How much is too much for Away tickets?

By Martyn Osmond
September 29 2004

Paying extortionate prices for relatively poor facilities is becoming a regular occurence for Toon fans on the road. Although Chelski are the main cuplrits, it's a fast-spreading disease.

This weekend, those of us heading down to Birmingham will pay £38 for the pleasure of sitting in a stand where the roof doesn't cover the front few seats, so you'll get soaking wet if it rains, and there are no food + drink venders or programme sellers inside the away section. Portsmouth charged £35 for seats in a stand with none of those things, in addition to having no toilets and no roof AT ALL.

Last year, those of us unfortunate enough to be at the 5-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge would have paid £42, thanks to the Ken Bates scheme of price categories depending on how big a draw the match is.

Alright, at least next year they can get rid of this stupid scheme as they've got bags of cash, thought we. How wrong we were. Instead, Mr Abramovich and his cronies decide they'll hike the prices up a few more pounds, as they're obviously short on cash. So this year, we'll be paying £50 for rubbish facilities, a rubbish view and rubbish watered down Budweiser as the only available beer, which last year cost £3 but this year will undoubtedly cost £27 or something.

Not all clubs are like this however, an special mention should go to places like Southampton and Charlton, who charge £25 for good facilities and good views.

Our own club deserves a mention as well for having sense enough to charge only £15 for the Carling Cup game against Norwich, and £5 for under 16s. I'm not sure how much NUFC charges for away fans but I'd imagine it's around £25-30 (If any fans of other teams could fill me in go an say on the message board, I'd be grateful).

Personally I think £30 is about the limit of reasonable prices, but having said that I'll be at Stamford Bridge this year with a watered down Budweiser being able to see nowt.

So how much do you think is a reasonable price to pay for tickets? Vote in the site poll and let us know what you think on the message board.