Most of the hardcore fans at all clubs have been priced out but it seems all clubs are struggling. Clubs are seemingly able to charge whatever they please and rip off fans to the point where football isn't affordable. Take Arsenal for instance. In the year 2000, Arsenal charged £17.50, this year they have charged £62. That's basically a 250% price increase in 12 years.

QPR and Spurs are struggling to sell out against us, QPR can be forgiven as they are a small family club but Spurs surprises me. I remember last season Arsenal struggling to sell out home games against the likes of Liverpool.

Given the economic situation (which is similar to the 80s) will we see a decline in attendances re: Cash cow that is the PL or ami exaggerating? It seems nobody can sell out games anymore even after general sale.

Norwich were a league one side 3 years ago but seem fit to charge clubs £50, QPR charge the same. We charge away fans ridiculous prices as well.

I do worry that we will soon have a generation of armchair fans due to it all being non affordable and simply more convenient to watch football at home or at a pub/bar.

ALL Clubs are struggling :(

It's in TV's best interest to keep bums off seats and at home for advertising $$$. Clubs needs television $$$ for revenue. You do the math...

Can't see it going down to the 80's figures but something need to be done. With the 80's you had football violence keeping a lot of people away from games.

The point the clubs and TV miss big time , to me anyway , is that a full crowd with no empty seats makes better TV. If you happen to turn on a game and see loads of empty seats I am inclined not to pay too much interest , if the ground is full and you can feel the atmosphere I would probably stay with it ...

The days a ground revenue played the players wages are long gone all that money now comes from TV and sponsors.

When TV and sponsors turn round and tell clubs no one is watching you need to fill your grounds it will change how the price works

Edited September 14, 201213 yr by Tea Bar Boy

Is it only TV thats the problem for charging so much..I love em, but the old cherry of players being paid far too much comes to mind..Ive heard all the reasoning about market forces etc , but i believe its absolutely bloody ridiculous what players agents demand

The clubs want it both ways the big TV money and supporters paying cash to watch the game.

It's definitely a big problem I think. I don't go to nearly as many games now as I did in say 2004 and around then but you can tell with liverpool it's a slightly different fanbase, It's affected the atmosphere at anfield, which was once famous, quite a bit. I mean obviously you have to factor in the fact that liverpool are, well, a bit sh*t now, but I used to go to games where we were 3-0 down and the crowd was at it's loudest.

It pisses me off a swell that the biggest teams are generally the ones that charge the most for tickets and want the biggest amount of money from TV rights, just look at Barca and Real as an example for overseas, we'll end up with clubs having a monopoly over the league and what will we have then? I'll tell you what, scottish football, and no one wants that, not even the scots.

The average supporter like me (and many of you, I suspect) has been the loser in this for decades now. Increasingly more room in the stands has been given over to the corporate buyers and the "cheap seats" and of course the terraces are a thing of the past in the higher echelons of the sport. Infuriatingly those whose bums occupy the boxes and the seats you and I can no longer afford are very often not really footie fans at all or at best frequently not supporters of the teams they're watching. But, while there are big bucks to be gained in sponsorship from the TV companies and while there are the corporate bums on seats which latter in the afternoon waddle into the club restaurants and bars those clubs aren't going to worry too much about declining numbers of real supporters. They never have.

I started going to the Bridge in the late 1970s when violence was at a peak. I was about 14 then, all of 5 foot 2 and 7.5 stone and a girl to boot! Terrace violence never deterred me (WHU excepted), it was the rising prices and the added cost of travel when I later moved out of London which did that. But, do Roman and his accountants give a monkeys that a die-hard middle-aged Chelsea fan of no wealth or influence can no longer afford to scream and shout and leap and cheer from the stands? 'Course not!

Edited to add that not only was I female in the late 1970's I still am female, just in case you sarky b*ggers were thinking of making any smartass comments!

Edited September 15, 201213 yr by NoSeatingInTheShedInMyDay

The high pricing of games must surely have something to do with the empty seats.

The average supporter like me (and many of you, I suspect) has been the loser in this for decades now. Increasingly more room in the stands has been given over to the corporate buyers and the "cheap seats" and of course the terraces are a thing of the past in the higher echelons of the sport. Infuriatingly those whose bums occupy the boxes and the seats you and I can no longer afford are very often not really footie fans at all or at best frequently not supporters of the teams they're watching. But, while there are big bucks to be gained in sponsorship from the TV companies and while there are the corporate bums on seats which latter in the afternoon waddle into the club restaurants and bars those clubs aren't going to worry too much about declining numbers of real supporters. They never have.

I started going to the Bridge in the late 1970s when violence was at a peak. I was about 14 then, all of 5 foot 2 and 7.5 stone and a girl to boot! Terrace violence never deterred me (WHU excepted), it was the rising prices and the added cost of travel when I later moved out of London which did that. But, do Roman and his accountants give a monkeys that a die-hard middle-aged Chelsea fan of no wealth or influence can no longer afford to scream and shout and leap and cheer from the stands? 'Course not!

Edited to add that not only was I female in the late 1970's I still am female, just in case you sarky b*ggers were thinking of making any smartass comments!

I posted something similar to this in the thread about us leaving the bridge, you're spot on, the board don't care about those of us that have been going to the same pubs for years, they want people who will spend money 'in' the ground, thats why it wont matter to them where the ground is, as long as it is near(ish) to Chelsea.

These days the cost is stupid and even when the prices are discounted its still a bloody expensive day out!

It's definitely a big problem I think. I don't go to nearly as many games now as I did in say 2004 and around then but you can tell with liverpool it's a slightly different fanbase, It's affected the atmosphere at anfield, which was once famous, quite a bit. I mean obviously you have to factor in the fact that liverpool are, well, a bit sh*t now, but I used to go to games where we were 3-0 down and the crowd was at it's loudest.

It pisses me off a swell that the biggest teams are generally the ones that charge the most for tickets and want the biggest amount of money from TV rights, just look at Barca and Real as an example for overseas, we'll end up with clubs having a monopoly over the league and what will we have then? I'll tell you what, scottish football, and no one wants that, not even the scots.

It'll be interesting this season in Scotland as Rangers are in Div 3. Will bigger crowds be attracted to SPL ?