When you follow a relatively successful so called “big club” it’s easy to make a drama out of a crisis. True we haven’t won anything in more than five seasons now. Just at the moment it feels like that might be six.
On the other hand we’ve consistently finished in the top four in the League and qualified for the Champions League consistently. The only club with an equal record of dining at our continent’s top football table is Real Madrid. It’s not as if we’re in danger of relegation.
Yet we do seem to have reached a plateau from which we’re finding it difficult to launch the last stage assault on the summit. We need a profound internal analysis of our playing personnel and coaching staff to ensure that we’re giving ourselves the best possible chance of success within our considerable income. Off the field we need to be doing everything we can to up that income, particularly in the commercial area.
What I do get a bit tired of is the constant griping that we should be winning trophies based on some sort of “divine right of big clubs”. We’re not “entitled” to anything. We have to earn it. The only legitimate complaint is about high ticket prices. I understand that this makes many feel they’re not getting their money’s worth if we’re not bringing home silverware.
There have been somewhat sensationalist stories about us breaking through the £100 a ticket barrier when, as is being assumed, the club passes on the 2.5% increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) introduced by the coalition government from 1 January 2011. In fact the current top general admission ticket price was a LOT more when it was introduced for the 2004/5 season. The top level general admission ticket price wasn’t raised when the last general increase was made in 2007/8. Prices have risen 19.2% since 2004/5.
The £94 cost of a top level general admission ticket for category A games is still scandalous though, as is the £66 cost of top level general admission for category B games. All the signs appear to be that the club will pass on the full cost of the VAT increase to supporters, which would push those prices to £96 and £67.50 (rounding up or down to the nearest 50p). The cheapest adult general admission prices would go to £49 and £34.
Season ticket holders will be spared the rises until next season as they’ve already paid for their tickets at the old VAT rate. I hope the club has a last minute re-think and swallows the VAT increase itself. It would be a nice gesture in these troubled economic times.
Football is however notorious for not living the same financial world as the rest of us. You only have to look at Wayne Rooney’s new contract and the fact that we’ve renegotiated with a number of players to compensate them for the new top earners’ Pay As You Earn Income Tax rate of fifty percent to know that. I’ve just been told that I’m likely to be out of work come next July. I’m far from alone in facing gloomy economic prospects.
So all in all it’s not an unfair gripe to say we pay top prices and should see top quality. That said, there can’t be any guarantees in football. We do need to face the fact that we appear to be becalmed some way short of our on-field goals at the moment.
Keep the faith!
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