The rising cost of watching football

Football prices have risen by a staggering rate as the prawn sandwich eaters look to drive away real football fans.

Football bigwigs need to get off their high horses and start remembering who puts their oysters and whiskey on that marble table.

Because today’s news that football prices have risen by nearly 12% in the last year is ALL their fault.

The study by the BBC that looked at 166 football clubs found that only three out of 92 English league clubs offer a day out for less than £20, with clubs like Arsenal charging as much as £126 for a match ticket.

Those in power at our clubs may as well slam the stadium gates in our faces as we arrive - because that is exactly what they are doing by hiking the prices of tickets and monopolising stomach-turning food and drink.

Gone are the days when fans could go and cheer on their favourite side and return with change from a ten-pound note. The BBC may have only looked at prices of the average pie and a cup of tea, but that isn’t where it ends. Profit-hungry owners have also increased prices on burgers, hot dogs and confectionary.

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis told the BBC: “There are people who want to watch top class football but for whom price is a factor. That is something we have to be continually conscious of."

Well, thanks for your ‘conscious’ concern Ivan, but when will you start putting the fans concerns over your own worries on how much of a pay rise Arsene Wenger will offer you next year? Earlier this month Gazidis scooped a £2million rise. (I kid you not)

It is clear that those that have chosen to buy into the English game are handing over a lot of their own hard-earned cash. But we never asked for them to choose a career as a football VIP, a gleaming job as a lawyer is still out there. Owners must take responsibility; you made your bed, now lie in it.