Football365 has alerted us to some of the outrageous prices for this weekend’s FA Cup final. They write:
‘A supporters-led campaign to boycott the “overpriced” food and merchandise available at Saturday’s FA Cup final has intensified after the FA sought to justify the £10 cost of a match-day programme.’
A tenner for a programme! I remember not so long ago you could buy a match ticket for less than that. The FA’s attempt to justify this extortionate price to the Daily Telegraph would be funny if it wasn’t so depressing: ‘It is slightly larger than A4 size, has 150 pages and is printed on very high quality paper. It is more like an annual than a matchday programme.’ Oh, that’s alright then.
It’s shameful that the FA should seek to make real fans pay for its multiple cock-ups surrounding the construction of the new stadium. Only 8,000 tickets for the final were being sold in the cheapest £35 bracket; at least 21,000 supporters from both sides will have been forced to pay a minimum of £60 for their tickets. A case of ‘We f**ked up royally, but it’s fine because the same mugs who shell out for a new kit each season will gladly pay £60 for a ticket.’
No, fans don’t gladly pay those prices – they pay because they love their team.
Prices for refreshments are also an absolute disgrace. A meat pie will retail at £4.50 (!!), a hot dog at £3.90 and a cup of coffee at £2.50.
I sincerely hope that both Chelsea and Man Yoo fans boycott the purchase of programmes and food & drink, to teach the FA the lesson that fans make football what it is, not the number of corporate boxes you can jam into a new stadium.
In other news, Wembley will launch an inquiry into the fiasco that has left hundreds of executive club fans waiting for their FA Cup final tickets with just two days to go. F**k me, can the football authorities in this country do anything properly? [Via F365]