The Aston Villa and Swansea ticket deal is proof supporters are being heard
You may remember MOMS encouraging you to sign the Football Supporters Federation’s ‘Score 20: Twenty’s Plenty for Away Tickets’ petition in an attempt to make the Premier League clubs think about the spiraling costs of away tickets prices, which had reached joke proportions.
When Arsenal are charging Manchester City fans £62 for an away ticket or the likes of Norwich City are charging Villa fans £45, it stinks of exploitation of football team’s most loyal fans. The fans that already stump up the most in traveling to see their team play.
The news of the last 24 hours that Villa and Swansea have reached a £25 away ticket price (£10 concessions) reciprocal deal is a very positive step in the right direction.
Swansea City have been one of the prime movers in addressing away prices and also have £20 reciprocal deals with both Newcastle and Hull City already in place.
“The reduced away ticket price initiative is something we started looking into over the summer,” Swansea Vice-Chairman Leigh Dineen has stated. “We contacted all clubs in the Premier League, but received very little feedback, but we’ve kept working at it and I’m glad to see that things have slowly started to gather pace.”
The £200,000 Away Fan Fund that the Premier League granted each club certainly helped clubs get more interested in the plight of away fans.
A whole host of travel incentives have already been hatched by clubs – from free coach travel (undertaken by Aston Villa) to shaving £2-£4 off every away ticket price by Liverpool.
Lets hope the Aston Villa and Swansea away ticket deal is replicated by Villa with other clubs too this season and next.
The Villa vs Swansea fixtures subject to television changes are currently dated:
| Sat, Dec 28 | Aston Villa | vs | Swansea City | 3:00 PM | ||
| Sat, Apr 26 | Swansea City | vs | Aston Villa | 3:00 PM | ||
The last time Villa fans paid £25 for an away ticket? The League Cup quarter-final at Norwich last season. £20 cheaper than the league game and with the 4-1 scoreline, it’s a good omen! UTV
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I did put a comment here via my smartphone, but for some reason it didnt show. I put it in again, and a message came up that it was a duplicate comment. Now on my laptop, still no sign of my comment, so am trying to put this one in…. hmmm.
Hi – Yep, just changed over comment system. Looks like it was set for comments to be approved. Should be fine now.
Does that mean Villa can choose how they spend their $200, 000 either for away supporters to Villa Park or how they help our own fans go to away matches?
The money is to subsidise their own fans. Every club got the same amount off the Premier League.