THE biggest English football clubs are now as multinational as any corporation. Most are bankrolled by overseas investors; all are stuffed with foreign talent. Huge television deals, often negotiated on the back voracious demand from foreign fans, have made the English Premier League the world's richest. But this can make some fans feel uncomfortable. Even while they watch some of the planet's best players, they pine for the days that the clubs belonged to the locals. No club feels this tension more than Liverpool. In the early 1980s the Reds were the best team in Europe. It considers itself one of English football’s behemoths. Yet it has won just one cup and averaged sixth in the league in the past five seasons. In that time, a disastrous, debt-laden American takeover took it to the brink of bankruptcy. This hurts for a club whose identity is built on its working-class roots in a downtrodden city that has had little else to cheer about. Fans take pride in the principles of their former manager and architect, Bill Shankly. He summed up his philosophy as "Everyone working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards".

But such socialist sentiment has no place in modern football. So it is unsurprising that a concerted uprising against rising ticket prices—the first English football has seen for years—is taking place at Anfield, Liverpool’s famous home.

Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Liverpool's second set of American owners, has financed the redevelopment of the old ground, building a huge and impressive main stand, costing £114m ($165m), which is due to open in August. An enhanced stadium has led to enhanced ticket prices, the most noticeable being a small number of seats priced at £77. The top price this season is £59. (Based on 2015/16-season prices, four of the Premier League's other 19 clubs sell tickets costing more than £77. All of them are in London. Most clubs have not yet anounced prices for next season.) When Spion Kop 1906, a fans’ group, proposed a walk-out 77 minutes into the club’s match last weekend, around 10,000 people, or one-quarter of the Liverpool fans that attended the game, joined in. A powerful message was sent.

Pressure on Premier League ticket prices has been rising steadily in recent years. Counterintuitively, one reason for this is that the revenue generated through other means, particularly sponsorship and rights deals, has grown extraordinarily. The 2016/17 television deal with Sky and BT Sport is worth more than £5 billion. According to estimates by Sporting Intelligence, the club that finishes bottom of the league will receive £99m in television money, rising to more than £150m for the winners. This compares with £65m and £99m respectively in 2014/15.

Persuading fans of the need to spend more to watch their club as the league booms requires a well-constructed argument. Such a case exists. Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal, explained that the rights deal will further inflate transfer fees and wages. The pressure on clubs to spend to remain competitive will not diminish. Indeed, given the financial implications of being relegated, they will increase. Premier League clubs will be able to outbid European rivals: more players from the best German, French and Italian teams will be tempted by lucrative moves to middling English clubs. But the deal will not make Liverpool feel any richer in comparison to Manchester United or Arsenal. The fundamentals of the market will not change because the television deal is worth £5 billion, rather than £3 billion.

So in order to compete in this even-more-inflated market, Liverpool has to increase the amount of revenue it earns on matchdays. According to an annual survey of European football finances by Deloitte, a professional-services firm, Anfield is undersized, and this is holding the club back. Liverpool earned €75m ($85m) in match-day revenue in 2014/15, compared with Chelsea's €93m, Manchester United's €114m and Arsenal's €132m. In terms of broadcasting and commercial revenue, Liverpool fares reasonably well. FSG, therefore, is right to focus on the redevelopment of the stadium. It is a clear weak spot

Clubs will never voluntarily disadvantage themselves by cutting ticket prices significantly. So unless they agree a league-wide pricing protocol, they will be more influenced by what the market will bear. Ian Ayre, Liverpool's much-maligned chief executive, argues that "what’s affordable for one person isn’t for another person. I’ve no doubt that there will be 200 people happy to pay the £77 for that seat for that game." He is undoubtedly correct. Liverpool will have no trouble filling those premium seats, such is the restricted supply and high demand for Premier League tickets. They could probably fill an entire stand at that price. If they tapped into the spirit of Shankly and cut prices across the board, the club's ability to compete on the pitch would be eroded. And that would give fans an entirely different reason to walk out.