Tottenham fans were rightly angry on hearing that seats for their Wembley friendly against Juventus on August 5th have been priced up as high as £92. The event, ‘hosted’ by American company Relevent Sports at the national stadium has put the affordability of football back into focus…

Relevent Sports Chairman Charlie Stillitano sparked controversy last year for reportedly suggesting that closing off European football competitions to include only elite clubs could make them richer. Now his company has raised the ire of Tottenham fans expecting cheap tickets for a non-competitive match in a 90,000 capacity venue.

If the Football Supporters Federation mantra of ‘Twenty’s Plenty’ is applied, then Spurs fans are right to have aged several years looking at the price structure of the tie against Juventus. Spurs supporters were invited to pay £70 (upwards) for a three match Champions League pass at Wembley last season but could easily spend as much in one fell swoop against Seria A’s champions.

A limited number of adult tickets at pitch level behind the goals at Wembley were available for £24, but the prices soon creep up to £45 for a raised seat at the back of the lower tier. Meanwhile, standard places behind the goals in the middle level are generally going for £58 while you can pay £92 for a viewing position closer to the halfway line in block 143. Those desperate to hear Mauricio Pochettino and Massimiliano Allegri shout sideline directives can splash out £129 for central ‘Bobby Moore Premium seats’.

The price controversy comes at a time when the term “gentrification” is being thrown at Spurs for their luxury new stadium and its dedicated fromagerie, microbrewery and Michelin-standard restaurant.

Alan Fisher – aka @spursblogger – posted on Twitter: Relevent Sports website: “promoting and growing soccer worldwide.” At £64 for a friendly, they are doing completely the opposite.

Boycott the match , the pricing for this is a disgrace — Hobbsy (@LiamHobbs10) July 4, 2017

Meanwhile, football reform advocate Martin Calladine went further, arguing that the Juventus game ‘is not a friendly match but an economic experiment to test the price elasticity for a football ticket’.

It begs the obvious question: what level will prices reach before fans see through the polished marketing and decide to stay away? The onus now falls on Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust to collate a response to a match which will have irked many of its members.

Spurs supporter Flav of Tottenham fanzine ‘The Fighting Cock’ points to the problem of an outside organisation holding games at a stadium that is, for now, their home ground. He hopes that “no-one goes to the match because those coughing up for tickets will validate the business model of a company with no real interest in Tottenham looking to make huge amounts of money”.

Flav, who is also part of the 1882 movement which harks back to the club’s pre-Premier League days in terms of fan culture also notes that “friendlies are supposed to be about families and kids and engaging with the club on a community level and high prices just aren’t workable”.

Of course, it should be noted that Spurs do not appear to be organising the game themselves and therefore the pricing falls to Relevant Sports. Yet, the fact that we are even talking about a preseason match in London ‘presented’ by a transatlantic company points to the the further marketing of football as a premium product rather than a pastime which benefits supporters and members of clubs.

Discussing a closed Champions League for prestige teams, Stillitano infamously uttered ‘What would Manchester United argue: did we create soccer or did Leicester create [it]?’. A similar line of thinking can then be applied to this scenario: Did working class fans carry Tottenham Hotspur through its 137 year history or did monied interests and tourists?

On Tuesday 25th July, two weeks before Tottenham’s Wembley date with Juventus, Dulwich Hamlet host Crystal Palace at Champion Hill with collections for the Grenfell Tower disaster fund. That’s the way a club truly interacts with supporters and its community rather than an unfriendly friendly organised by way of New York. Is that not an opportunity that preseason affords?

Tom Reed