Are SPL Clubs Pricing Us Away?

As a Hearts supporter I appreciate that increases in match ticket prices are inevitable for us these days as we're going through a period of success (relative to the norm) that has largely been due to the substantial bank-rolling of Vladimir Romanov. We are signing players of a much higher calibre than in recent years and as such the product we're paying for is of a higher quality. Therefore it logically means we have to pay more to watch it and I don't have a problem with that. Hearts are an exceptional case for the time being.

However, what is the excuse for the other SPL clubs? If you exclude the Old Firm and Hearts, who can you honestly say is going to significantly increase their level of performance next season to the point where the standard will be unrecognisable from last year? No-one? Yet the vast majority of clubs are hiking their prices up yet again.

Let's take Dunfermline as an example. I have a good number of mates who support the Pars (yes you may be laughing but at least they support their local team!) and sadly many of them are considering not going back this year. Why? Well they were pretty shocking last season and quite fortunate to stay up, but real fans are not affected by this - they follow their team through the good and the bad times. What they have a problem with is the walk-up prices for their home games going through the roof compared to last season with no apparent justification.

Their top home games ('Category A' they call them) have risen to £23 from £20 for adults and Category B games have gone from £16 to £21. The latter works out at nearly a 25% increase, which would be bad even if the Pars had signed some top quality players, but have they? And are they likely to in the near future? I think the answer to both of those questions is fairly obvious unless a sugar-daddy takes them over.

Now, I know that clubs are generally struggling for financial survival and need to generate revenue somehow, but I fail to see how this sort of increase is of any long-term benefit to them.

No doubt Dunfermline will echo the reasons Hearts gave when they announced large walk-up price increases a couple of seasons back by saying that they want to encourage more people to buy season tickets, because if you do this, it works out at quite a bit less per match. It's a fair point and obviously the more people who put in money up-front the better, but realistically how many more people are going to buy Dunfermline season tickets (or at any other SPL club outwith last season's top three) because of this? It would be different if they'd just had a memorable season with increased crowds - maybe then more people would consider the season ticket option, but you need to get the crowds back before you start doing this, not the other way around. The bottom line is the standard looks like it will be the same if not worse this season, so people are going to pick and choose the games they want to go to. Frankly £21 to watch Dunfermline V Aberdeen is too much.

Still on the subject of Dunfermline, they are charging Hearts fans £23 for adults on the opening game of next season, which is in line with what I was talking about above. However the price for concessions is £17!! Yes that's seventeen notes for a child or pensioner to watch Dunfermline V Hearts! Totally unacceptable! This is more cash than an adult had to pay to watch a Dunfermline Category B game last season. What a joke.

I should point out that I don't have a problem with Dunfermline, I'm merely using their example here because I know their fans are hacked off. They're a great club with a very proud and distinguished history and it saddens me to see their already diminished support getting even smaller as a result of this sort of extortion. The same is happening at the likes of Kilmarnock and Dundee United amongst others and for me it's gradually killing the game. These clubs all used to have crowds that were more than respectable: Dunfermline's away support at Tynecastle used to be more than what their average home gate is now. Years of lowering standards, rising prices and probably unsociable kick-off times due to TV have taken their toll.

These fans are still out there and if the game is marketed sensibly and fairly, I think they can still be encouraged back. But until that happens the gap between the big clubs and the rest will continue to widen....

PS Hearts are charging a £3.50 'booking fee' for the 'privilege' of using their online ticket booking system! That's perhaps a rant for another day but I just had to get that out of my system!