Nearly £2,000 for a season ticket in north London and it's more expensive to watch West Ham than the Manchester giants... your complete guide to Premier League prices as fans fear being frozen out



The football fixtures are released, pre-season training is soon to begin, some even have an eye on who they’re going to be drawn against in European competitions, football fans are itching to see their club in action again.

There’s also the prospect of new star players arriving. Although Financial Fair Play is on the horizon, with its intent to ensure clubs only spend what they create internally, clubs look set to spend big this summer.

But where is this internal cash coming from? A lot from sponsorships, but sadly Sporting Intelligence have revealed that it seems much of it is coming straight from the fans pocket.

Price injustice? Fans on Wednesday protested against prices, while we saw banners at the Emirates last season

The cost of tickets were highlighted more in the press last year, with some Manchester City fans refusing to pay £62 for an away ticket to Arsenal, and it doesn’t stop there.

The Sportintel graphic which shows a detailed description of ticket prices – both singular and season – in comparison to last year.

PL SEASON TICKET PRICES 2013/14, AND INCREASES/DECREASES FROM 12/13



Rank, low to

Club

Lowest £

Last year

Highest £

Last year

Cheapest

Costliest

high ST cost



adult ST

change %

adult ST

change %

adult ticket

adult ticket

1

Man City 299

8

780

4.5

-

-

2

Aston Villa 325

0

595

0

£20.00

£45.00

3

WBA 349

0

449

0

£20.00

£39.00

4

Newcastle 378

1.3

722

0.7

-

-

5

Cardiff 379

9

599

9

Dynamic

Dynamic

6

Hull 395

1.3

405

-11.1

£20.00

£30.00

7

Stoke 399

0

599

0

£25.00

£50.00

8

Sunderland 425

0

525

0

£25.00

£40.00

9

Fulham 449

-11.1

999

4

-

-

10

Swansea 449

0

499

0

£35.00

£45.00

11

Everton 469

5.5

696

3.4

£31.00

£43.00

12

C Palace 490

19.4

660

18.2

-

-

13

Norwich 519

-5.4

579

-5

-

-

14

Man United 532

0

950

0

£31.00

£53.00

15

Southampton 585

5.1

820

4.9

-

-

16

Chelsea 595

0

1,250

0

£41.00

£87.00

17

West Ham 640

6.3

910

6.6

-

-

18

Liverpool 710

-2.1

850

8.2

£38.00

£52.00

19

Tottenham 795

8.2

1,895

2.6

£32.00

£81.00

20

Arsenal 985

0

1,955

0

£23.50

£123.50



AVERAGE

508

2.27

837

2.30







SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT

Eight clubs have frozen season ticket prices this year, compared to seven last season

Three clubs have reduced season ticket prices, compared to one last season



The table shows how differently clubs have responded to the restraints on FFP - which is somewhat surprising given that they all received a £5.5billion three-year TV bonus - and how they are addressing the issue, with promising signs compared to last year.

There are several questions to be asked: Why do West Ham have the fourth most expensive season ticket? Why are Southampton’s more expensive than Manchester United? And how are Manchester City able to compensate offering a season ticket more than THREE TIMES as cheap as Arsenal’s?

'Sugar Daddy': Sheik Mansour's money keeps pouring in at City

Manchester City’s stance can be partly be explained by the millions Sheik Mansour is putting into the club before FFP comes into place, while Arsenal have angered fans, not with the profit they create which is obviously huge, but the failure to buy players and collect silverware with the money created.

Chelsea's new boss Jose Mourinho is another man who must be wary about FFP.

The west London club have been famous for splashing the cash in the last few years, famously spending £50million on now out of favour Fernando Torres.

Things look like they're improving, though. The arrivals of Oscar, Juan Mata, and Eden Hazard in recent years were costly, but also investments for the long haul which should generate a profit.

Mourinho said: 'We need to go back to this stability.



'It's important for the players, for the young players' development, for the club, for the fan base and for the economic situation which is more important with Financial Fair Play.'



Many blame the jumbo TV deals as the driving force behind increased prices. Fans of rival clubs joined force on Wednesday in a protest of the cost of tickets, led by Liverpool fans’ union Spirit of Shankly.

Cries of ‘We hate Sky Sports and we hate Sky Sports’ were heard, as fans protest of football being turned into a business hobby, rather than something you can take your son too every now and then.

Wary: We may not see the same spending from Mourinho's previous reign over the next few years

With England’s supposed demise in the game last season, both in the Champions League and internationally given the England Under-21’s recent performances, people are more envious with the way European clubs run their ticketing system.

Germany is the obvious country to look at after a great footballing season with two Champions League finalists and a national squad that shows no time of stopping.

The national set up has been looked at before, and is massively helped by the fact that the Bundesliga’s main purpose is to benefit Joachim Loew's side, with young German’s coming through and getting their chances at huge clubs.

Meanwhile, there’s Bayern Munich, a so-called ‘super club’ who are able to buy heaps of talent every year and restrict season tickets to less than it would cost you to get the most expensive ticket for one game at Arsenal.

Bigger prices, worse football? Fans in England (above, left) won't have been happy to see Germany excel domestically and internationally last season

It’s easy to bemoan these details, with the Bayern president Uli Hoeness saying in a viral video from last year: ‘We could charge more than £104. Let's say we charged £300. We'd get £2m more in income but what's £2m to us?

'In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes. But the difference between £104 and £300 is huge for the fan.

'We do not think the fans are like cows, who you milk. Football has got to be for everybody.

'That's the biggest difference between us and England.'

It comes down to what the club’s want to charge, the Premier League has no say.

If Crystal Palace want to increase season tickets by more than 20%, they can. If Arsenal want to charge £123 for a single ticket, they can. If a club wants to rip off a fan, ultimately, they can.