Paying £12 to watch Stalybridge Celtic play in the sixth tier might sound excessive but these clubs might cease to exist if prices were cut any lower

I’m a Stalybridge Celtic fan. For the life of me I don’t know why. As a seven-year-old my dad took me to Old Trafford to watch David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Eric Cantona. A week later he took me down to Bower Fold to watch the team that sits right on my doorstep. “Which do you prefer, son?” he asked.

Twenty years later I still visit Bower Fold for every match. The lure of non-league football was too great. They became my love, my passion. Sitting in the gods just didn’t appeal and the only shaven-headed magician I idolised was Ian Arnold, not the enigmatic Frenchman. To this day I still hear: “Twelve quid to watch that load of rubbish? No thanks,” from my friends. Which is a problem for non-league. A big one.

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I pay around £300 to watch my team every season; factor in travel and the odd away fixture and that becomes a lot more. For £73.88 I could have a season ticket at Barcelona. I pay over £200 more to watch a butcher, a baker and no doubt a candlestick maker lump it forward every week – sat in a crowd of 400 people where the only thing that’s remotely Messi is the Lockwood & Greenwood stand’s gents. This is not Barcelona. It’s a far cry from Bury, even. But that’s exactly the point.

Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United welcome over 70,000 fans through the gate every time they play. They earn millions in sponsorship and TV rights, and they don’t need the money like my club does – like almost every club in non-league football does.

Recent protests from fans have brought the cost of football tickets to the forefront of the news agenda. And the unrest has filtered down to non-league level, particularly among neutrals and floating fans. Fans visiting the Emirates can pay upwards of £250 all-in to watch a Champions League match, which is clearly too much. But take a look down the footballing pyramid; can we really begrudge a non-league club asking for one or two pounds more – if they are just trying to survive rather than line their pockets?

Like most of us, Stalybridge chairman Rob Gorski believes £70-plus for a ticket is too much, but if elite-level tickets are reduced it could have a knock on effect. In his programme notes for the recent fixture against AFC Fylde, he wrote: “My concern is that if prices for prima donna matches collapsed, there would be pressure for lower leagues to follow suit. Our gate receipts are a major part of our turnover and if we lowered admission prices, it would have a catastrophic impact on Liam’s [Watson, the Stalybridge manager] budget.”

It’s a growing concern in an era when Saturday afternoon football is so freely available on TV, despite the laws stating otherwise. That £12 will get you a cosy pub, a couple of pints and some high-quality top-flight action. Offer that as an alternative to a cold, damp football ground and it’s a no-brainer for the neutral.

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Of course, in some cases the large ticket prices are having a slightly different knock-on effect. Take FC United of Manchester for example. When they formed in 2005 as a result of the Glazer family’s takeover at Manchester United, many priced-out Manchester United fans marched down to Gigg Lane for their football fix at a fraction of the cost.

To this day FC United’s club manifesto contains two key principles: “The club will endeavour to make admission prices as affordable as possible to as wide a constituency as possible” and “the club will remain a non-profit organisation.”

In just over a decade FC United have climbed to the sixth level of English football while keeping costs at a minimum. In fact, when they were forced to increase their admission price by £1 for their recent FA Cup tie against Chesterfield to adhere to competition rules, they issued each fan with a £1 voucher that could be spent on food, drink and merchandise rather than keeping the extra income. Their approach has kept fans coming through the gates in their thousands but, with over 5,000 members, they have the luxury to be able to work that way.

Across the Pennines at Sheffield FC, admission fees cover only about 10-20% of the club’s running costs. But, despite attendance figures of just 200-300 people, the club have refused to up their prices to boost earnings.

Matt Rapinet, a member of their marketing team, says: “The only rise in Sheffield FC’s admission costs has been due to league requirements. Sheffield FC charge the minimum admission fees that the league will allow us. As the world’s first football club we believe that we should make football as accessible as possible to fans, even if this means we have to be inventive with how we conduct business in other areas to cover the shortfall.”

In these cases, most people who come through the gates have ties to the clubs, whether it be through Manchester United, community work or a hook that makes them more marketable. For regular clubs, the floating fan is a tough nut to crack.

Stalybridge’s £12 admission is about average in the National League North and it is income they rely upon. When it comes to watching “that load of rubbish”, as my friends so eloquently describe them, it’s a hard bargain to drive.

Ultimately that means clubs either have to hike up their prices for the loyal supporters to make up the shortfall (which they don’t want to do), become a little more inventive or lower their budget – which in turn produces a lower standard of football and results in fewer people coming through the turnstiles.

At Farsley Celtic, on the outskirts of Leeds, hiking prices above £7 simply isn’t an option. Joshua Greaves, the club’s CEO, says: “You can out-price yourself in a very competitive non-league market that surrounds our club, with one National side, one National North and other Northern Premier clubs. We feel that our costs reflect a good rate of admission but I do feel any more than £7 is a little steep.” Raising prices would not bring in enough money to substantially affect the day-to-day running of the club and that it might turn people away.

At Sheffield FC there’s a real push to move back home to their original ground, where they began life back in 1857. They don’t have global brands backing them or teams of marketers on hand every day of the week but they have built connections with both universities in Sheffield and produced inventive ideas to promote their club and boost funds.

Rather than simply applying for loans and amassing debt, the club launched a successful crowdfunding campaign that has raised thousands and received huge coverage in the media. The fund has even included contributions from the Bundesliga, both professional Sheffield clubs and FC United. “The campaign mainly helped through publicity,” says Rapinet. “It was our announcement to the world of football that we are bringing football back home. Through a number of international projects we are now seeking the additional funding to rebuild the Home of Football.”

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It makes sense. With people less willing to donate large amounts of cash to lower league, clubs are having to think outside the box. Sponsorship has become an issue for clubs in recent years. Look throughout non-league and you’ll see more shirts without sponsors, and you won’t have a problem trying to sponsor a match almost anywhere in the country. It’s vital income and clubs are having to work harder to get it. At the beginning of the season Farsley Celtic used eBay to auction the sponsorship of their match against Northwich Victoria.

Initiatives such as this one will need to continue if non-league clubs are to keep afloat. Particularly so, if like the Stalybridge chairman predicts, lower leagues feel forced to follow suit.

When my friends call £12 a scandalous price for non-league football, I happen to agree. There’s little incentive there for floating fans. If you didn’t support a club, would you rather watch Manchester City once a fortnight for around £25 or watch Stalybridge Celtic every week at effectively the same price? Sergio Agüero or Steve Tames? It’s hardly a tricky one. For me though, well, I’m happy to pay a few extra quid a week for my one true love.

• This blog first appeared on In Bed With Maradona

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