A Grade A rip-off

[gunner_ace]

My mum brought me and my sister up as a single mother and took us to my first Arsenal game in 1991 in the family enclosure for my 10th birthday. She said that she can’t remember exactly how much it cost but in those days you were able to buy a family ticket which she said didn’t cost much more then a tenner. I can’t thank my dear old mum enough for doing this as after I clapped eyes on that majestic Highbury pitch from the grand old East stand concourse for the first ever time I was hooked for life (similar stories for everyone else I’m sure). After that point I would save all my pocket money, and when I had enough, by hook or crook would manage to tag along with a school mate who’s dad was bringing them to the game.

How many budding gooners are their now in the same boat as I was, i.e. don’t have a father to bring them to their first game, and are relying on their mum or guardian who (like my mum) was barely making ends meet on a day-to-day basis? Because of ticket prices now their mum / guardian simply won’t be able to afford to take them, and the next generation of die-hard gooners will simply just become armchair fans.

A quick look at the .com website and I see that Junior Gunner tickets for the upcoming Fulham game are now £14.50 whilst adults are £36 and that’s for a Cat C game, so for all budding gooners you need to dam well hope its a cat C game for your birthday, otherwise your probably looking at £60 for mummy and £30 pounds for you if its Utd on your big day. Let’s hope mummy has won at the bingo recently.

It just makes me mad anyway as the club have long ago abandoned the traditional N5 working class fanbase, and is now blatantly chasing the all too ever present ‘day-trippers’ we all love to spot and loave on match-days. You know the ones with the cameras, gunnery shopping bags, XL bag of maltesers and hot-dogs. The ones the club love to fleece of £100 + when you factor in the matchday extras.

I for one cant go to the emirates this season as I’ve been forced to take a year out sadly for financial reasons and I simply cant afford the £100 + it costs me to get to a game from Leeds, and that’s not even factoring in Beer (which I drink a lot of ha ha). I still hope to get to a few northern away games anyway so hopefully see some old faces there.
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[Skooner]

My mum brought me and my sister up as a single mother and took us to my first Arsenal game in 1991 in the family enclosure for my 10th birthday. She said that she can’t remember exactly how much it cost but in those days you were able to buy a family ticket which she said didn’t cost much more then a tenner. I can’t thank my dear old mum enough for doing this as after I clapped eyes on that majestic Highbury pitch from the grand old East stand concourse for the first ever time I was hooked for life (similar stories for everyone else I’m sure). After that point I would save all my pocket money, and when I had enough, by hook or crook would manage to tag along with a school mate who’s dad was bringing them to the game.

How many budding gooners are their now in the same boat as I was, i.e. don’t have a father to bring them to their first game, and are relying on their mum or guardian who (like my mum) was barely making ends meet on a day-to-day basis? Because of ticket prices now their mum / guardian simply won’t be able to afford to take them, and the next generation of die-hard gooners will simply just become armchair fans.

A quick look at the .com website and I see that Junior Gunner tickets for the upcoming Fulham game are now £14.50 whilst adults are £36 and that’s for a Cat C game, so for all budding gooners you need to dam well hope its a cat C game for your birthday, otherwise your probably looking at £60 for mummy and £30 pounds for you if its Utd on your big day. Let’s hope mummy has won at the bingo recently.

It just makes me mad anyway as the club have long ago abandoned the traditional N5 working class fanbase, and is now blatantly chasing the all too ever present ‘day-trippers’ we all love to spot and loave on match-days. You know the ones with the cameras, gunnery shopping bags, XL bag of maltesers and hot-dogs. The ones the club love to fleece of £100 + when you factor in the matchday extras.

I for one cant go to the emirates this season as I’ve been forced to take a year out sadly for financial reasons and I simply cant afford the £100 + it costs me to get to a game from Leeds, and that’s not even factoring in Beer (which I drink a lot of ha ha). I still hope to get to a few northern away games anyway so hopefully see some old faces there.
.

Your situation is no doubt a fairly common one for supporters across the country and it’s absolutely the biggest reason going to football doesn’t seem as enjoyable these days. It’s a game built on the popularity amongst the masses but they’ve now been priced out.

Out of interest, would you (and anyone else for that matter) prefer to not go to many/any games and for AFC to be successful or you be able to go majority/all games and AFC be far less successful? I appreciate everyone would rather go to all and see us be successful but as things stand, if the club dropped their prices we would undoubtedly struggle to compete even more than we do now.

[Dan_85]

The approach to ticket pricing of not just Arsenal, but many other PL clubs, is done with an incredibly short-term mindset. It's a model that's been put in place to basically get them as much money as quickly as possible.

Of course most of the time, as has been described in this thread, kids nowadays can't really afford to go to games other than CC. The only people who can really afford to go regularly are those in full time work & it's a struggle even for them. The average age of fans attending PL games is now 41 right? It's madness. Look around you next time you're at a game & see how many kids you can spot outside the FE. Then take a look in the stands on the continent - Germany, France, Poland, Eastern Europe. They're all full of kids making a racket & having a laugh.

It's all well & good for now, the club are raking in the money off these older punters but if things carry on as they are we won't really notice a change for 30 years or so. Without sounding morbid, what happens when these 41 year old match going fans begin to die off? You're left with a younger generation who are not used to going to the match & tbh are probably happy watching it on Sky or on a dodgy stream, and as a result you have a half empty stadium. It's a dangerous approach but not at all surprising with modern day Arsenal - it's all about as much money as possible, as quickly as possible.

I've made the decision now not to attend Cat A games anymore. Before the start of September i'd missed just one home game in the last 4 seasons, but £63 as a minimum price is disgusting in my opinion. They can keep it. I'd like to think many others would adopt the same stance but sadly the Chelsea game proved otherwise

[jamjc64]

Moan as much as you like. The club will not listen until we have empty stadiums. We have a choice, to go or not.

The club pays lip service to these action groups but only one thing will resonate, a boycott....... Will never happen though

[gunner_ace]

My mum brought me and my sister up as a single mother and took us to my first Arsenal game in 1991 in the family enclosure for my 10th birthday. She said that she can’t remember exactly how much it cost but in those days you were able to buy a family ticket which she said didn’t cost much more then a tenner. I can’t thank my dear old mum enough for doing this as after I clapped eyes on that majestic Highbury pitch from the grand old East stand concourse for the first ever time I was hooked for life (similar stories for everyone else I’m sure). After that point I would save all my pocket money, and when I had enough, by hook or crook would manage to tag along with a school mate who’s dad was bringing them to the game.

How many budding gooners are their now in the same boat as I was, i.e. don’t have a father to bring them to their first game, and are relying on their mum or guardian who (like my mum) was barely making ends meet on a day-to-day basis? Because of ticket prices now their mum / guardian simply won’t be able to afford to take them, and the next generation of die-hard gooners will simply just become armchair fans.

A quick look at the .com website and I see that Junior Gunner tickets for the upcoming Fulham game are now £14.50 whilst adults are £36 and that’s for a Cat C game, so for all budding gooners you need to dam well hope its a cat C game for your birthday, otherwise your probably looking at £60 for mummy and £30 pounds for you if its Utd on your big day. Let’s hope mummy has won at the bingo recently.

It just makes me mad anyway as the club have long ago abandoned the traditional N5 working class fanbase, and is now blatantly chasing the all too ever present ‘day-trippers’ we all love to spot and loave on match-days. You know the ones with the cameras, gunnery shopping bags, XL bag of maltesers and hot-dogs. The ones the club love to fleece of £100 + when you factor in the matchday extras.

I for one cant go to the emirates this season as I’ve been forced to take a year out sadly for financial reasons and I simply cant afford the £100 + it costs me to get to a game from Leeds, and that’s not even factoring in Beer (which I drink a lot of ha ha). I still hope to get to a few northern away games anyway so hopefully see some old faces there.
.

Your situation is no doubt a fairly common one for supporters across the country and it’s absolutely the biggest reason going to football doesn’t seem as enjoyable these days. It’s a game built on the popularity amongst the masses but they’ve now been priced out.

Out of interest, would you (and anyone else for that matter) prefer to not go to many/any games and for AFC to be successful or you be able to go majority/all games and AFC be far less successful? I appreciate everyone would rather go to all and see us be successful but as things stand, if the club dropped their prices we would undoubtedly struggle to compete even more than we do now.

Your theoretical question is meaningless one also, as you’re assuming that all of the money earned from the terraces is ploughed straight back into the team, whereas we know its not. We make a big £££profit every transfer window when we sell our biggest stars and buy err Gervinhos to replace them (santi excluded but even we got him for cheap). So every year there is surplus £££millions generated in ticket sales that yes a % is going on servicing the stadium debt, but a hell of a lot more going into Stan and his cronies pockets.

Most fans like me have had enough, and are not here to be Stans personal bank, but we want to see The Arsenal and everything it stands for to be the best that it can. And although we continuously punch above our weight year on year, there is always a big WHAT IF hanging over us every season. What IF he had paid that extra few million Lille wanted for Hazard before anyone else knew him? What IF we didn’t mess about with penny pinching on Matas contract before the chavs swooped in? What IF we swooped early for Javi Garcia for a relatively ‘cheap’ £16m in today’s football prices before Citeh stuck their oar in?

Im sure you catch my drift now, but these are not signings out of the reach of Arsenal within its self sustainable means, and all would have been achievable if AFC was run like a football club and NOT a business. i.e. all available terrance money is re-invested into the team. And im sure I speak for every fan of the club when I saw I would happily pay the £62 they’re asking for on a Cat A game, if I knew that every single penny was going on buying the best talent around. But its not ,so fuck em all to hell and ill be back at the grove when Stan is gone.

[arseofacrow]

It's definitely true that they play on the loyalty factor. We can only rely on supporters to have some sense of value rather than blind following. I still have my season ticket as I am lucky enough that I can still afford it but I and surely the overwhelming majority have a breaking point where they just won’t pay the price any more.

Just to play devil’s advocate for a bit, maybe in the past football fans had it too easy? Going back to pre-premier league days, a lot of clubs saw any financial short fall bank rolled by local business men who were also supporters. It wasn’t any fairer than the Chelsea/City models these days but it simply wasn’t off the charts scale wise and it was done out of the goodness of a fans heart so no one argued with it. The foreign investors changed all that by the sheer scale of the bank rolling and the local businessman/supporter cannot possibly cover it so now the supporter is paying the real price of supporting the team (which has been driven up by the foreign investors).

I don’t think there is any solution here. Even if the FFP rules worked, the money is so big now that prices won’t drop. If you want your team to be successful, you are going to have pay more money for your ticket than your rivals supporters.

But there's no real correlation between ticket prices and success, due to the investment now and undoubtedly in the past in a smaller and different way. If you want to be successful, you need plenty of money from non-football related sources, from marketing and promotion, or some geezer who's got money to burn.

[MK Gould]

On of my early games was at home to Middlesborough in the mid-to late 1970's.... Can't recall how much it cost to get in, but this was the first (and hopefully last!) game where I was nicked and kicked out of the North Bank by the OB..... ! For pushing apparently....

But as I walked around to the School boys enclosure (on the East Side) I bumped into a mate from school who paid for me to get in (70p if memory serves me right).

Anyway, my point is that there is no way one of my own kids friends would have sufficient dosh to get them back into a game these days, and there is no way that my paper round would have funded my football habit at todays prices. My mates supported Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and West Ham, and we often used to go along to each others games. Money was never an issue.....and it wasn't because we had any.

That said, as the article did acknowledge, I don't think this is necessarily an issue for Arsenal alone. It is a major issue for English football. With the current popularity of football it would really need coordinated action (mass boycott?) to solve it, and that ain't going to happen. Other than that we'll just have to wait until it goes out of fashion, the Sky and CL money disappear and they have to reduce charges to get anyone to bother turning up.

[Babatunde]

There's a simple answer - stop fucking letting the club rip you off. Letters and meetings with the corporate sleaze bag Gazidis - remuneration package over £2m, up 24% from last year - will get you absolutely nowhere.

Until you stop lining their pockets paying Grade A ticket prices and ridiculous merchandise prices, they will continue fleecing you. It is basic 1st year economics - the fact they are still selling out the Bowl means that their decision to raise prices has been fully justified and they will be considering further increases for next year as we speak

Stop fucking buying the tickets !

Bang On

Dortmand Fans boycotted an away Game at Bayern Munich a few years ago because the price when from EUR 10 to EUR 22 in a single season, next season the price went back to EUR 10. Bundesliga Fans pay an average price of EUR 10 per match ticket, have Standing Sections where they can drink Beer on the Terraces.

German Fans take Action while English Fans continue to complain while allowing themselves to robbed by 'Corporate business's posing as football clubs.

I went to the Coventry game but it was only a tenner, spoke to a few people who went to the Chelsea Game who paid over £ 100 plus Booking Fees direct from the Arsenal.

Simple Solution, don't hand over the Cash to these thieves

BANG ON.
Laugh my arse off at ppl complaining about the regime whilst handing over thousands in ST fees. Like those green and gold Manc jokers who made protests (in full £80 replica kits, eating OT hot dogs with match programme in hand).

Be like Martin Luther King making a stand whilst paying the KKK membership fees...

[MM99]

I'm just praying for the time when the football bubble finally bursts to come soon. In the meantime I maintain my boycott of home games.

[Dan_85]

German Fans take Action while English Fans continue to complain while allowing themselves to robbed by 'Corporate business's posing as football clubs.

Have mentioned examples of boycotts etc from the continent before only to be shouted down about it "not being the English way" or "the club have us by the balls" or some other such nonsense. Complete & utter bollocks.

Sadly, a boycott at Arsenal is likely to be even less effective than at many other grounds simply due to the amount of tourists they can get in to fill empty seats. Come to London, visit Tower Bridge, ride on the London Eye, catch a game at Arsenal etc etc.

[Babatunde]

German Fans take Action while English Fans continue to complain while allowing themselves to robbed by 'Corporate business's posing as football clubs.

Have mentioned examples of boycotts etc from the continent before only to be shouted down about it "not being the English way" or "the club have us by the balls" or some other such nonsense. Complete & utter bollocks.

Sadly, a boycott at Arsenal is likely to be even less effective than at many other grounds simply due to the amount of tourists they can get in to fill empty seats. Come to London, visit Tower Bridge, ride on the London Eye, catch a game at Arsenal etc etc.

Dan. Our fans are pussies. Plain and simple.
The AKBs are the biggest bunch of wet flaky-arse maggots you have ever seen. I have seen more resistance in a peanut brittle, Diaby's femur is harder than these people.
'The club have us by the balls'. HOW? By paying Gazidis more than all the Chelski directors combined? By paying an overrated mediocre manager a king's ransom? By consistently screwing the fans over with transfer window lack of ambition? Or by charging £125 to watch Chelski hump us? How then? It's bullshit and an excuse for weakness is all.

[MM99]

German Fans take Action while English Fans continue to complain while allowing themselves to robbed by 'Corporate business's posing as football clubs.

Have mentioned examples of boycotts etc from the continent before only to be shouted down about it "not being the English way" or "the club have us by the balls" or some other such nonsense. Complete & utter bollocks.

Sadly, a boycott at Arsenal is likely to be even less effective than at many other grounds simply due to the amount of tourists they can get in to fill empty seats. Come to London, visit Tower Bridge, ride on the London Eye, catch a game at Arsenal etc etc.

Dan. Our fans are pussies. Plain and simple.
The AKBs are the biggest bunch of wet flaky-arse maggots you have ever seen. I have seen more resistance in a peanut brittle, Diaby's femur is harder than these people.
'The club have us by the balls'. HOW? By paying Gazidis more than all the Chelski directors combined? By paying an overrated mediocre manager a king's ransom? By consistently screwing the fans over with transfer window lack of ambition? Or by charging £125 to watch Chelski hump us? How then? It's bullshit and an excuse for weakness is all.

I know season ticket holders who want Wenger out more than anything but still go to every home game and put money into the club. Throws your bullshit 'AKB' theory out the window.

[mikeyb772001]

yeh thats right! Im no AKB and anyone that knows me or has gone a game with me can confirm i air my views loud and proud. I get in rows with so called akbs all the time

i will never stop going as it would leave a whole in my life. I guess moaning so much fills that hole for some. But for me drinking with great mates and having the odd great moment sways it for me

[Babatunde]

German Fans take Action while English Fans continue to complain while allowing themselves to robbed by 'Corporate business's posing as football clubs.

Have mentioned examples of boycotts etc from the continent before only to be shouted down about it "not being the English way" or "the club have us by the balls" or some other such nonsense. Complete & utter bollocks.

Sadly, a boycott at Arsenal is likely to be even less effective than at many other grounds simply due to the amount of tourists they can get in to fill empty seats. Come to London, visit Tower Bridge, ride on the London Eye, catch a game at Arsenal etc etc.

Dan. Our fans are pussies. Plain and simple.
The AKBs are the biggest bunch of wet flaky-arse maggots you have ever seen. I have seen more resistance in a peanut brittle, Diaby's femur is harder than these people.
'The club have us by the balls'. HOW? By paying Gazidis more than all the Chelski directors combined? By paying an overrated mediocre manager a king's ransom? By consistently screwing the fans over with transfer window lack of ambition? Or by charging £125 to watch Chelski hump us? How then? It's bullshit and an excuse for weakness is all.

I know season ticket holders who want Wenger out more than anything but still go to every home game and put money into the club. Throws your bullshit 'AKB' theory out the window.

Yes. And your friends sound like very intelligent chaps too.
You know what? Weshoulda had these friends of yours handle apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.
That way, they could have sent a really strong anti-apartheid message and registered their utter disgust with that regim, by tripling their trade agreements with them and helping them grow their profits.
Yes. Sure is a way to make a stand, now why on earth did the likes of Che Guevara not ever think up such outstanding tactics...

[Babatunde]

yeh thats right! Im no AKB and anyone that knows me or has gone a game with me can confirm i air my views loud and proud. I get in rows with so called akbs all the time

i will never stop going as it would leave a whole in my life. I guess moaning so much fills that hole for some. But for me drinking with great mates and having the odd great moment sways it for me

All of which are things that can perfectly be done outside the confines of the space dome. It's quite simple really: if you pay for it, you endorse it. Simple as.
If I think my local Tesco are taking liberties and jacking up the price I don't as a 'customer' (which is what you are at Arsenal) moan about it...before emptying my wallet to pay a fiver for a loaf of bread...