Brentford CEO Mark Devlin believes that many clubs are charging fans too much money in the Championship.
Talking on the , Devlin said he feels that £30 is the maximum price any fan should have to pay for a ticket in The Championship and is looking to bring this point up with the Football League in due course.
Norwich and Leeds recently announced prices of £35 and £34 respectively for away fans tickets for the visit of ‘little olde Brentford’. Needless to say, this caused a bit of a stir.
0 mins start
1 min 22 secs – Fans give their opinion on high ticket prices
9 min 06 secs – Mark Devlin interview
26 min 54 secs – Studio debate on ticket prices including Michael Brunskill (Football Supporters Federation), Billy Grant, Dave Lane, Nick Carthew, Peter Le Moel (Beesotted)
Social media was alight with fans complaining they felt forced into making a decision to attend one or both games due to what was perceived by some as ludicrous prices.
These tweets summed up the feeling of resentment of fans having to fork out huge sums – particularly so soon after Christmas.
“Me mate – not paying that amount of money at Norwich for me and my boy.. its a £150 round trip”
“Was in two minds about both trips for me and my two boys. The ticket prices made my mind up for me.”
“It’s the cost of travelling as well – It all adds up – I know 5 lads who have season tickets that won’t be going”
Strangely, some Norwich fans seemed to condone the idea of charging fellow football fans as much as possible which also sparked a debate in the studio.
“So long as the stadium is full, I say charge as much as possible.”
“You don’t have to go”
“Don’t like it, don’t come. Someone else will have the ticket”
Devlin questioned certain tactics employed by some clubs to extract the most money out of fans. Moving away fans to the most expensive part of the ground is one example – something Leeds have unfortunately been guilty of.
And when it was questioned how is it some clubs can justify charging £35 when clubs like Brentford and Bournemouth charge £10 less and are currently have as much or even more success on the pitch? – his reply was “Other clubs have different systems to us”.
Check out the this week where we discuss at length ticket prices … and ask the question … are Brentford fans just naive to the fact that as football teams get more success, their fans get charged more cash? Or are some clubs chancing their arm by passing off exorbitant (and quite often un-necessary) costs off onto fans.
We interview Mark Devlin – Brentford CEO – and Michael Brunskill – Director of Communications at the Football Supporters Federation – about their thoughts on £35 championship tickets, reciprocal pricing (where each team charges the opposing side’s fans the same amount for away fans) and the need for fans to keep vocal about unfair pricing.
We also talk to a number of fans on what they think of the price of football and what figure they think is fair to charge to watch Championship football.
What price do you feel is a fair price for away fans to go watch Championship football? Please vote in the poll below.
Beesotted Full-Length Norwich Podcast
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There is no correlation between current success and ticket prices so a pointless question. The away ticket prices at Carrow rd are the same for the home fans in that stand and we still fill it.
Reducing the away ticket prices (just to keep away fans happy for 1 game) would have to result in a reduction for the rest of that stand for each home game resulting in a large reduction of income for the club.
It would be hypocritical of me not to say I’d prefer cheaper ticket prices as they are expensive, but you cannot really draw comparisons with every club in the Championship as I’m sure there is a large variance in wage bills/debt/turnover. Clubs owners will therefore attempt to balance the books in the best way they can, albeit often misguided!
In the Prem each team got 250k to use as they saw fit for their away fans. Stoke had free coach travel to each away game, Norwich subsidised ticket prices for the expensive ones as well as the furthest trips. I think Swansea & WBA did reciprocal cheap away tickets. If the league could get anything from the Prem, that would be my preferred solution as each club can then control how they deliver the benefit to their fans.
Best of luck……after Saturday!
Hi guys, as a Norwich fan I feel outraged on your behalf that NCFC are charging you £35. When we were in the Championship four years ago I had a mate who’s a Forest fan come to the game at Carrow Road – he was charged £45…
People will obviously quote the “supply and demand” spiel, but you’re totally justified in your disgust. Incidentally, visiting Blackpool fans will only be charged £25 – a backhanded compliment to Brentford of how our management views your club! (Not really a silver lining). Here’s to a great match tomorrow.
I’m a Norwich fan but I agree; £35 is a ridiculous price for a football match. I’m a season ticket holder at Carrow Road, and the cost works out at about £21 a game which I think is just about reasonable, but non-season ticket holders have to pay a lot more. The Premier League is even worse, we were getting charged £50-£60 for some away games. Football in general is too expensive imho.