A season ticket offers fans a chance for fans to guarantee a place at every home game at a
discounted price. You’d like to think that displaying loyalty and getting a season ticket would
give you that but at some clubs, it’s a different story.
In this list, these clubs offer season tickets at prices just below the amount it would you cost
you to buy an individual ticket for every single home game. That’s right, if you miss a couple
of games a season then it doesn’t make a season ticket worth it at these clubs.
Greed has led clubs to this point. Owners putting themselves before fans is becoming a
common theme in the modern game and it needs to stop. This article won’t do much in the
grand scheme of things but these clubs and owners need to be called out.
These figures below are the prices of the cheapest adult season tickets on sale at the
respective clubs.
5. Middlesbrough – £510
The working-class town of Middlesbrough known for it’s iron and steel production and it’s
shipbuilding. Grafters who go to the Riverside as an escapism and for the love of where
they’re from. These fans don’t deserve to be charged £510 for Championship football.
It’s not as if the value for money is great either. Boro have reached the play-offs only twice
since their return from the Premier League in 2017. For £22 per home game, you can watch
mid-table football (again).
The Riverside is a fortress when it’s packed and bouncing. It could be the catalyst in a
promotion to the big time. On average, there’s just over 9,000 empty seats at every home
match. Just fill them.
4. Ipswich Town – £510
I must admit that Ipswich charging £510 for their cheapest adult season ticket does make a
little more sense. They’re fresh from a season in the Premier League and look set to make a
serious push for a return. There’s going to be premium football on show next season from
one of the promotion favourites.
They’re likely to sell out at every home game. The good times at Ipswich Town are back,
despite last seasons relegation. They gave it a good go last season in a league where the
odds are so heavily stacked against any promoted side. So the feel good factor is still there.
The atmosphere is a positive one at Portman Road.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s a lot of money but the owners are maximising revenue by charging
at least £510 per season ticket. Supporters won’t mind this if they see the money being used
wisely and will have full trust in their ownership after their recent rapid rise from League One.
3. Coventry City – £540
Another club on an upwards trajectory although some would argue they’ve recently stalled
and plateaued. However, it’s hard to synthesise as much with this one.
Coventry fans can trust their current Doug King to do the right thing with their money after
having got a number of key decisions right in recent times. But it’s important to note that the
Sky Blues fans have had it tough in recent times.
They haven’t returned to the top-flight since 2001 and were relegated to League Two in 2017
which is a disaster for a club of Coventry’s side. Yet fans still turned up and are continuing to
do so. Therefore, is it fair to reward the loyalty of these fans with extortionate season ticket prices? No. Doug King do better. There’s no harm in increase fan morale and it’s important
for new(ish) owners to do so.
2. Norwich City – £568
Expensive season tickets seem to be a common theme in this part of the country. The
cheapest adult season ticket at Norwich City would set you back £568. For context, this
works out at £24.70 per home game. For example, you could buy a pre-matchday individual
ticket before every home game to watch League One Bradford City and it would cost you
£460 over the course of the season.
That’s a key comparison to portray the different strategies from football clubs in England. I
understand that Norwich City are a club pushing at the top end of the Championship but it’s
still far too much. Should more of a fuss be made against this? Yes.
At least give the supporters something a bit more to cheer for than a mere 13th place finish.
1. Sheffield Wednesday – £575
Dejphon Chansiri continues to make an unwanted name for himself. However, he’s pushed it
far enough now to give me an idea that he enjoys ruffling the feathers of his own fans. He
doesn’t like them. They don’t like him.
That’s no excuse to charge £575 as your cheapest adult season ticket, though and it’s an
obvious last-ditch attempt to steer Wednesday away from their well-documented financial
struggles. The fans aren’t buying it and rightly so.
Most Wednesdayites are currently protesting by not giving another penny to Chansiri. They
want him gone. So, the uptake on season tickets will be low and I’d love to know the figure
just to laugh at the failed businessman.
He will eventually go, and, with luck, he doesn’t cause further damage to the football club
before his time comes.
Sheffield Wednesday’s players, staff and fans deserve to be treated a lot better.
