Man United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has called for controls to be put on rising ticket prices around the Premiership.
‘Ever since I have come down to England, I have never understood how teams in London are able to increase their ticket prices depending on who they are playing.’ said Fergie, before moving on to criticize the government for not stepping in.
‘That should not be allowed. Why haven’t the Office of Fair Trading done something about it? What the hell do they do?
‘If some grocer puts his pound of sugar up a penny more than the guy next door he will probably get fined £3,000 or even closed down.’
It may be the first time the Scot has thrown his hat into the ring regarding rising ticket inflation, but the impact on Premiership fans and attendences has been debated for some time with a number of players and club officials speaking up.
Chelsea have been at the center of the discussion in the past few weeks. Joe Cole criticized the club for alienating casual fans with high prices (£48 for the cheapest walk-up ). The Sun then revealed they had doubled ticket costs for disabled fans, wile a number of Premiership clubs do not charge at all, leading to criticism from fans and media alike. The ever-present insult to injury here is that Chelsea are hardly struggling for cash, thanks to Roman Abramovich’s billions.
Read more from the BBC about the impact of rising Premiership ticket prices