The Great English Football Robbery

One might have hoped that the Football Leagues £3.1bn windfall from television rights would have resulted in a drop in ticket prices for supporters but entrance costs continue to rise. The average price of the cheapest tickets across English football has increased by 13% since 2011. That's almost double the 6.8% increase in the rate of the cost of living for the same period.

Year-on-year it is up 4.4%, more than treble the 1.2% rate of inflation.

The worst culprits are Arsenal whose cheapest season ticket (£1014) is almost double the average, rising 3.97% from last season. It is by far the highest in the league and more than double the amount that 17 Premier League clubs charge for their most expensive one.

Arsenal's most expensive season ticket is a massive £2013 compared to Charlton Athletic's £150, the cheapest in the top four divisions and less than many Conference South/North teams including local club Farnborough.

Arsenal also have the most expensive match-day ticket in the Premier League costing a colossal £97 more than double the most expensive match-day ticket at seven other top-flight clubs.

Manchester City on the other hand have the Premier League's cheapest season ticket costing a mere £299 which is cheaper than 15 Championship clubs, 10 clubs in League One, 4 in League Two and even one, Halifax Town, in the Conference Premier. In fact it is the same as local Conference side Aldershot!

So how does this compare to the rest of Europe?

NOT favourably!

A season ticket at giants Barcelona is a snip at £103 whilst £70.36 will get you season ticket at Benfica  and  £57.73 at Sporting Lisbon!

Turnstile prices are also considerably cheaper.

The average lowest price ticket for the four major European Leagues are:

Bundesliga        £10.33

Serie A             £14.15

La Liga             £24.68

Premiership      £28.30

Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke - all charge less than £13 for their cheapest match-day ticket, the same price as Farnborough and you can watch a game at Barcelona or Real Madrid for £17, the same price as Aldershot.

Nor has the English Football match day experience improved.

Top of the Football League Triple "P" index (Programme, Pie and a Pint) is Fulham of the Championship at £11.60 - comprising programme £3.50, pie £3.90 and pint £4.20.

Kidderminster of the Conference Premier boast the most expensive meat pie in English football at a staggering £4.50 whilst a cup of tea at Southampton, Liverpool and Man. United will cost you £2.50!

Think of it this way - buying a meat pie at every home match at Kidderminster would have bought you a season ticket at Barcelona.

I rest my case!

To find out how much you will spend supporting your team this season use this BBC Price of Football Calculator.

Frightening isn't it!

To cheer you up here's the presentation photos from Rushmoor in Bloom 2014 with my Silver Gilt and my mate Boney's commendable first year Bronze.



I'll leave you with this version of The Shadows classic hit "Apache" performed by Domingos Caetano and his students at Bar o'Farol, fuzeta last Wednesday and recorded on my mobile:



Hey Ho!

Paths are Made by Walking

Once again we are in Fuzeta, in the Eastern Algarve, a fishing village that we have come to love over the last three years.

It is 6.30 am and I am sitting on the balcony of our apartment watching the sun come up over the Ria Formosa Nature Park.

I am at peace with the world.

The fishing boats have already sailed out to the ocean in their daily quest to fill their nets and the only sounds are the low roar of the Atlantic Ocean rolling on to the shores of the Ilha da Armona and the calls of the various wading birds as they forage in the muddy pools in search of their breakfast.

It is low tide, but soon the waters will start gently flowing in, past the lagoon beach, the clam farms and salt beds, slowly flooding this small part of the 18,000 acre Ria Formosa which, protected from the Atlantic Ocean by five barrier islands, stretches 60km westwards from Villa Real San Antonia, on the border with Spain, to Faro.

In just over two hours time the ferry will make its first 10 minute journey carrying a handful of visitors from the quay to the Ilha Armona, a return trip that will be repeated all day until 6pm.

The fishing boats will return to the quay and their catch will soon be on sale in the indoor fish market.

Later in the afternoon, as the tide starts to recede again, small groups of welly clad locals armed with buckets and trowels will wade out into the shallow waters in search of clams and mussels returning just before dusk with the rewards of their labours.

By 7.00 pm the sun will start to set, lighting up the sea and sky before disappearing from the horizon for another day.

Life goes on in Fuzeta, as it has been for the past 100 years or more - slowly and quietly.

The Ria Formosa wetlands are of vital importance as a habitat for many aquatic bird species. Located on the migratory pathway of the Eastern Atlantic, they also provide food and shelter for the 30,000 birds that stop off here on their long journey between Europe and Africa. As an important breeding ground for many coastal birds such as Oystercatchers, Ibis, Cranes, Egrets and Flamingos the Ria Formosa has also traditionally been an area of oyster and salt farming as well as fishing and shellfish harvesting. The saltpans of the Algarve are centuries-old environments built by man where salt is extracted in a traditional and sustainable way and is prized worldwide for its quality among top chefs.

It is hard to imagine a more relaxing and peaceful part of the world, a perfect setting for me to read "Paths are Made by Walking" by Jennifer and Ian Hartley - the story of their campaign for a nuclear free world and their life in a caravan, "Halcyon Spirit", outside RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire to witness against the siting of a cruise missile site in the 1985. The book recounts the events of their daily life and the dialogue they had with MPs, the military, police, peace campaigners, the local community and the church.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Ian and I were born 6 weeks and 5 doors apart in a typical middle class, pre-war housing estate in 1946.

We played and fought together, were both in the "Pottonoski Gang" and went to primary and grammar school together, living through those heady days of church youth clubs, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones during the early sixties. Shortly after we went our own diverse ways - Ian continuing with his education and young, headstrong me walking away from the sixth form and the opportunity of a University degree in an attempt to find success, money and all the material things that are supposed to come with it.

In 1970, with Janice and baby Lorna, we moved away from Ipswich for good and didn't meet up with Ian and Jennifer until a brief visit to their old house in Arthur Street in 1983.

30 years later, on our recent trip back to Ipswich we met up again and talked over old times.

As we were leaving, Ian very kindly presented us with a copy of their excellent book which I enjoyed immensely and has left me with a much greater appreciation of why they decided to do what they did and the necessity and power of non-violent protest.

They both expressed an interested in visiting Fuseta, so, as a thank you for the book, I have written this blog entry for Jennifer and Ian and leave them with this wonderful rendition of Parce Mihi Domine (Spare me Lord) by Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble.


Hey Ho!