We are proud to have endorsed this morning’s Fulham Supporters’ Trust statement calling on the club to reconsider their current Craven Cottage ticket pricing policy.
The Trust have consistently highlighted the danger of long-standing supporters being priced out of watching the Whites since Fulham hiked their matchday ticket prices upon their return to the Premier League in 2018. Their continued dialogue with Fulham Football Club’s senior executives has been fruitless and the pricing of this season’s match day adult tickets behind the goal, which hit £71 for Saturday’s game against Sheffield United, follows an average 18.5% increase in season ticket prices this summer.
We were told during the pandemic that football without fans is nothing. Those words appear hollow when the club pays little more than lip service to the concerns of an organisation that was formed following the successful supporter-led campaign to take Fulham back to the Cottage in 2003. Many of our contributors, readers and listeners have followed the capital’s oldest professional club for generations but are now unable to afford to support Marco Silva’s side on a weekly-basis. It is an issue we have covered several times over the past eighteen months.
Several Fulham websites, fan forums and content creators have backed the Trust’s statement outlining their opposition to the board’s price-gouging and we would encourage Fulham fans to join the campaign for affordable ticket-pricing as well as participating in a yellow card protest during the eighteenth minute of November’s home fixture against Manchester United to show our opposition to the current policy. Fulham fans should not be priced out of supporting our side.
You can join the Fulham Supporters’ Trust via their website.
if you imagine for one moment in time that the club gives a flying about the fans you are sadly delusional. Friendly Fulham is a ghost from the past, sadly missed and never to return. As much as Al Fayed was widely criticised he stated that the ticket price would be in the lower half of premiership clubs. Swiftly we move to the money men era, they knew jack about football, jack about FFC and jack about Brit football fans.
Apart from the new stand which is understandable season tickets were a very fair prize . It’s sad that some fans can’t afford tickets, but it is also hard for small clubs like Fulham FFP does not help the same people would be complaining if we we didn’t sign players. I’m just glad the club is doing well and getting good crowds. It’s still cost more to go to Spurs Chelsea Arsenal. One thing for sure the Khan are not making a profit and have put a lot into the club. And know I’m not rich am working class now on pension
Over 1,000 quid for any seat in the Johnny Haynes stand is not a fair price, Daniel. It’s also not “understandable” for the Riverside to be priced as it is. The matchday prices even less so. Then there’s the stupid price tags on merchandise, which prices our shirts at the same level as Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea. We appreciate that Shahid needs to make commercial decisions. But he also needs to understand reality. We are not in the bracket of the top six/eight clubs. We are Brentford, Brighton, Forest, West Ham. All of which are cheaper to attend (genuinely cheaper, not just by this stupid “behind the goal” metric that everyone wants to use to hide the real price differences), all of which have cheaper merchandise, all of which are doing as well or better than us on the pitch.
Chairman Mo did what he did with ticket pricing because he knew the reality of Premiership football: that ticket and merchandise income are a drop in the ocean in the scheme of football finances. There is no need at all to rinse the fans. But more than that, it shows an attitude that is unwelcome at Fulham, which is to say that the owners do not care about the actual fans because they know that wealthy tourists will be over-the-odds each week to take those seats anyway. They are not interested at all in who is at the matches, so long as someone is at the matches paying high prices and buying appalling quality overpriced food and drink. It’s easier to convince 20 different people to pay a stupid price to each game once each, than it is to convince one person to do it 20 times.
In this instance, the message is more important than the sums of money – sums which wouldn’t pay a single players’ wage over a season, let alone allow us to buy anyone.
Agree with some you say AL, but there are lots of remarks like Zippa who just run the Khans down at every opportunity without seeing any of the good. Don’t really know the answer in these hard times , as for the clubs you name the clubs out of London will always be cheaper Brentfrod have done well ,but there stadium is like a tin can. West Ham we’re lucky sold there ground for lots of money helped by government to get ground they only rent how long will that last. I’m happy in Johnny Haynes stand
Daniel, different opinions does not mean one side is correct and the other not. What have the Kahns done for FFC fans that you find so admirable. Built a new stand and priced season tickets at £3000, increased other ticket prices by 20%. Is this wonderful? has this enriched, benefited or pleased any fans? One side of this argument is business, I understand that, but I am speaking from a view from fans. Someone recently said the club will be here long after this management structure has gone,and indeed long after you and I have gone. Transient ownership with no care for the history or love for the club (not that Al Fayed did). My family have been supporting Fulham for generations, I am no Johnny come lately and I have introduced two further generations to Fulham, my son and my grandson, and I would wish for that to continue.
Just want to point out that the revenue the Club makes from raising ticket prices will only help marginally in terms of FFP. Think about it. Minus season tickets, the club has about 7,000 tickets single day tickets to sell. Let’s say 10,000. So, assume they are making another 50 pounds per ticket. That’s 500K per match. They have 20 home matches. This would mean they are grossing (not netting) another 10 million pounds per year by screwing over the entire fan base. Cottage Analytica estimates the Club’s total budget is just over $100 mIllion (base on what teams around us spend). So, the Club is screwing over the entire fan base to get 10% of spend. Is that smart or good business? I don’t think so (only if the fans take it). I hope the Khans wake up soon.
Well the khans are just using the Fulham fans to pay for Tony’s vanity project of a wrestling company that some fans will say is worth a billion dollars but is still losing money.. so guess who suffers?