Here’s an opinion piece by HCST Member James Sandars

 

Problems with modern football: a quick summary

Ticket prices:

Football is constantly becoming more expensive in all aspects, whether it be shirt prices, the price of a pie, and of course, ticket prices. For the 17/18 season, the average price of a season ticket (remember them?) for a top flight team increased to £517.95, with the highest priced season ticket being Arsenal, charging prices of over £1000. Just before entering the stadium for the first home game of the season, vs. Burton, I heard multiple fans sarcastically express their surprise at the match day programme still being £3, whilst these comments may have been sarcastic; it portrays well the feeling around the club regarding lack of concessions, increasing prices, and lack of investments into the club. Ticket prices is another factor added to the many that already exist which account for dwindling attendances, not just at the KCOM but all over England.

Sky sports:

TV deals mean that broadcasters such as Sky TV now have control over fixtures, with the ability to change them to any date and time, without regards to the fans. 5+ hour journeys have been moved to the early afternoon or weeknights perfectly shows the lack of thought that goes into how these changes will affect the travelling fans and fans that are not able to go but would have been able to otherwise . A “Monday night football” back in 2014 meant that Sunderland fans had to make the gruelling journey to Tottenham on a Monday night, also meaning they would have had to have taken 2 days off work in order to watch a crucial fixture. 300 Sunderland fans attended that night. This just shows how the culture of English football is changing to value the TV viewer, more than those going through the turnstiles. In a game where money means power, the fans are being pushed away.

Half and half scarves:

Speak for themselves really.