The opening day of a new football season is always a moment to savour for fans who have allowed the seeds of optimism to grow over the summer. For supporters who will take their place at Premier League grounds around England this weekend, a blank slate is also a licence to dream.
At the nation’s top clubs, there will also be the satisfying spectacle of sell-out crowds in expanded, better-appointed stadiums. Compared to three decades ago, when the Premier League was formed, far more people are going to watch games live throughout the football pyramid. Last week, stadiums up and down the country were packed as Championship, League One and League Two teams kicked off. Crowds are also more diverse in their makeup, including more women and more minority ethnic spectators.
It would be unfair to see this as anything but a success story (though the season to come may be overshadowed by the Premier League’s legal action against champions Manchester City, over alleged rule breaches). Globally, England’s top tier remains the most-watched football championship. But in the stands, there is one notable downside to this tale of booming popularity.
Higher ticket prices, initially triggered by the move to all-seater stadiums following the Hillsborough disaster, have led to a process of gentrification during which Premier League football crowds have become steadily older and wealthier. A prime season ticket at Tottenham Hotspur’s impressive new home costs £2,367, following a 6% hike in prices. As a generation of 40 and 50-something supporters hold on to expensive season tickets well into later life, independent access to games for groups of younger and less well-off fans has become increasingly difficult and often impossible.
Relentless profit maximisation has become the name of the game, as clubs seek to raise revenue to pay stratospheric wages to players. In an effort to capitalise on international appetite for a match-day experience, seats are being set aside for high-spending one-off visitors, at sometimes eye-watering prices. A hospitality seat behind the goal for Manchester United’s big game with Liverpool later this month, inclusive of post-match food and drink, was selling this week for £549. Ahead of the new season there have been supporter protests at several Premier League clubs over plans to eliminate or scale back age-related concessions on season tickets.
For a sport sometimes described as “working class ballet”, these trends should set alarm bells ringing. The long-term health of the national game will suffer if attending the biggest matches, in the finest stadiums, is a privilege largely exercised by the middle-aged and middle-class. New ways should be explored to ensure a better social and demographic balance inside grounds. Allowing limited cheap entry to those prepared to queue on the day might be one way to increase the likelihood of more young fans making it through the turnstiles.
In his classic 1968 book, The Football Man, the former Guardian journalist, Arthur Hopcraft, writes: “The football fan is not just a watcher. His sweat and his nerves work on football, and his spirit can be made rich or destitute by it.” More than half a century later, the national game has transformed beyond recognition. As a new season begins, the nation’s top clubs should do all they can to ensure the experience of passionate immersion that Hopcraft described so well remains accessible to all.
