Hard Times
Last season, the first shock about life in the Championship for Aston Villa supporters was the price of an away ticket to the opening day clash at Sheffield Wednesday.
The adult away ticket price for Hillsborough was £42.
In light of the Premier League introducing a cap on away ticket prices at £30 last season, it was certainly a bad time to have gotten relegated.
However, nobody expected any club to have the audacity to charge over £40 for an away ticket in the second tier, considering the recent public outcry over away ticket prices, spearheaded by the Football Supporter Federation’s (FSF) ’20’s Plenty’ campaign.
Some Villa supporters decided to protest about Sheffield Wednesday away ticket prices at the game last season with banners and robbers’s mask.
Obviously, with Villa having to endure another season in the Championship, another trip to Hillsborough was on the horizon and we awaited with interest to see how Wednesday would price their tickets.
It wasn’t as bad as last season, but £39 for an adult ticket was still way too high.
Villa Subsidy
Discussing the price at the last Away Fan Consultation Gorup Meeting , supporters decided in consultation with club reps to make a symbolic statement and subsidise the ticket prices to fall in line with the Premier League away cap of £30.
So for the upcoming match at Hillsborough, adult ticket prices are subsidised by £9 and concessionary tickets are discounted by £5, using the club’s away subsidy fund.
The Away subsidy fund is a £50k fund that Aston Villa have provided on their own volition for both of Villa’s seasons in the Championship. It’s something of a continuation of the original Premier League away fund of £100,000 (that ran for three years) that was introduced to help away fans with their costs.
The club’s gesture has essentially became something of a parachute payment for Aston Villa’s travelling supporters, who have been faced with the cost of four extra away fixtures in the Championship calendar.
The Sheffield Wednesday away ticket subsidy follows on from the club also subsidising earlier this season the £39 Leeds United away tickets to the tune of £10, bringing them down to £29.
Whether there will be any further subsidies this season depends on Villa being granted a possible extra allocation at Hillsborough. If so, then the rest of the 50k away fund will cover reducing those. If not, then they’ll be a small amount to cover a future fixture.
UTV
Sheffield Wednesday v Aston Villa Ticket Details
Saturday February 24
Kick-off: 3pm
Hillsborough
Allocation: 3,130
Prices: £30 (adults), £24 (O65 and U21), £15 (U17), £10 (U11), £5 (U5)
Please note that adult and concessionary tickets are discounted by £9 and £5 respectively as part of the club’s away subsidy fund
*Thanks to Karl Dixon for the lead picture
Charging supporters an additional £9 for an away ticket where there is generally 3,000 – 4,000 tickets sold, these home teams are making an additional £27,000 – £36,000 per game which is nothing compared to the extortionate player wages/ transfer fees/ agents fees that clubs seem willing to pay….
Yep, player’s wages will ultimately destroy the game…and maybe the world! Some sense needs knocking into the game, because you’re right, ticket prices are a drop in the ocean compared what clubs are now paying on player wages, so fans shouldn’t have to suffer.
We don’t like our ticket prices,much like the away fans , but for teams long time out of the premier league ,with FFP stupid rules how are we supposed to compete ,when they get huge parachute payments,£87 MILLION over the course of three years.
True. The concept of FFP just seems to keep the status quo of the current situation. There seems to be zero intent from the football governing bodies to make it a fair playingfield and actually a sport. That’s one thing the American sports get right, trying to make it competitive with wage caps and drafts (with the poorest performing teams of the previous season getting first pick) etc.