Tag Archives: Manchester United

Rule change means Rooney to face ban for Cardiff kick

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From 22 November the FA changed the rules with regards to how they can punish a player after a game. Previously, if any of the officials stated in their post match reports that they saw an incident, the FA could not act, even if they had seen the incident incorrectly. The rule change came after numerous incidents where a referee had given a free kick, or booked a player, or in some cases merely waved play on, led to players not receiving the correct punishment.

The change in regulations, which has been led by FA chairman Greg Dyke, see the FA now have the power to punish a player, even when the officials have seen, and potentially dealt, with the incident at the time.

“The new rules will cover violent conduct that occurs secondarily to a challenge for the ball, and off-the-ball incidents where one or more match officials saw the players coming together but their view was such that none could make a decision.”

Whilst Manchester United might have got the benefit during the 90 minutes, it is highly likely that the FA will give Rooney a 3 match ban for violent conduct after his kick.

Rooney Kick

Keenos

 

Arsenal could charge as little as £21.25 to ALL fans

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In a follow up to the last couple of articles about ticket prices, I got to thinking (I know, it’s dangerous).

One of the interesting parts of my article yesterday was that if Arsenal offered all fans – both home and away- tickets for £20, they would have a deficit of arround £60,000,000 in gate receipts over the season. A big number. A number enough for the club to be greedy and boycott the Newcastle offer. What got me thinking though was ‘what would Arsenal have to charge to break even in terms of turnover, taking into account the new TV deal hitting the clubs this year.’

The magic number we are looking for is £100m, which was approximately Arsenal’s most recent published match day income. To try and achieve this, we need to break down (using approximations from when the stadium was 1st built as the club does not release full breakdown’s) the stadium, to ensure we do not include those club level/box seats.

Club Level generates around £18.5m per season
Box Seats generates £13.8m per season
Diamond Level generates £1m

So ‘non ordinary’ seats generates £33.3m a season (I am going to round it down to £33m). That leaves £67,000,000 in revenue to find from both the new TV deal, and the 53,000 ‘ordinary’ seats.

This year the Premier League Champions will likely get £40,000,000 more in TV money then Manchester United got last year. The increased difference between 1st and 20th is around £1.5m per place. Therefore, if Arsenal finish 4th, they will receive around £35.5m more then they did last season. Remember, we are attempting to find £67m. We have already found £35.5m in increased gate receipts. That leaves us with just £31.5m for Arsenal to match their most recent turnover with the TV deal taken into account.

So using similar maths that I used yesterday, that Arsenal will play 28 home games, how much would a ticket cost for Arsenal to match the previous turnover? Well the equation is simple.

£31,500,00 is what we are trying to find. Divide this by the total seats available – 53,000 – we get £595. Based on the 28 expected home games, Arsenal would need to charge every man, woman and child £21.25 per game to match the total turnover. Nearly Twenty’s Plenty hey!

To ensure I have got it right, lets work backwards. £21.25 times the 28 games is £595. Over the 53,000 ordinary seats we get £31.5m (and change).

Ordinary gate receipts + increase in TV money + executive seats = ?
£31.5m + £35.5m + £33.5m = £100.5m

In summary, the new TV deal should be making things cheaper for football fans. With all things taken into account, Arsenal could reduce match day tickets to a standard £21.25 per game throughout the ordinary seats, and still turnover the same amount as they did in 2012.  Sadly, when the new cash from the TV comes in, the leaches will come out and the money will go into the pockets of players, agents, and hangers on.

Writing this has made me feel a little sick. Tickets could be nearly halved and revenue remain the same. But greed will take over. My only hope is my maths is wrong, but I feel it is not. If it is wrong, I will apologise.

The Twenty’s Plenty is something I back. Not just for away fans, but for all fans. And my basic workings out shows that Arsenal’s revenue would remain the same, even with a reduction to £21.25. I imagine across the Premier League, all clubs could charge a similar amount, and revenues remain high.

Greed is killing our game. More fans get priced out every year. We can all dream. My dream is that next summer, with the money from the new TV deal coming in, Arsenal will announce season ticket prices of £550 and single match day tickets across the board of £21.25. A man has to have a dream.

Keenos

Do clubs do enough for disabled fans? – An open letter to the Premier League

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This season, every Premier League club has been instructed to spend £200,000 to better the experience of away fans. Many of the clubs, Arsenal included, are spending part of this on away fans visiting the Emirates Stadium, as well subsidising away tickets for travelling fans. Whilst all of this is positive news, making football a little bit (the subsidy is only £2.50 per game) more affordable and accessible, it seems there is one group of away fans who continue to get a raw deal when travelling away.

We were recently approached by a disabled Arsenal supporter to publish his open letter to the club and the Premier League highlighting the problems for disabled away supporters:

To whom it may concern,

Last week I’ve been to two games and been bitterly disappointed with the seats I’ve received from the club at both fixtures I’m afraid to say. In both instances I felt that I’ve wasted money on travel and ticket purchases as a result. Yes, I have a disability of being partially sighted from a generic condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which effects my night vision, as I can see inside stadiums as they have sufficient light but as soon as I’m outside relying on seeing from the aid of street lights I have a big problem.

The seating allocation I received for the Dortmund game was ridiculous! The nearest Arsenal fan to me was in a wheelchair at the half way line and Arsenal fans were the opposite end to me. Half of the actually match I spent extremely paranoid as one guy was continually staring at us, and it seemed like a few others were as well. I don’t speak German so that made me even more paranoid when we got looked at and then spoke in their native tongue. The guy who was continuously staring at us came up to us at half time and I can honestly say I was petrified, but he was actually friendly when he spoke to us, which was a huge relief.

In my humble opinion though I should have never have been put in this situation. When we scored I felt that I was not able to celebrate, as we were situated with home fans that were extremely pissed off to say the least. All I could do was look at our fans at the other end wishing I was able to celebrate with them. I’m not being funny but if I had watched it at home I would have been able to celebrate our goal with a smile on my face rather than sitting down feeling down!

As for Manchester United game yesterday, I’m afraid it was more of the same. We were stuck in seats with Manchester United supporters surrounding us, but this time our away fans were on top of us. As we arrived early with the arsenal coach we went into the ground to have a drink and something to eat. Unfortunately we felt uncomfortable eating because the only place to eat was with United fans, and surprise surprise they were staring at us!! So we had to leave that area and go to our seats until the game started even though we wanted to watch the game shown on the screens inside.

To make matters worse the United fan next to me through out the match was blatantly trying to wind me up to the point I wanted to hit him. I even heard him say to the guy beside him say “I’m gonna wind him up”, referring to me! Yet again, I feel that I would have been better off watching the game at home.

The bottom line is that I have spent over £200 over the last week to feel down, uncomfortable and paranoid. If I knew this was going to be the case I would not have travelled all those miles to have these emotions that are detrimental to my well-being, as I suffer from depression which I’m on medication, and pay for it!

Part of the reason why I make these trips are to get out the house and be with fellow Gooners win, draw and lose as we are family. I feel we are been segregated which makes it all pointless. As disabled supporters we should at least be told if we are seating with our own supporters so we can make an informed choice!

My eyes sight are deteriorating and I struggle outside to see in crowds in the dark, but what keeps me going is being with Arsenal fans, its one area in my life that makes me happy. If I do not need a platform I should not to be subject to this, as I just need seats. Sorry to repeat myself but I’m bitterly disappointed.

Leon Boreland