Why Fans Are Turning Their Backs on the Premier League
There’s a popular trope among certain local Manchester City fans that the only reason County still exists as a club is that they turned up in force at Edgeley Park on Friday nights in the Go Go Go County era.
Some did of course, but if the numbers claimed are true, there would have been many more of us in the ground than the 1,700 sufferers who routinely supported the team in those long-ago days. Things have taken a fresh turn now, though. Ticket prices for Premier League games have rocketed over the years and the days when a neutral football fan could travel to Old Trafford, Anfield or Maine Road on a whim and expect to see a game are long past.
Premier League clubs’ attitudes towards fans are changing too. Those supporters who have been rolling up for years and paying on the day or proudly clutching their season tickets may buy a pie and a pint, but they aren’t spending fortunes in the superstore every week once they’ve got this year’s shirt.
There’s far more value to be extracted from the one-off visitor who may have travelled across continents to realise a lifetime’s ambition to see their team in the flesh. To illustrate the point, in the 2023-24 season it was reported that Spurs were selling an average of one thousand “Son 7” shirts at every home game. You can bet your life those shirts weren’t going to the so-called “legacy” fans.
Some clubs are trying maximise their income from tourists by ousting season ticket holders from their seats. Manchester United have decided that seats near the dugouts are most in demand, so fans who have sat there for seventy-five years have been moved to make room for hospitality customers.
Another technique widely used to maximise income is the control of season tickets. This season, 685 United fan accounts were banned and 464 others received warnings because the club believed they were part of organised touting networks, sometimes resulting in away supporters infiltrating home areas with all the possibilities for unrest that follow.
Ironically, those 685 tickets can then be made available to the club’s preferred reselling outlet and sold at an inflated price. Manchester United claim that no innocent fans have been punished, despite many having to go through an allegedly independent appeals panel before being allowed to keep their tickets. Similar anti-touting operations have resulted in bans for fans at Manchester City and Liverpool.
All this, on top of long-standing unrest over the acquisition of United by the Glazer family, who somehow lumbered the club with debt caused by their purchase of it, and the actions of “Offshore” Jim Ratcliffe since he gained control over sporting operations, led to protests around Old Trafford before the recent derby.
A combination of disillusion with the Premier League clubs and the relative ease of acquiring tickets has led to an influx of new supporters to Edgeley Park. They aren’t just slumming it for the odd game, they have found a new home where they can sit together with their friends, make new ones and where they can bring their sons and daughters who may have been influenced by the club’s Community Trust at school.
One such group of fourteen friends in the Cheadle End comprises thirteen who used to go to Old Trafford and another to Newcastle. There are others who once actively supported Liverpool, Everton and City to be seen at Edgeley Park on a regular basis. Speaking to some of them, the change is again partly driven by a dissatisfaction with the Premier League, but also pressure from their offspring who want to watch County.
The role of children in pressuring their parents to come to games at County is a feather in the cap of all the Community Trust’s outreach projects, including the Flag Bearers programme which is sponsored by the Co-op.
If Stockport County is to continue to grow as a club, we need to embrace new supporters from all quarters and resist the temptation to act as unofficial gatekeepers. Nobody likes to see other teams’ shirts worn at our games but those who come to Edgeley Park in the right spirit and the right clothing should be made as welcome as possible.