Football fans from across the country will protest this weekend against high ticket prices. Home and away supporters will join forces to deliver the “Twenty’s Plenty” message – a call for all away tickets in England and Wales to be capped at £20.
The weekend of action is being co-ordinated by the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) whose “Twenty’s Plenty for Away Fans” campaign has saved 68,000 fans a total of £738,000 since its launch in 2013.
Fans from every Premier League club, and many in the Football League, will meet ahead of their team’s fixtures for joint protests, before displaying banners inside stadiums saying “Fans back Twenty’s Plenty”.
Brentford fans will be joining Derby fans up at the IPRO stadium in Derby on Saturday with a specially produced Brentford Twenty’s Plenty Banner in a show of support for fair ticket pricing.
Last season Brentford fans demonstrated against Norwich’s £35 price for their match at Carrow Road. The Bee’s CEO stated in the Pride of West London Podcast that any price over £30 was too much for any Championship club to be charging away fans.
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has previously acknowledged that away fans are a “special breed” and one of the game’s “unique strengths” – but the FSF says they are in danger of being priced out.
FSF chief executive Kevin Miles said: “Away fans are a vital part of the football culture in England and Wales – this weekend supporters will stand together against high prices.
“We have a great tradition of following our teams away from home with quite possibly the highest number of travelling fans in the world. This should not be endangered by high ticket prices.
“The timing is crucial as, in the coming weeks, top-flight clubs have a choice to make as they carve up the latest multi-billion pound media deal. Money has been pouring into the top of the game for the last two decades benefitting players, agents and owners – it’s time fans felt the benefit of this too through cheaper tickets.
“It’s not just in the Premier League that we see high prices, many Football League fixtures can be very expensive too. Some could carry a cost of £50+ for away fans, an extraordinary amount of money. We want to see more clubs follow the example set by Coventry City, who have committed to charging no away fan more than £20.”
The increase in the latest domestic media deal alone equates to more than £40 for every single fan, at every single top-flight game. Fan groups argue that clubs therefore have enough money to reduce prices and that it’s actually in their own interests to do so – will those multi-billion pound media deals keep rolling in if stands are empty?
What is Twenty’s Plenty?
The Twenty’s Plenty campaign started back in January 2013. High away ticket prices were the catalyst, with many away fans following “Category A” teams expected to pay in excess of £50 or even £60 for tickets. The FSF wants clubs to cap all away tickets at £20.
Over the last two years, the campaign has grown and secured real improvements for away fans – creating an environment where Premier League clubs have introduced the £12m Away Supporters Initiative while more teams in the Football League are now entering into £20 reciprocal deals for away fans.
And it’s not to say that fan power does not work. This season, Coventry City have agreed to cap away tickets at £20. Also, Newcastle have done a number of reciprocal pricing agreements where they have agreed that fans of visiting clubs (including Stoke, West Ham and Watford) will pay a maximum of £20 – and Newcastle fans visiting those teams will be charged the same amount.
Twenty’s Plenty has saved fans more than £700,000.
Billy Grant
@billythebee99
