The fight for affordable and fair football ticket prices was given a major leg-up this week with Merseyside fan groups meeting with Premier League sponsors Barclays to discuss what has become a major financial issue for match-going fans.
On Wednesday evening, members of the Spirit of Shankly Supporters Union and Everton’s Blue Union met with both Nathan Homer, Barclays global head of sponsorship and Andrew McDougall, senior sponsorship public relations manager, to discuss the rising costs associated with attending a match. Supporters all around the top flight are calling on the league to spend some of the new £5.1bil TV deal to subsidize ticket prices and invest in grass-roots football — things that only a few will argue aren’t sorely needed.
“In light of the unprecedented amounts of money which is now awash in the game, it is vitally important this trickles down to supporters to safeguard the spirit and future of the game. We thank them for giving us the opportunity to talk about how we go about achieving this in light of our most recent protests against the sponsors and specifically Barclays,” read a joint statement from the two groups following the meeting. “As an aside, we would like to take this opportunity to also make representations to the other TV companies and major sponsors involved within the Premier League cartel. We will be asking them to meet in due course.”
This is only the latest step in a fight that has been ramped up this season across all Premier League clubs with protests, demonstrations, petitions and a general sense of unrest among supporters being fuelled by the quickly escalating cost of watching their team live — a fight that’s far from over.
