It's about feeling part of their club.Having to travel 230 miles to see my boyhood club play means little to me and to the many others who do likewise, because it feels like going home. It's not just money, it's about feeling valued and appreciated.Obviously my reward has included watching my team be highly successful in recent seasons but, for most fans, going to football is about much more. Fans of other clubs I have spoken to do not feel the same way, with good reason. Why have prices doubled in three years?Buying the bond hurt financially but it was worth it. I have never been made to feel I was being taken for granted. I feel for fans excluded by the rise in prices for individual matches, although Arsenal's are relatively low and are the same for Milan or Manchester United as they are for Wimbledon or Hartlepool. As for visiting other team's grounds as I once did 10 times a season, I feel I am being exploited in most cases and the prices charged remain a deterrent to taking my daughter.I thought I ought to explain why I am satisfied with my club's performance in this area.
As National Express has a scheme that allows children to go free, it is often cheaper to take my daughter to Highbury than to `local' grounds. Ridiculous!When I attended the FA Cup semi-final in 1993 at Wembley, I paid pounds 16 and I was not in the cheapest seats. The first 1,000 bond-holders were photographed with players, etc, and given a framed certificate, small gestures that show Arsenal try to return our loyalty. The price of the season ticket is pledged to rise by no more than inflation for the rest of the decade.Once I would travel the shorter distances to see Arsenal's away games in the north and Midlands but the pricing policy of most clubs in these regions now renders that prohibitive. In 1994, when Arsenal played Sampdoria in the Cup-Winners' Cup semi-final, I was charged pounds 7 as the cup-tie allocation had been used, but this price was the season's cost of the ticket divided by 28.
I was impressed by the way Arsenal did not use the match's status as an excuse to rip fans off.As a bond-holder, I am allowed to claim an extra ticket for Cup finals, which enabled my daughter to join me at Wembley for both domestic finals in 1993 I am sent the club magazine for free. If I watch 14 games, I end up paying the same per game as I would have done on a match- by-match basis - beyond that I am paying less. In return my experiences have been as follows:My season ticket (currently pounds 205) entitles me to admission to all Premier League matches plus the first seven Cup ties at Highbury. All it has done has made football clubs and the people who run them even greedier. Sky might think it was not worth renewing their Premier League contract and in so doing teach football's administrators a lesson.Yours,DAVID C PEMBERSONHampshireFrom Mr A MarksSir: I am an Arsenal supporter whose loyalty stretches to holding a season ticket and taking out a Bond in 1991, not to mention 450-mile round trips to see them play at home. The prices people are expected to pay are extortionate.In a way, I hope this leads to stadiums with hardly anybody in them and lacking atmosphere. If you haven't got it, there's less and less chance of getting it these days.Yours,PHILIP AVERYWinchesterFrom Mr D C PembersonSir: I thought Sky having this contact with the Premier League for the televising of matches would lead to lower admission prices for those attending matches in person.