Coventry City will charge Stoke City supporters an eye-watering £37, plus a £1 booking fee, to be in the away end for their Championship clash next month – and charge juniors more than it would cost for a Stoke season ticket.
Stoke fans have been shocked by prices which have been announced this morning – particularly as there is a £30 cap for away tickets in the Premier League – but the cost has been creeping up. It was £35 for a ticket at Leicester last
weekend and at Bristol City a weekend previously. It has varied so far in the league this season, Huddersfield Town
set the lowest price for Stoke fans at £25 while it was £27 at Millwall, £28 at Ipswich and £31 at Norwich. Stoke charge away fans £25 at the bet365 Stadium.
Fans under-18 are being charged £25 plus a £1 booking fee at Coventry. At Stoke, under-11s can buy a season ticket for £23 in any stand at the bet365 Stadium.
Malcolm Clarke, the Stoke-supporting chairman of the Football Supporters’ Association, hopes that the expected appointment of an independent regulator will help tackle the distribution of money in the game
He said: “The FSA is opposed to these ludicrous prices. It is kind of a spin off from the problem with income in the game and the fact there is a huge gap between the Premier League and the rest. Premier League clubs can afford to keep tickets priced at £30 – or in fact they can afford to keep it lower than that – but Championship clubs are trying to get into the land of milk and honey. This is one of the consequences of the failure of the Premier League to share more money to the EFL.
“The Government has been putting pressure on recently but there still hasn’t been an agreement. When we get the new regulator hopefully we will get a more sensible distribution and we can better look after supporters up and down the football pyramid.
“At least with Stoke fans, the club subsidises coach travel to away matches in the league which takes the sting out a little bit but other clubs do not have that. We call for all Championship clubs to impose some kind of maximum price while we understand the wider problem and hope we have a resolution very soon.”
Stoke fan Steve Pointon had hoped to take his two children to support the team on the road.
He said: “This is simply just not affordable for people with children and on even an average income. Comments are made all the time about ticket prices, but something really needs to be done here. This is nothing short of a disgrace. How is anybody expected to pay this kind of money for a football match? I simply cannot justify to pay £25 each for my nine and six year olds. Until clubs and fans make a stand however, clubs doing this will continue.”
Robin Evans, who has followed Stoke and England around Europe, was dismayed too.
