The future of football supporting

An incredible two-thirds of football fans questioned in a survey believe that following the sport is a complete waste of money and are considering switching to rugby instead. Eight out of 10 fans feel players' wages are "offensive", while 67% are bored of the 'big four' clubs dominating the Premier League. (Daily Star)


This is why imho something needs to be done to try and even things up otherwise many many supporters will stop going, the big will be even further ahead and many clubs could eventually go out of business. and if this sort of thing starts happening no doubt the tv revenue will start to decrease too.

It needs to be addressed by the other 16 EPL and the Championship clubs.

2/3 contemplating to switch to rugby? what kind of people were polled, armchair fans? daily mails highbrow-readers?

Don't believe 2/3 of season ticketholders consider switching to rugby (unless you confirm it). Maybe Wigan's fans.

Are attendences going down?

De Guzman wrote:2/3 contemplating to switch to rugby? what kind of people were polled, armchair fans? daily mails highbrow-readers?

Daily Star readers apparently. Knuckledraggers.

not living there now obviously, BUT speaking to a few mates back home who follow EPL clubs outside the top 4 there is a lot of disillusionment about the competitiveness issues, i don't believe the two thirds either and especially not to eggby BUT there are issues that need to be addressed or things may well get a lot worse.

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:not living there now obviously, BUT speaking to a few mates back home who follow EPL clubs outside the top 4 there is a lot of disillusionment about the competitiveness issues, i don't believe the two thirds either and especially not to eggby BUT there are issues that need to be addressed or things may well get a lot worse.

I fully agree with that.

On the top 4. they seem to be pretty fixed at the moment. But there are a few clubs closing in. Problem might be some clubs will never be able to close in, because the ridiculous amounts of money needed.

Tikcet prices are a disgrace though (& let to fans leaving & new 'fans' taking their place; fans is between brackets because I doubt some of them). But lots of things are very expensive in the UK. Living space in London isn't affordable either.

Glad I live in Holand so I can afford to take my boys to footy, without getting bankcrupt.

Imo the most serious issue in footy is that all the money coming in is hardly used for improving footy. Your league is the richest in the world still your grassroots footy is suffering, poor accomodations, poor trainers, etc.

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:while 67% are bored of the 'big four' clubs dominating the Premier League.

HA! And i was called a whinging c**t for saying the exact same thing.

Kimbo wrote:

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:while 67% are bored of the 'big four' clubs dominating the Premier League.

HA! And i was called a whinging c**t for saying the exact same thing.

No, I think you were called a whinging c**nt because you're a whinging c**nt

What do you think of the Hatton V Mayweather rematch? Surely a load of bollocks...

Senor Woody wrote:
What do you think of the Hatton V Mayweather rematch? Surely a load of bollocks...

I called it a couple of weeks ago in the boxing thread 0trick. I'm a genius.

http://europeanboard.ephpbb.com/off-topic-discussion-f8/the-boxing-thread-t12650-700.htm?highlight=boxing

Kimbo wrote:i wouldn't be surprised if his next fight was against Hatton at Wembley, afterall that would be the biggest money match out there for him.

It's a fight that no one wants to see as Mayweather will most likely win again. But i wouldn't really mind as i don't think Hatton did himself justice last time, he lost his cool when the ref deducted that point(for f@ck all) and started diving in. And by the way the same ref will be in charge for Calzaghe/Hopkins. Shocking decision.

Kimbo wrote:

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:while 67% are bored of the 'big four' clubs dominating the Premier League.

HA! And i was called a whinging c**t for saying the exact same thing.

They probably only asked three people.

They have to reduce ticket prices, and maybe introduce a price limit meaning that Man u*d have to charge the same amount as Fulham etc. In EPL every game should be £20 max, not only is it ridiculous paying £45-50 for a ticket but it also helps maintains the top 4s dominance as they make more money.

Goater, if people boycotted going to football matches, until they reduced the price, that would surely work.

They have to stop footballers being so greedy in order to get ticket prices down. You can't put tickets down from £35 to £20 and still keep players on £60,000 a week +.

I personally don't think adult tickets should go above £25 and students/kids above £15.

The thing is, I will still end up paying whatever price, and the clubs know that. A lot of us Premiership teams get good attendances with the prices we have now. Teams like Wigan/Bolton/Blackburn put their prices down and still get $h!t crowds.

Crowds in England are not affected by ticket prices, I don't think there is any sort of connection between the two. I said the other week when I went to Fulham away. Last season we were charged £30 a ticket and sold out our 5,000 allocation. This season we were charged £45 a ticket and sold out our 5,000 allocation. So why will clubs put the ticket prices down?

English fans in general are quite loyal, and will pay whatever to see their team most of time (if they can afford it).

the other issue with this is that kids are being brought up as armchair fans cos rpices re so high dads are struggling to afford to take them, the average age of fan has increased hugely over the last 10 years (remember seeing a report some time back on it) so where will the next generation of attendees come from?

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:the other issue with this is that kids are being brought up as armchair fans cos rpices re so high dads are struggling to afford to take them, the average age of fan has increased hugely over the last 10 years (remember seeing a report some time back on it) so where will the next generation of attendees come from?

Point of the month !

Sgoater1 wrote:They have to reduce ticket prices, and maybe introduce a price limit meaning that Man u*d have to charge the same amount as Fulham etc. In EPL every game should be £20 max, not only is it ridiculous paying £45-50 for a ticket but it also helps maintains the top 4s dominance as they make more money.

Football in the UK is a rip off in most cases,and fans are being fleeced for as much as they will stand.Some clubs are keeping the price of their season tickets reasonable,but with the current economic problems in the UK,more are going to have to, or suffer falling attendances.
Years ago,I could watch Club Brugge in the Champions league for less than it cost to watch Sheffield United in the CCC,and here in Bulgaria,it cost me the equivalent of £2 for my season ticket for my local team,including all cup games.OK,the standard is pretty poor,but even CSKA were only charging 20 Euro top price for their UEFA games,and went to as little as 5 euro.

remember watching a programme a good few years ago about 4 mates from the kent area i think travelling to watch a northern french side, even allowing for all the travelling costs cos the season tik was so cheap compared to the uk it was still cheaper than watching footy in england, absolute madness

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:remember watching a programme a good few years ago about 4 mates from the kent area i think travelling to watch a northern french side, even allowing for all the travelling costs cos the season tik was so cheap compared to the uk it was still cheaper than watching footy in england, absolute madness

I saw that too, that was brilliant !

Apparently there's a whole load of Brits who've adopted a French team

There are LOADS of british people in our stadium as well. And if you think about it, it makes sense. Its only once every 2 weeks, and its still cheaper!

briz wrote:

Sgoater1 wrote:They have to reduce ticket prices, and maybe introduce a price limit meaning that Man u*d have to charge the same amount as Fulham etc. In EPL every game should be £20 max, not only is it ridiculous paying £45-50 for a ticket but it also helps maintains the top 4s dominance as they make more money.

Football in the UK is a rip off in most cases,and fans are being fleeced for as much as they will stand.Some clubs are keeping the price of their season tickets reasonable,but with the current economic problems in the UK,more are going to have to, or suffer falling attendances.
Years ago,I could watch Club Brugge in the Champions league for less than it cost to watch Sheffield United in the CCC,and here in Bulgaria,it cost me the equivalent of £2 for my season ticket for my local team,including all cup games.OK,the standard is pretty poor,but even CSKA were only charging 20 Euro top price for their UEFA games,and went to as little as 5 euro.

Forgot to add that during last Autumns local elections here,one of the owners/directors of our local team were standing for election, and he organised a team shirt giveaway for a home game,with the party name on the back instead of a players name,so £2 season ticket and a free team shirt so far.

No reason ticket prices can't be reduced. A fair few of Ghana's team play in England anyway. It is more affordable to see Essien play at Craven Cottage for his country than for Chelsea. Could have seen them for as little as a tenner and had space to watch it lying down if you wanted. Okay I know it isn't the same as seeing your club, but even so £10 to see established Premiership stars and the ground wa more than half empty. It suggests that perhaps people don't want to go to grounds any more. And the opposition was pretty decent too. It was the best chance to see some players of high quality that you won't get every day and it still had a poor attendance.

England can learn something from Germany in this area. in Germany have much larger say in prices and other things. is anything being done to stop this trend of rising prices?

Everything in England is more expensive than everywhere else. Not just the football.

We pay the most for clothes, food, alcohol, cigarettes and petrol than anywhere else in the western world.

Yet still they pour in from all over the globe to live here. It's very strange

EMP wrote:No reason ticket prices can't be reduced. A fair few of Ghana's team play in England anyway. It is more affordable to see Essien play at Craven Cottage for his country than for Chelsea. Could have seen them for as little as a tenner and had space to watch it lying down if you wanted. Okay I know it isn't the same as seeing your club, but even so £10 to see established Premiership stars and the ground wa more than half empty. It suggests that perhaps people don't want to go to grounds any more. And the opposition was pretty decent too. It was the best chance to see some players of high quality that you won't get every day and it still had a poor attendance.

Yes but how many people knew about this game. I only knew about the game because it was a craven cottage. I was surprised there so few Ghanaians (compared to mexicans) if they had advertised it better they may have had a greater attendance. On the other hand some people are more likely to go to a game anyway. I was at the Greece vs South Korea game last year and despite london having a much larger Greek population (300,00 I was told by a friend) the Korean stands were mostly sold out whilst the Greek had plenty of seats available.

Senor Woody wrote:Everything in England is more expensive than everywhere else. Not just the football.

We pay the most for clothes, food, alcohol, cigarettes and petrol than anywhere else in the western world.

Yet still they pour in from all over the globe to live here. It's very strange

Yes but we are paid more. The rate of increased earnings has gone up by about 4% as opposed to 2-3% inflation rises. We have the money to pay for stuff so we are charged this.

Also whilst the pound is weakening against the Euro lately it is still strong against the dollar and most of the worlds economies are linked to the dollar. This means a pound has a lot more purchasing power in other countries. Coming here and sending money home makes sense.

The UK doesn't have inflation of 2-3% though, more like 4-5% (if calculated on the actual cost of things rather than some vastly complicated international currency comparison).

It is calculated on the cost of things. That's what inflation is. They take a basket of goods (and services) and check the change of prices.

Services have risen at about 4-5% though.

khadrim wrote:It is calculated on the cost of things. That's what inflation is. They take a basket of goods (and services) and check the change of prices.

Services have risen at about 4-5% though.

This is no longer the case in Britain. Inflation used to be calculated on the Retail Prices Index (the basket of shopping calculation you referred to). But at the end of 2003, the government started using the Consumer Price Index, which is broader, based on assumptions about the activities the average consumer is likely to participate in, and allows for easier international comparison between inflation rates. This was for two reasons - the ongoing preparation for the use of an international currency in Britain, and because the CPI tends to produce lower figures (closer to the government's self-imposed targets) than the RPI. Plenty of commentators at the time ascribed different reasons to the decision, but I'm convinced these two were the main players.

In my job I have access to the raw data in terms of how much things cost and when they increase and decrease. And I know full well it has f@ck all to do with demand and supply. We don't live in a pure capitalist economy (if we did, it would be better than this mess), but a capitalist economy whose purpose it is to uphold the aristocracy (a superfluous class in capitalism since they hoard wealth and property rather than use it dynamically). It is against this backdrop that I believe we should interpret the current financial and cultural state of British football.

Hmm just downloaded the two from the ONC and whilst they are different not by what you say.

CPI

2003 1.4
2004 1.3
2005 2.1
2006 2.3
2007 2.3

RPI

2003 2.9
2004 3
2005 2.8
2006 3.2
2007 4.3

The latter fits the global position of escalating oil and food prices.

khadrim wrote:It is calculated on the cost of things. That's what inflation is. They take a basket of goods (and services) and check the change of prices.

Services have risen at about 4-5% though.

They take a basket of goods and services that the Government wants to add up to around 2%,the rest of the things that make inflation up to about the 8% that it is now are not in the basket.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/martin_samuel/article3634764.ece
This is Martin Samuels view of the rip off.

Sad that with the new money brought in by the new international tv deals the premier league decided to waste more money on mediocrity(league quality didn't increase just the cost of mediocre players) rather than come to a consensus to use that money to uniformly lower prices through out the league.