune on promoting themselves via the Premier League and this is an attempt from one of their biggest competitors to get a lot of positive press for a fraction of the cost. That said, not all clubs turned down the opportunity and with things the way they are at City, they're idiots for not taking advantage of a chance for them to give the fans something that would have cost them zilch.
The sponsor can hardly say they have a problem with it when pressed either else they will just be branded as a set of ****s.
Understand the PL stance. But City's? Too much of an 'administrative burden'. I'll tell you what a ****ing administrative burden is. There is the time for starters. Rocking up at Humberside airport in the small hours before it's open to get to Belgium and Slovakia. Having to take a day off work for a midweek league cup games in Swansea for example, sometimes travelling to and from London during a working week, getting in at ridiculous o'clock and getting up for work a few hours later, away games on a Sunday afternoon, running the gauntlet of Belgian police and glass throwers in Lokeren. European friendlies. Then the finance. Never quantified actually how much I've spent season in / season out. The last couple of years boycott has suddenly made me feel much more 'flush'. The recent book by Ian Bunton who went to all games in 2015/2016 itemised cost at £5k. I'm surprised it's not more than that. Quite easily I could be 'out' to the tune of £100k. That's what some players get in a week / month (I know it's not the players calling the shots here). City - the ****s. Still I suppose we might get a pie, a scarf or tea shirt draped over the seat, a flag, or even a paper clapper. **** right off. Too much trouble.
If City are serious about getting maximum support for the team why don't they finance free or reduced travel (as they have said they prefer) and also let Virgin finance £20 tickets? that way I would guarantee that they would sell out the full away allocation. This has all the hallmarks of them wanting to actually discourage support for the team!
Ahh the usual slightest opportunity to throw **** at our club not missed by PLT. So should the club only do what the PL says when it suits your agenda? Personally I'll take the "City said..." comments with a huge dose of scepticism considering the author. Short version of this is Hull City do what they're told by the PL.
Heard about this a few weeks back. I'm pleasantly surprised City suggested spending it on TT rather than putting it towards subsidising the tickets & match day experience of away fans visiting the KCOM. The Allam's are ****s. What did anyone expect?
The club should rightly be criticised for this. All they ever bang on about is support the team, get behind the manager etc... almost like they're trying to guilt trip people who refuse to attend at the moment. Here they had the perfect opportunity to have a big away following in one of our more winnable away games but they've completely missed it. The only remotely valid reason they have given as to why they won't be doing the offer is on advice from the Premier League. However this doesn't really stack up when they completely ignore the Premier Leagues advice on other ticketing issues.
What clubs have accepted the deal? Looks like the FSF being used by a large corporation to me, dressed up in altruism.
According to this article on FSF site fans have to claim back their money through the virgin media website. That suggests to me that no clubs took them up on the deal or that because some wouldn't they didn't do it directly through any clubs.
None. Initially, several clubs agreed to do it (from memory West Brom, Bournemouth, Watford, Everton and a couple of others), but when the bigger clubs said they weren't going to get involved, they gradually all pulled out (I've only just found this out). I understand West Brom were going to go it alone right up until the last minute.
We've finally sold out Man City and I believe we've only taken the smallest allocation option. I understand we've taken the smallest allocation for Stoke as well.
