Tag Archives: She Wore

Study finds Arsenal have “cheapest tickets in Premier League”

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I hate the BBC’s Price of Football.

it does not give a fair reflection of the actual price of football, and is often used by lazy journalists to bash Arsenal for season ticket prices.

My biggest gripe is that it ignores that Arsenal fans get 26 matches for their season ticket cost, whilst every other Premier League club get just 19. That is 35% more games. It is unfair to compare them.

You would not expect Arsenal to have equal season ticket prices to Tottenham, Chelsea or Liverpool when they get 35% more games.

When you break it down per game, Arsenal cheapest season ticket is actually cheaper than those previously 2 mentioned clubs.

What is also ignored is that you can pay just £26 for tickets to Arsenal games.

A Fulham fan recently did a study on ticket prices.

They picked “behind the goal” tickets and looked into the cheapest and most expensive. A seat behind the goal for Category C games at Arsenal is the cheapest ticket in the Premier League.

At £26, Arsenal’s cheapest ticket behind the goal is half the price of one for Chelsea. It is something that the media would not talk about as it would not get the hits, clicks and advertising revenue.

I have always been a fan of the way Arsenal categorise games.

The lesser games are Cat C, providing a cheap opportunity for people to go to games. The big games are Cat A.

It suits those who are happy to go to any game just to watch The Arsenal no matter the opponent. Anyone who pays game by game for every match pays an average prices. The only fans who are “punished” are those who decide only to go to the big games – Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City.

I am always of the opinion that you can not really moan about Cat A prices if you do not want to go to Cat C games. Go to both and the prices average out. Go to just Cat A and it is clear you only have an interest in big games.

Of course, the argument is easily (and rightly) made that Cat A is too expensive.

The research by the Fulham fan shows that Arsenal’s most expensive “behind the goal” ticket is £90 – although this is upper tier. The most expensive lower tier “behind the goal” ticket is £64.

I am all for reducing ticket prices. They are across the board, not only at Arsenal or in the Premier League but down through the leagues.

For example Arsenal’s £26 is just £4 more than it would cost to pay on the gate to stand behind the goal at a Colchester United game in League Two.

My personal opinion has always been that the Cat A ticket prices subsidise Cat C, the League Cup, etc. That without Cat A, you could then not have the cheap Cat C tickets. And if someone only wants to go to Cat A games; that is their problem.

Manchester United do not have category tickets. Prices are the same no matter the opponent – £36. An Arsenal fan, on average, would pay £40 a ticket behind the goal if they went to every Premier League game. A difference of just £4.

So you could (and many do) make the argument that Arsenal should scrap category pricing and just charge a stand price for all games – in this case $30 to sit behind the goal in the lower tier.

Personally I would rather keep our system, have Cat A, B & C and offer the cheapest adult tickets behind the goal in the Premier League.

Keenos

Response to draw highlights expectation gap between Arsenal and Tottenham

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Upon leaving the ground on Saturday, Tottenham fans were celebrating the 1-1 draw with Arsenal as if they had won the game. Meanwhile in the away end, fans left disappointed, frustrated. You would have thought they had just seen their team lose.

With Tottenham fans and the media so often trying to talk about a power shift from the red side of North London to the white corner; the response of the fans shows how far off the mark these claims were.

Arsenal fans were disappointed with a draw
Tottenham fans were ecstatic with a draw

Spurs fans were celebrating not losing a game, ignoring the fact that this year they had failed to beat Arsenal in the league. Had take just 1 point from a possible 6.

Arsenal fans were frustrated about not making it 2 wins from 2, 6 points from 6.

Whilst Tottenham still strive for top 4 finishes, and put a lot of weight on finishing above Arsenal; Arsenal strive to win trophies, to be successful.

Mauricio Pochettino recently said it could take another 10 years to build a title challenging team. Most will expect Unai Emery to build one within 3 years.

And ultimately it is the expectation of both teams, their supporters and the media that shows that their is no power shift.

Tottenham have failed to win a trophy this decade, yet it is deemed a decade of success.
Arsenal have won 3 FA Cups this decade, yet it is deemed a decade of failure.

There will not be a power shift in North London whilst the minimum expectations of both clubs differ so much. There will not be a power shift in North London whilst one side deems a draw a good result and the other deem it a poor result.

Saturday just confirmed what we all know. That Tottenham are in Arsenal’s shadow.

Keenos

Match Report: Tottenham 1 – 1 Arsenal

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Tottenham Hotspur (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 1
Premier League
Wembley Stadium, London HA9 0WS
Saturday, 2nd March 2019. Kick-off time: 12.30pm
(4-2-3-1) Leno; Mustafi, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal; Guendouzi, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Iwobi; Lacazette.
Substitutes: Čech, Özil, Torreira, Aubameyang, Maitland-Niles, Suárez, Kolašinac.
Scorer: Ramsey
Red Card: Torreira
Yellow Cards: Mkhitaryan, Xhaka
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 81,332
When, at the end of the season, we cast a critical eye over the peaks and troughs of this campaign, surely the North London derby of today will be looked at as one of missed opportunity for us. How can this be? Arsenal did everything correctly; the tactics were spot-on, the attitude was first-class and the players did all that was asked of them over the course of the match here at Wembley Stadium.
After just a quarter of an hour, Arsenal capitalised on an appalling Davison Sánchez error, and in a blink of an eye, Alexandre Lacazette dispossessed him and made a crucial pass through the chasm of the Spurs defence for Aaron Ramsey to run onto. He sprinted like a gazelle through the Tottenham Hotspur half, and with the hapless Victor Wanyama in chase, rounded Hugo Lloris to slot the ball home to take a well-deserved lead. We found their Achilles heel; time and time again with the Spurs players stranded in our half after yet another attack that had broken down, smash-and-grab became our forte, and at times our play became breathtaking in its inception, cruel in delivery.
Undoubtedly the moment of the latter stages of the first half was the incredible double stop save from Bernd Leno, who played the match of his life between the sticks today. This save was other worldly; how on earth did he manage to stop the ball from ending up in the net? Two minutes before the break, Harry Kane slotted the ball through to Christian Eriksen who hit the ball on the volley, which the Arsenal goalkeeper saved and the rebound fell to Moussa Sissoko, whose subsequent shot Bernd Leno saved athletically and superbly.
Alexandre Lacazette fluffed his lines badly today, and it was no surprise when Mr. Emery substituted him for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang just eleven minutes after the restart. This had the effect of a defibrillator on the chest of the team. Pow! We sprang back to life. Our midfield were winning balls and dictating the pace and direction of the match again. Alex Iwobi was moving in and out of the Spurs defence at will, and the excellent Henrikh Mkhitaryan was causing the not-so cocky Cockerels endless problems all over the pitch.
Arsenal smelled the rancid odour of a Tottenham defeat in their nostrils, and after Mesut Özil replaced Aaron Ramsey with just under twenty minutes remaining on the clock, Arsenal were running the show.Then it happened. A free-kick from Christian Eriksen whipped in behind the Arsenal defence, and in the ensuing melee, Shkodran Mustafi tumbled into Harry Kane; referee Anthony Taylor gave the penalty, Harry Kane converted it, and the N17 gang got out of jail. The television replay showed the England captain to be in an offside position when the ball came over, but it wasn’t spotted by the officials, sadly. More drama was yet to come when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was brought down in the penalty area by Davison Sánchez; now came our moment to change the direction of the match. Not quite. The subsequent penalty, taken by the victim of the foul, was timid and one that was easily saved by Hugo Lloris. Wait a minute! The ball was thundered in by young Alex Iwobi, and just at the point of contact by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the Spurs centre-half Jan Vertonghen (who was encroaching inside the box when our penalty was taken) saved the day (and the match too) for the lucky Lilywhites. Right at the end of the match, another one of our substitutes, Lucas Torreira (who replaced the fatigued Mattéo Guendouzi just after the break) recklessly challenged Danny Rose (who was fortunate to still be on the pitch after his sixteen-stud challenge into the chest of Bernd Leno earlier), and we unfortunately finished this exhausting match with ten men.
We deserved more out of this match than we got, but hey, we’ll take the point as we move onwards and upwards from here. On another day, we would have thoroughly beaten Spurs with this spirit and Mr. Emery’s tactical brilliance, but that will happen in another time, another place. This match is gone; we meet Rennes on Thursday evening, Manchester United on Sunday afternoon. Keep going boys, let’s aim for the stars. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.