Today BBC Sport published their annual survey regarding the cost for fans of attending League matches in English Football. The report on the BBC website can be found here. While the report focuses on different clubs in various levels of English football we will obviously be focusing on the Arsenal here today.

• The most expensive adult matchday ticket is Arsenal at £126 and the cheapest £6 at Montrose.

Like many people who follow our club I am a member of the official supporters club through the website and have been for the past 5 years. Currently I am a red level member which means I get the last bite of the cherry when it comes to buying match day tickets. This privilege alone costs €50. Today tickets for the home game versus the Spuds went on sale at 10a.m. After logging into the site I spent 90 minutes in the queue for match tickets. When I got the opportunity to purchase tickets the only option left was the East Stand Upper for the low low price of £123 which is roughly €160. This is more than a third of my wage that also feeds my household and covers petrol etc. The ordinary fan cannot afford that kind of outlay on a football match and frankly should never have to pay anything approaching that kind of money to see any game.

• Arsenal also have the most expensive season ticket at £1,955, while Montrose’s was the lowest at £90

This particular fact was a large bone of contention for many season ticket holders at the start of the season this year when the renewal options came out. People only had to look at twitter or the various message boards to see the trouble people were having in finding the money to keep the season tickets many had been years on a waiting list to obtain. To contrast how expensive this is I’ll throw out the cost of another season ticket at you – Manchester City, Premier League Champions and Playthings of Oil Billionaires boasting some of the best players in the world cost £275 to watch over the cost of a season.

• A trip to the Emirates Stadium can cost as much as £134.40 with top-price tickets going for £126, a £26 rise on last year’s figure and a programme (£3), pie (£3.30) and cup of tea (£2) adding to the cost.

While the majority of us won’t be forking out for the most expensive ticket the average most of us will pay is around £40. Taking this price I will try to  work out how much a trip to see the Gunners cost from my part of the world. which is 279 miles away.

• Match Ticket = €50
• Flight To Stansted = €70
• Train Ticket to London = €30
• Lunch/Dinner = €20
• Drinks = €15
• Programme = €40

Total cost before we even head to the club shop or buy anything to appease the other half is standing at €225. Myself and my younger brother try to get to two games a season which puts us at the very least €450. I don’t know about the rest of the Gooners out there but that seems pretty poor to me.

Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m working for Sky Sports here but it is almost 8 years since we last won anything, yet the cost of watching our underperforming bunch of millionaires has risen year upon year. I understand that the cost of inflation will generally mean that ticket prices will increase but the increases can be pretty hard to stomach.

In any walk of life people expect and rightly so value for their money. The question that must be asked is, are we as the fans getting value for our money. Will another season of going trophyless coupled with an increase in ticket prices be palatable to the fans. Or will we see a freeze in ticket prices from the board leading to praise from the media all the while still keeping the regular joe fans from being able to afford a ticket for a game.

I’m hoping for a price drop but then I’m an eternal optimist, although that could be the alcohol talking.

How much does it cost everyone else to get to games, please leave a comment letting us know.

Later Folks

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