Hearing some Chelsea fan groups are proposing to boycott the Genk home game in a few weeks as a demonstration against exorbitant ticket prices.

http://www.chelseasupportersgroup.net/2011/09/champions-league-group-stages-ticket-prices/

Hope it comes off & the club are left with 1,000s of unsold tickets, cant see it though too many mug punters out there who will pay anything the club throws at the them, the Copenhagen game proved that last season.

Would be brilliant if this came off but is very very unlikely to happen imo

Useless for me to comment as an overseas supporter, but I still will (too boring of a time at work). I absolutely support this boycott, £40 is pure madness. But this is unfortunately the way things will be more and more in years to come. I don't see a turningpoint coming anytime soon, which will leave Chelsea Football Club as nothing but another tourist attraction. That will be the case with most - if not all - major clubs in London, Manchester and Liverpool.

Money talks, and that's a bleeding disgrace.

e. The only way I can see this not happening, is if the FA or the league start regulating the ticket prices with an upper limit. Another way would be a full scale boycott of all games, but this can't be seen as very likely, mostly due to tourists who are willing to pay anything for a ticket.

Edited September 10, 201114 yr by Eagle Owl

The first ticket I've ever bought direct from Chelsea was the Leverkusen one, tbh £40 seems a lot, especially since we're playing Fulham soon too and that's a far more reasonable £25!

Its a tough standpoint.

I admire any protest with a good reason and naturally i agree about the prices, and particularly the hike for this seasons CL group games which came out of nowhere.

However, im not sure if i like the idea of a purposely planned empty stadium and its possible negative effect on the team. In particular the line in that article 'many are hopeful of another crowd below 25,000' leaves me a little uncomfortable.

Simple fact is we have an outrageous wage bill and the ticket prices are needed to supplement this. The club im sure will argue that prices can be lowered but players will need to be sold, so what do people want ?

Never a dull moment!

Just as well we didn't splash out that £30m + on Mordic then. What would the club have had to increase prices to then?

It's a joke and another kick in the bollocks for the fans - ridiculous prices for the group stages which everyone can't wait to be over for the real CL to start.

Edited September 10, 201114 yr by Nibs

Surely 'supply and demand' should take care of the ticket prices, though. There's no need to have a planned protest. If £40 is an unreasonable price then nobody will go anyway. If it's not unreasonable then people will.

Even if this protest means that half of the tickets remain unsold, having doubled the ticket prices will mean they've still made as much as last year.

I support people's right to protest, but I really don't see how this is going to make any difference.

Surely 'supply and demand' should take care of the ticket prices, though. There's no need to have a planned protest. If £40 is an unreasonable price then nobody will go anyway. If it's not unreasonable then people will.

Even if this protest means that half of the tickets remain unsold, having doubled the ticket prices will mean they've still made as much as last year.

I support people's right to protest, but I really don't see how this is going to make any difference.

This.

Supply and demand. As long as Stamford Bridge is sold out or close to that at the current prices then there is no way that the prices should be lowered

I don't think that the boycott will be that successful. There loads of 'fans' who are willing to pay that kind of money. Though 40 quid against Genk is ridiculous.

Supply and demand. As long as Stamford Bridge is sold out or close to that at the current prices then there is no way that the prices should be lowered

Judging by your name I'm not sure you're in the best position to judge...

Even if this protest means that half of the tickets remain unsold, having doubled the ticket prices will mean they've still made as much as last year.

I support people's right to protest, but I really don't see how this is going to make any difference.

There is no other way to voice our concerns, I may not be in the best position to comment but if City can have their CL group games at 25 why do we have to shell 40 for a game against Genk? Its plain ridiculous and I support the fans that have initiated it. The friday night show on Chels TV had almost every call asking about the ticket prices, though Jason may not be the best person to answer its obvious that the fans have had enough.

To your point about Chelsea making enough money with a few unsold tickets I'm sure you've missed the point.

There is no other way to voice our concerns, I may not be in the best position to comment but if City can have their CL group games at 25 why do we have to shell 40 for a game against Genk?

I think a 400 million pound sponsorship deal can explain that.

They also seat 6,000 people more than us - basic economics, increase in supply reduces price (although I don't think that accounts for anywhere close to the full 15 pounds).

I'm sure the people who normally can't get a ticket will be very grateful for the boycott.

Its a tough standpoint.

I admire any protest with a good reason and naturally i agree about the prices, and particularly the hike for this seasons CL group games which came out of nowhere.

However, im not sure if i like the idea of a purposely planned empty stadium and its possible negative effect on the team. In particular the line in that article 'many are hopeful of another crowd below 25,000' leaves me a little uncomfortable.

Simple fact is we have an outrageous wage bill and the ticket prices are needed to supplement this. The club im sure will argue that prices can be lowered but players will need to be sold, so what do people want ?

Never a dull moment!

This sums up my opinion completely.

I am all for porotesting against the ticket prices and understand that this is pretty much the only platform that would get the clubs attention but the thought of playing with a half empty stadium just provides too many negatives. What are players going to think when they see that? New signings seeing a half empty Stamford Bridge being outsung for 90 minutes by the 3000 travelling fans....

Well I just checked today and there seems to be loads of tickets still available for tomorrows game against Bayer Leverkusen so here's hoping. Still loads of tickets for Fulham unsold as well.

If all season ticket holders didnt buy their ticket out of protest the club would just sell them to non members and fill the ground. To be honest before i got my season ticket thats what i use to do.

Surely it will work itself out? The reason that tickets for the champions league groups stages, and the FA and Carling cups, were reduced was because they couldn't fill the stadium. Now they have pushed prices back up for the CL we'll see if they have the same problem again. If they do then I would expect them to be marked down again. If not then they will stay up.

If you can't afford the prices then I understand why you'd be unhappy, but not going just to prove a point seems "pointless".

Well I just checked today and there seems to be loads of tickets still available for tomorrows game against Bayer Leverkusen so here's hoping. Still loads of tickets for Fulham unsold as well.

Yeah I noticed that- and at £25 Fulham seems a decent value for that game. Really should sell out as 6000 for teh Shed end are taken by Fulham anyway....

This didn't really work, did it? It seemed to be something of a sell out yesterday with 38 000 in the stands. Was the atmosphere any good, or just tourists who managed to get a hold of tickets due to regulars boycotting?

38000 means about 3000 empty seats - you can look on this both positively and negatively. Hopefully those who shelled out enjoyed themselves (they better have!) The club lost a smallish amount of revenue of the gate, maybe enough to make them notice a little but also proved that a decent number of people were willing to pay £40 for a ticket against European minnows.

I chose not too because like many others I pay enough already for tickets and just couldn't afford this one, but I don't begrudge those who did go and I hope the club can find a more reasonable price balance for future games.

The vast majority of those "empty seats" were because of the UEFA imposed areas where seats had to be left empty. The first 'X' number of rows of the MHL, for instance,and A WIDE separation gap between the Genk fans and the rest of the Shed. To me it didn't seem like there were that many other empty seats around teh ground.

The attendance may have been manufactured a bit. Seems strange that there were more people at this game than there were for Leverkuson, despite the boycott.

The club have admitted to giving away 1,000 tickets but there are suspicions it was many more than that.

I wasn't there last night but a friend of mine who was says it was the strangest atmosphere he's ever seen at the Bridge, and this was in the MHL. A lot of unfamiliar faces and a lot of tourists. Maybe someone can confirm this .. ?

As with the Everton game, the club seem to have tried to avert any negative publicity. Against Everton, anyone found with a sticker supporting the SayNoCPO campaign had them removed by stewards. A banner which was unfurled was taken down. This despite Buck coming on ChelseaTV last week saying the fans were entitled to their say so long as they conformed by H&S rules.

I wasn't aware stickers were a fire hazard ..

As with the Everton game, the club seem to have tried to avert any negative publicity. Against Everton, anyone found with a sticker supporting the SayNoCPO campaign had them removed by stewards. A banner which was unfurled was taken down. This despite Buck coming on ChelseaTV last week saying the fans were entitled to their say so long as they conformed by H&S rules.

I wasn't aware stickers were a fire hazard ..

This sounds like East Germany. Way to go, Chelsea FC... Freedom of speech is overrated anyway.

Edited October 20, 201114 yr by Eagle Owl