Virgin Money are claiming that more fans are planning to ditch football due to cost. One has to be very careful about these analyses based on surveys that pose hypothetical questions. There is a difference between what people say and what they do. Football fans are notorious for saying they won’t renew their season ticket or ever go to the ground again unless the manager is sacked, but then turn up as usual for the first game of the season. Nevertheless, the findings are not without interest.
Virgin Money are claiming that more fans are planning to ditch football due to cost. One has to be very careful about these analyses based on surveys that pose hypothetical questions. There is a difference between what people say and what they do. Football fans are notorious for saying they won’t renew their season ticket or ever go to the ground again unless the manager is sacked, but then turn up as usual for the first game of the season. Nevertheless, the findings are not without interest. It is said that one in three football fans plan to reduce attendance at matches and one in five disaffected fans are going to turn to lower league football for a less expensive fix of live football. Of course, again, this will not matter very much if they fail to attend one or two matches – and season ticket holders are counted in attendance figures whether they are there or not. The research suggests (but we shall see) that the top four clubs are most at risk with 33 per cent of fans planning to go to fewer games. The clubs that have the least to worry about include newly-promoted Burnley plus Fulham and Hull but even they face a one in five loss if the survey is to be believed.
What is significant is that the Virgin Money Football Fans’ Inflation Index is up 15.1 per cent year-on-year and by 29.6 per cent compared to when it was luanched in October 2006. Rail fares, ticket prices and pay-per-view costs have all increased significantly compared to last year. Grant Bather, spokesman for Virgin Money, said, ‘Clubs need to come down from planet football and live in the real world.’ It always rings alarm bells for me when people start talking about the ‘real world’. For top clubs at least, prices are relatively inelastic even in a recession: that is to say, they can increase them or at least maintain them and still get devoted fans to pay, Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters’ Federation, commented: ‘It is very worrying that football inflation continues at a level way above standard inflation. And in the middle of all this, fans see huge sums of money being paid in transfer fees and even a club paying a player a million pounds a month, which many regard as obscene. A little bit of prudence – and a little humility – from those at the top of our game, would not come amiss in the current climate.’
What interested me was the value for money table produced by 4-4-2 magazine in their pre-season preview. This calculates the cost in pounds of a home goal based on the average price of an adult season ticket. Spurs fans pay £55 for each goal and across North London Arsenal supporters pay £43.25. Another London club, West Ham, come in third at £32.60. At Liverpool one pays £17.07 per goal and £16.35 at Old Trafford. At West Brom it was £12.68 last season, but that is no consolation when you get relegated.