Whilst having a pint with my good friend Daniel Madden, a long suffering and devoted fan of Queens Park Rangers, I was shocked to find out that a season ticket at this championship club has rocketed to ₤800 for the top priced ticket, with prices in some areas of the ground increasing by 50%. This increase in season ticket price at Q.P.R follows the usual formula that we are seeing more and more in the Premiership these days; rich foreign owner buys club, promises big things and signs ‘top quality` names to achieve them, makes the fans pay through the tooth to see this new era of success which invariably never comes.
These prices are astronomical when compared with Boro, whose top end season ticket is ₤605, and who have actually reduced season ticket prices by up to a third in some parts of the stadium. Now I want to make it clear that I am being in no way paid off by the marketing men at the box office, but you would have to say Boro fans must be getting one of the best value for money deals in the Premiership. One of the main reasons fans are forced to pay so much more at clubs like Q.P.R and other Premiership clubs is that the owners feel that a rise in prices is justified by the amount of money these people ‘invest` during pre-season in buying players that will bring entertainment and success to the club. Just look at Spurs, who after spending money like a terminally ill lottery winner on players like Darren Bent, never even saw the daylight of the top half of the table and now deem that performance worthy of charging their fans the second highest season ticket price in the league.
This attitude of charging fans extra to see players who are meant to set the league alight but inevitably fail to cut the mustard seems to have become ingrained in most Premiership clubs(and apparently down into the Championship now as well), as season ticket prices are increasing with transfer expenditure across the board. However, Boro seem to be one of the few clubs who have put this philosophy into reverse, by spending less, charging the fans less yet still playing an attractive(if not always successful) brand of football. Don`t get me wrong, money for a season ticket at Boro is by no means cheap but it is better spent at Boro watching class internationals like Tuncay and Downing than at Spurs, prawn sandwich in hand, watching their latest overpriced saviour disappoint week in week out for double the price.
Jack Ruane
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Good stuff from Gibbo this season with the youngsters prices and also for the rest.
despite the hullaballoo – it’s interesting to be able to say that at Chelsea – prices have been frozen for the third year on the trot! We’re not even the dearest in London – step forward Spurs!
Some clubs are trying their hardest to keep fans involved at the club whilst others are just getting greedier and continously putting up prices. Fans will only be able to pay these extorsionate prices for so long before they are priced out of the game.