Harry Leek on why the club should give back to dedicated fans
So here we are, 4 weeks in and already another international break, everyone`s favourite part of the season I`m sure. As there`s been no competitive club football in the Championship or Premier League, I`ve decided to discuss the farce that is football prices.
As a season ticket holder since I was a little boy, I`ve paid a fair share into the club, I fully appreciate the club want to try and fill the ground as much as they can, but nothing irks me more than seeing these offers coming up for non season ticket holders and fair weather fans.
WHAT PRICE LOYALTY? When you hear Middleborough looking after their season ticket holders with gestures such as, vouchers for a free pint before every game. Now granted we haven`t got the money Boro have got but I would like to see the club give something back for what we put in. Food and drink prices seem to be inflating every season, could season ticket holders not get some sort of discount as loyal fans? We want to support our team, but it`s not a bottomless pit.
We bump into people on the coaches who go to every away game, the majority of which are season ticket holders. Surely they deserve something back in return for their loyalty? There used to be a card scheme where you`d get stickers for each away game and when you have filled a card you become entitled to free travel to an away game of your choice, where has that gone? Its been scrapped.
Liverpool in the FA Cup at the beginning of the year: the clubs announce that there`s free travel for the game, which is great, we took about 6,000 and the players fed off the wonderful atmosphere that our fans created. Again, like I said that`s great, but why not do that more often?
Now listen, I really don`t want to sound like a moaner here, I love my club and whatever they charge I`ll still go and watch them, but again, WHAT PRICE LOYALTY? Give us something back! Give us a drinks voucher, give us a free programme, give us a bloody pie. Give us anything back. We sit by people who often come straight from work and their lunch is what they eat at the ground, and they`re paying through the nose for it, as well as paying hundreds of pounds for a season ticket. When you consider you can get a season ticket to watch Bayern Munich for £104, the same with Borussia Dortmund & Borussia Monchengladbach, which I believe are even cheaper, it just makes you wonder if the Germans have got it right.
As I say, I`ll always find the money for a season ticket for my club, and I don`t want to come across as a petulant whiner, but just give something back to the regular fans, the season ticket holders!
In the words of the former president of Bayern Munich, Uli Hoeness “We do not think the fans are like cows who you milk, football has got to be for everybody.”