A Sport matters... exclusive investigates just how much football fans across the country will pay for their season ticket for the forthcoming 2011/12 campaign.
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| Fixture release day is always an exciting one for football fans. |
Friday 17 June 2011. A day that may seem like any other to most ordinary people, but one which football fans will have had scribbled into their diaries for weeks. It's fixture release day and supporters nationwide will rush to their computers to log onto their club website to see whether or not they are faced with the prospect of a Tuesday night trek to Fratton Park or the delights of Dagenham & Redbridge in bleak mid-winter.
The concept may seem hard to understand for most people, but for football fans this is their life planned for the next 12 months. The club they support is their only religion and the fixtures are their diary for the year.
Wedding anniversaries, birthdays, romantic weekend breaks with the Mrs (well, unless its football related), all come a distant second behind the main love of our lives, which is the club we support. The spine-tingling prospect of a home game against Crewe Alexandra or an away trip to down town Bramall Lane to watch Sheffield United lose again regularly takes precedence over any of the aforementioned events.
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| Sheffield United's supporters have endured a miserable few years (Photo: Daily Mail). |
Despite the wildly optimistic expectation levels that most fans have ahead of a brand new season, only a few teams realise their dream and achieve promotion each year.
For the rest of us, the hopes and dreams and fantasies of promotion campaigns that we can recall to our grandchildren in later life, usually disappear around the time that the warm Autumn air turns to a chilling winter cold. Rochdale fans are probably the best to testify how frustrating football can be, having spent over 30 years in the Football League's basement division until their promotion in 2010.
However, before we even start to have nightmares about that big fat lump of a striker missing a sitter from two yards out and costing you three points every week, we all go through the rigmarole of purchasing a new season ticket and indirectly signing our lives away for the next 12 months.
On the day of the fixture release, Sport matters... carried out some research in order to find the cheapest priced season ticket at every Premier, and Football League club.
*PRICES GIVEN ARE THE CHEAPEST ADULT SEAT (EXCLUDING FAMILY AREAS), AVAILABLE ON 17 JUNE 2011. PRICES ARE BASED ON NEW PURCHASES AS OPPOSED TO RENEWALS.
SOURCE: INDIVIDUAL CLUB'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE.
- Arsenal (£951)
- Chelsea (£750)
- Liverpool (£725)
- Tottenham Hotspur (£690)
- Leeds United (£612)
- Newcastle United (£558)
- Queens Park Rangers (£549)
- Southampton (£540)
- Manchester United (£532)
- Everton (£528)
- Wolverhampton Wanderers (£522)
- West Ham United (£515)
- Portsmouth (£499)
- Ipswich Town (£493)
- Norwich City (£469.50)
- Manchester City (£445)
- Sunderland (£445)
- Crystal Palace (£440)
- West Bromwich Albion (£439)
- Burnley (£428)
- Doncaster Rovers (£420)
- Swansea City (£408)
- Huddersfield Town (£403)
- Middlesbrough (£400)
- Millwall (£400)
- Stoke City (£399)
- Nottingham Forest (£397)
- Brighton & Hove Albion (£395)
- Reading (£395)
- Watford (£395)
- Hull City (£390)
- Southend United (£390)
- Blackpool (£384)
- Fulham (£379)
- Leicester City (£379)
- Birmingham City (£378)
- Oldham Athletic (£375)
- Sheffield United (£369)
- AFC Bournemouth (£361)
- Aston Villa (£360)
- Chesterfield (£360)
- Colchester United (£357)
- Derby County (£350)
- Cardiff City (£345)
- Aldershot Town (£340)
- Brentford (£340)
- Torquay United (£340)
- Milton Keynes Dons (£336)
- Bury (£335)
- Sheffield Wednesday (£334)
- Tranmere Rovers (£333)
- Barnsley (£330)
- Carlisle United (£325)
- Notts County (£325)
- Peterborough United (£325)
- Rotherham United (£325)
- Stevenage (£325)
- Exeter City (£320)
- Dagenham & Redbridge (£315)
- Hartlepool United (£315)
- Gillingham (£312)
- Barnet (£304)
- Cheltenham Town (£300)
- Leyton Orient (£300)
- Wycombe Wanderers (£300)
- Coventry City (£299)
- Port Vale (£299)
- Bristol City (£295)
- Preston North End (£295)
- Shrewsbury Town (£295)
- Yeovil Town (£288)
- Accrington Stanley (£285)
- Bolton Wanderers (£285)
- Crawley Town (£285)
- Crewe Alexandra (£285)
- Walsall (£280)
- Rochdale (£277.50)
- Scunthorpe United (£276)
- Bristol Rovers (£275)
- Macclesfield Town (£275)
- Oxford United (£273)
- Wigan Athletic (£270)
- Swindon Town (£269)
- Morecambe (£266)
- Charlton Athletic (£265)
- Hereford United (£260)
- Burton Albion (£255)
- Northampton Town (£250)
- AFC Wimbledon (£240)
- Blackburn Rovers (£225)
- Bradford City (£150)
- Plymouth Argyle (TBA)
In the Premier League, Arsenal came out on top (well, at least the Gunners have finally won something...) by charging a whopping £951 for the cheapest seat at the Emirates Stadium. Chief-executive Ivan Gazidis has been forced to admit that fans are being priced out of the game, owing to the criticism that the 2004 Premier League winners have received over their pricing structure.
The Gunners are not alone though in charging high prices. Chelsea (£750) and Tottenham Hotspur (£690) find themselves amongst the top five most expensive clubs in the country next season. However, fellow London rivals Fulham were found to be the 34th most expensive club, charging a more affordable £379.
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| Arsenal's Emirates Stadium - prices begin from £950. (PHOTO:Arsenal.com) |
At the other end of the scale, Lancashire proved to be a hotbed of cheap deals. Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletics fans could buy their season tickets for under £300, though Blackburn Rovers swooped the award for being the cheapest Premier League club, charging as little as £225 for a seat at Ewood Park.
Leeds United are the most expensive club in the Championship; a seat in their famous Kop will set you back a tidy £612, whilst Southampton (£540) and West Ham United (£515) were the only others in the division who are charging more than £500.
Doncaster Rovers fans wanting to witness all 23 games at the Keepmoat Stadium next season will have to pay a minimum of £420 to see their heroes in action. Rovers are 21st on the overall list and the highest placed team never to have tasted Premier League football. Judging by sales (c3,500 so far), a re-naming of the stadium to the "Keep-em-out Stadium" may be more appropriate.
In League One, Huddersfield Town's whopping £403 season tickets in the Britannia Rescue stand proved to be the most expensive. The Terriers missed out on promotion in the play-off's last season and judging by the prices, it looks as if they are asking their fans to finance another promotion bid.
Charlton Athletic's £265 ticket proved to be the cheapest in League One and represents exceptional value. Chris Powell's men are one of the promotion favourites and the club have already sold more than 9,000 season tickets so far with still well over a month to go before their opening day clash against AFC Bournemouth.
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| Charlton Athletic's North Stand - season tickets here cost just £265. |
In League Two, Southend United fans will have to fork out an eye-popping £390 for their season tickets; the Essex club obviously forgetting they were relegated from the Championship four years ago. The next dearest clubs in the division are Torquay United and Aldershot Town, both of whom are charging £340 for a place on the terraces at Plainmoor and The EBB Stadium respectively.
The cheapest club in the entire Football League is Bradford City, who have set adult prices at just £150 for a seat in the TL Dallas stand and at £195 for a seat anywhere else in the stadium.
Only Hartlepool United could potentially offer better value than the Bantams next season. The Pools have revealed a ground-breaking offer whereby if 4,000 supporters purchase season tickets before mid-July, they can watch their team for just £100.
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| Hartlepool season tickets could cost as little as £100 next season. |
