Yes, we are now at the business end of the football season, which seems apt for the current situation. The times where dreams are made, dreams are broken, success will be enjoyed, celebrated and of course defeats and chances rued. I don't know how the season has gone for you and your footballing families this season as we wind down, towards the summer, whether your flying high and living the dream like the foxes or maybe your hanging on for dear live in your respective division like Aston Villa.
One thing is for sure there is plenty more to play for, plenty of tears to be shed, hopefully tears of joy, but not in all circumstances, but hey, the ups and downs in football is what we crave season in and season out.
One thing, one common denominator I can ensure the majority of you football supporters are experiencing right now, and sadly are likely to continue to run into throughout the remainder of the season; that is sky high match pricing!
But its Sunday, a day most will relax, sit back and think and evaluate the week just part before a new one commences shortly after, for many it will involve football in some manor, be it Super Sunday, or if your braving the winter weather and prices to watch your sides live.
For us here at TwentysPlenty its a great day to evaluate events passed during this war on match ticket pricing and lets be honest the last month we have seen significant progress, and a constant increase in support and unity between football fans. When I say progress I am not talking about the increase in Twitter followers, while we are supported by over 8K followers, we have barely scratched the surface of supporters that are currently disgruntled and ready to voice an opinion, though not in vain we have to mention the huge presence social media has when talking ticket pricing.
Its key for overall success that we keep people talking about, pricing, TwentysPlenty, protests, comparisons between English leagues. We want to portray the message that this wont go away, and we certainly will not accept anymore of the constant increase in extortionate pricing! Lets be fair that's the concern, we are at the period where teams begin to release pricing structures for next year, at the moment we advise you to prepare for the worst, and make sure your sitting down before having a read!
Yes, its clear to me that the problem is in fact getting worse, season on season. This is deeply concerning, although we have seen small changes with one or two clubs, be it reciprocal deals, or public backing, even ticket pricing freezes are more welcome than some I have seen over the past week. Of course it seems only right to mention events yesterday; it came to light that Liverpool fans could pay a premium £77 for a single match ticket next season, that's a hefty sum! to say it politely.
Its clearly excessive, mix this with comments made by the FSG supporters were rightly left livid. We then saw a fantastic show of solidarity yesterday, arranged by supporter group 'Spirit of Shankley' and 'The Spion Kop'. #WalkOutOn77 was created, during yesterday's fixture fans left the ground in the 77th minute to really hit home the general feeling about this pricing, to those on the board, to the media and anyone else. A truly great and successful action, this followed by a heighten attention towards pricing, one that again sparks the fire within football fans.
Following this action I think as a football fan pride is restored, supporters were shown they do have a voice once more, that they could make an impact, and for that alone we applauded the Liverpool supporters. This of cause sparked media attention, coverage on BBC Sport, Sky Sports news, and of course a hugely respected analysis from Alan Shearer, who went on to say, 'football fans should be rewarded for loyalty, with the new television deal should be paying more that £10-£20' We hear you Alan!
On a final note this is not the only action we have seen over the past few weeks, its worth noting the premier league meeting, the majority of time was spent discussing pricing, whilst vote did not see the required 14 teams agree to the cap, we do know some did, a shining light if you like, this for sure is something to bring encouragement, the FSF will continue tirelessly to rage war against ticket pricing, as will we! we ask you to continue your support and we believe progress is just round the corner, so lets not be picking ourselves a German football side just yet!
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, keep here for more to follow over the coming weeks.
#TwentysPlenty
#SupportersNotCustomers
#FansUnite
No comments:
Post a Comment