Tag Archives: Premier League

Don’t Let Club’s Get Away With Tesco Tactics

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This week a BBC study revealed that football ticket prices among 164 clubs in the top 10 divisions have fallen by 2.4% over the past year. The sports minister Hugh Robertson welcomed the study as ‘good news’.

So is this finding something to celebrate? No, let’s get real – even a price reduction of 20% would be nowhere near satisfactory bringing back football as a game affordable for everyone and offering value for money. Malcolm X once said “If you get stabbed with a nine inch knife, and you pull that knife out by six inches, you should be wary of celebrating your progress.”

A 2.4% reduction in football ticket doesn’t even pull the knife out by an inch.

I’m an Arsenal supporter who stopped going after twenty years of being regular, because prices rose to a point that I couldn’t justify paying. It’s not just home games where fans of a club like Arsenal are hit hard. For every away game they’ll be charged grade A prices and expected to fork out somewhere in the region of £50; normally for games against teams who are categorised grade B or C when they travel to Arsenal. For away fans like these there has certainly been no 2.4% decrease in price, quite the opposite. But even if there was, big deal – you wouldn’t even be able to buy a pie in the stadium with the ‘saving’.

It’s vital to have a sense of history when discussing the issue of ticket pricing, in order to be aware of just how hard fans have been hit in the past twenty years. I’m not picking on Arsenal here because most clubs are guilty, but as they’re my team I’m 100% familiar with the rise in pricing so will use us as an example. In 1986 a seat in the East Stand Lower at Highbury for any game was £4.50 along with the option of standing in the terraces for around £3. In the space of just twenty years, that same seat went up to £39, which was way above the average growth in wages during that time, which did not even triple. In 1995 you could still get in to any game at Highbury for £10. From £3 to stand at any game in 1986, to £63 for the cheapest ticket at a grade A game is a breathtaking change and one that comes with massive consequences to maintaining a traditional fan base and atmosphere.

Reduction in football ticket pricing will typically be in line with the supermarket tactic of perceived cost reduction. In other words, hike up prices – then put them back down by a fraction and pretend the customer is making a saving. A perceived or flimsy price reduction is something we should be very wary of, and the FSF’s ‘Twenty is Plenty’ campaign should be used as a benchmark for fairness in ticket pricing. Twenty is most certainly plenty, especially when you consider the millions that Premier League clubs generate from television, advertising and merchandise. The team in the Premier League who finishes bottom will still be £60 million better off than they would have been a year earlier in the same position. Spin and false perception are simply not satisfactory and fans need to demand significant pricing reductions in order to see a return to the ‘People’s Game’.

Fan power is a weapon that is underestimated. This summer I attended a meeting with four other football fans in the offices of the Premier League, where we discussed ticket pricing with Richard Scudamore. Outside the building 300 angry fans from clubs all over the country were protesting and making their voices heard inside the building. From what I could see, the officials inside were a bit shaken up by what was going on outside in the street. They do not want any bad publicity to harm their corporate friendly product. Can you imagine if the percentage of protesting fans outside rose by the same figure as ticket pricing has in the last 20 years? If that were the case then the thousands of fans would really give the chaps in the Premier League offices something to worry about.

Matthew Bazell

Matthew Bazell is the author of Theatre of Silence: The Lost Soul of Football

TOS

Mesut Ozil brings end to Cesc Fabregas ‘homecoming’

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Ever since Cesc Fabregas left Arsenal to go home to Barcelona, there has been talk of his return to the Emirates.

This has been fueled by his wife and daughter still living in London and his inability to establish himself in the Barcelona first team. Reports are that his dream move back to his childhood club has not been the dream he expected, with fans continually getting on his back. It was supposed to be the prodigal son returning. But it ended up just reminding the world of why he left to begin with – Xavi and Iniesta blocking his progress.

With Barcelona currently in the middle of a financial crisis, up to their eyeballs in debt, they struggle to finance future transfers. This year saw them sign one player, Neymar. He was financed by the sales of David Villa and Thiago Alcantara. This lead to a net transfer deficit of €26 Million. It also does not take into account how much of the Neymar transfer was paid by Nike. The mathematics are simple, Barcelona need to sell to buy. And with Cesc Fabregas, he is certainly 1 player who is surplus to requirements, alongside Alexis Sanchez.

Reports this summer indicated that Fabregas was on the market and Barcelona were willing to listen to offers for him. This lead to Manchester Uniteds £40 million pursuit of the Catalonian midfielder. It was Cesc’s reluctance to join Manchester United rather than Barcelona’s reluctance to sell which lead to a deal not happening.. Cesc Fabregas is most definitely on the market.

So why has he not yet joined Arsenal? I hear you all ask. Well the response is simple, the signing of Mesut Ozil.

The signing of the German puts a halt on any possibility of Cesc Fabregas returning to the club. Cesc’s favourite position is in the number 10 role, where Ozil will play. Alongside Cazorla, Rosicky and Oxlade-Chamberlain, we are now well stocked in the number 10 position. To now buy Cesc would be unthinkable.

Mesut Ozil is 18 months younger than Cesc Fabregas. Despite him seemingly being around for years – he first came to prominence when named man of the match in a 4–0 win over England during the 2008 U-21 European Championship final, before staring for Germany at the 2010 World Cup at just 20 – he is still just 24. Cesc is an old man at 26!

Even Fabregas himself admits that Ozil will shine in the Premier League, stating in Al Primer Toque;

“His style is nailed on for Arsenal. It’s a league with a lot more spaces and he is a player that, with [such] spaces, can kill you. We have seen it with Real Madrid. He has a brilliant final ball and in the Premier he will enjoy it a lot.”

So with the signing of Mesut Ozil, there is no longer space for Cesc Fabregas.

There is a possibility that he could play deeper. But with Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere both capable of playing there, can a £26million investment in Cesc Fabregas be justified? Probably not. Especially when we have other area’s of the team that still needs to be improved on.

It leaves Cesc in a little bit of limbo. Arsenal no longer need him. Barcelona will listen to offers for him. So where will he end up? Or do we care?

I don’t, because we’ve got Mesut Ozil.

Keenos

Are foreign fans clueless?

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Over the years, foreign fans throughout the Premier League have got a raw deal. They have been accused of not being real fans. Not understanding the passion for the game. Not having the same loyalty as English based fans. They have been derided and often, when it comes to a debate via a message board, the common response is ‘Your opinion means nothing as you are not from England.’

Whilst in the past, these points could have been valid, is it still the case that foreign fans of Premier League clubs can still be labeled as clueless, not having loyalty, not being bandwagon jumpers and lacking passion?

When you look at The Arsenal tour of Asia this summer, the atmosphere within the stadiums was incredible. Louder than the Emirates during most of the games. And non-stop. Yes, some argued that those same fans would turn up in their Manchester City shirts if it was Manchester City playing, or their Chelsea shirts if Chelsea were playing, but surely these fans would be in the minority. Surely now, with the globalisation of football, a foreign fan should be considered as an equal to their English counterpart?

These days, a lot of foreign fans have not just jumped on the bandwagon of the Premier League. There are genuine fans out there that have supported us since pre-teens, just like many fans in England would have started their proper support of the club around the age of 10. Is a 22 year old Arsenal fans who has supported Arsenal since 10 any different to an English Arsenal fan that has supported since 10?

Yes, they might not get the passion of the stadium, of the match going fan, but having been in a few bars throughout the world where Arsenal have been playing, they are as passionate as the stadium. To label them as anything as passionless is disgraceful. Would you label the Twelve Pins or The George or the Gunners as passionless on a game day?

I follow two people who highlight the passion of fans not in England. The first is @LordHillWood, a ex-pat living in Poland. The stories he tells of the Polish Arsenal fans shows anything but a lack of passion. The way they get to the pub early to ‘decorate’ it. The chucking out of Spurs fans. It shows real passion. Not just from the ex-pats but also from the Polish born fans. The second is @SSGooner, a Malaysian fan. Again, there is no lack of passion. from him when it comes to game day, with each match brilliantly planned.

I also speak to  few Australian fans. They always seem to be awake when Arsenal are playing. Always watching them game. Even if it is 3am in the morning. How about that for commitment? When you see some English-based fans barely even being able to get out of bed for a 12.45 ko, or ducking out on a European game due to a hard day at work or its a little cold, these foreign fans seem to be able to wake up and watch the games, no matter the consequence of sleep deprivation for the next day.

Then we come to the knowledge of the fans. This is somewhere where the foreign fans and English fan are more then equal. In fact, some would argue tha many foreign fans are more knowledgable, as they actually study the game, whilst the Englishman turns up, watch’s the game drunk, then continues to drink.

Two little stories. One is of a friend who went to Ethiopia on a business trip recently. Upon his cab driver discovering he was an Arsenal fan, he was then lectured for half an hour, by the Ethiopian cabbie, on what Arsene Wenger was doing wrong, how he should be sacked, and questioning why we had not signed anyone. From the sounds of it, he was spot on. Had it been a black cab driver in London, nothing would have been mentioned. It was a clear that there was not a knowledge gap.

The second little story is of a friend at the game. Behind him was two American’s discussing the game. Whilst they did use frustrating American terminology, their knowledge was impeccable. Even as far as talking about how Sagna was only playing at centre back in an emergency, that the young lad at right back was Arsenal through and through, and whilst good going forward, was often found out in defence.

They then went on a 10 minute discussion about the bench. Gnarby. Zelalem. Akpom. Had the been talking in cockney accents, it would have been normal. But in their American accents, it just showed to my friend how football was a truly global game.

With Facebook bringing fans together from around the world to discuss games. Twitter providing instant information. All 38 league games being available online. British newspaper’s being available online throughout the world. Add in podcasts and blogs -this blog gets a lot of readers from Scandanvia, there is plenty of information available throughout the world to educate the foreign fans, to whet there appetite.

Are we now in a time when foreign fans can no longer be labelled clueless, but are in fact the footballing intellectual equals of those from England?

Keenos