Arsene Wenger trying to defend the indefensible?

Morning all.

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Arsene Wenger thinks the price charged by Arsenal for season tickets and tickets in general are fair. Well, by looking at the table above which has been pinched from The Daily Mail, perhaps his view is blinkered, and that’s being kind.

We pay absolutely everything ourselves so we have to generate more revenue. It is true we get more television income, that is down to the audience and success, but you know as well that it is down to the pressure of the market to pay for the players with a higher price and our expenses will come up straight away to increase their wages.

After that you want the ticket prices to be as comfortable as possible for our fans.

I’d understand his argument more had he/the club not signed just Petr Cech and Mohammed Elney over the last two transfer windows but considering they cost around £15 million between them, using that example is poppycock. Yes they paid for the stadium, but hiding behind that excuse is boring after ten years.

Meanwhile, over in West London, a classless club I must add, have a glut of superstars, a few league trophies, a big shiny Champions League trophy and a few other domestic cups in their possession, yet their tickets, certainly season tickets are cheaper.

Arsenal fans, and I don’t mean just those who go to The Emirates, have just two FA Cup trophies to brag about. There’s a pot of gold stashed away in the Arsenal bank yet still the club has the audacity to charge the most expensive price for a season ticket in the league.

Match day tickets aren’t quite as bad, well the cheapest as Arsenal sit well below many clubs for that costing and the most commonly paid prices are reasonable in comparison too but the most expensive is up there head and shoulders above other clubs!

I expect the manager is trying to defend – ‘the most commonly paid price’ – as Arsenal charge similar to Chelsea and just a few pounds more than Man City and Utd. Less than Liverpool and Tottenham though and those two clubs haven’t had much to brag about over the last few years and long may that remain!

As we know, other clubs fans have started to protest about the amount they are being charged. There was the 77 minute walk out at Liverpool, tennis balls being thrown onto the pitch at Dortmund, a club which charges far less than any club in the Premier League and no doubt this is just the start.

I’d have thought its only a matter of time before Arsenal fans let their feelings be known and when/if they do, Martin Keown will be right there with them.

My Sportsmail colleague Jamie Carragher made a stand by joining in the Anfield protests last week and if there was a similar one at Arsenal, I would follow suit. The clubs have to support what the majority of fans want and it’s time to stand up for them.

Bring back a safe standing area, reduce the ticket prices and improve the atmosphere – that’s what our old centre-back believes is the way forward and funny enough, so do I.

Anyway, Leicester fans are expected to vent their fury at the FA tomorrow by turning up late for the match after this fixture was moved very late in the day which has no doubt caused them all sorts of problems. Arsenal fans are urged to join them but I doubt they will.

After all, if you are paying the highest prices, you don’t want to miss an early goal.

Have a good Saturday…

42 thoughts on “Arsene Wenger trying to defend the indefensible?

  1. andrewh1313 says:

    Good post rico, morning!

    Tricky one, such an important match for fans to be distracted, look what happened to ‘Pool. At least protesting at beginning is more sensible than last 10 minutes!

  2. rico says:

    Morning Andrew.

    Not sure I’d be contemplating any kind of protest, not at this stage of the season. This team needs the fans behind it.. It’s not their fault other issues are going on…

  3. rico says:

    Trouble is Scott, people want to get home. Possibly not so bad tomorrow as it’s a midday kick-off but on a Saturday/Sunday afternoon, it’s perhaps different.

    Have Arsenal announced a rise in ticket prices for next season? I’ve not seen anything which suggests they are..

  4. allezkev says:

    Morning All

    If you protest before and after the game, it will have a zero influence…

    The only way you’ll have any long term effect on the way that the club is squeezing the life out of the fans is by embarrassing them on th TV…

    Football on TV, in England is sanitised for the benefit of the overseas viewer…

  5. rico says:

    Exactly Iceman. Especially when you compare Arsenal’s prices to Chelsea’s..

    Morning Kev..

    They would wouldn’t they as it’s the likes of Sky and Bt who have and are ruining the game…

  6. dublingunner says:

    Morning, great graph and post Rico, Finally a week off from the madness of work.
    Absolute extortionate prices compared to other teams, I absolutely agree with Kev, what good are protests before or after a game, they clearly don,t work.
    Yesterday AW comes out saying the time for protests are before or after, ye to suit you sir, Well we don,t always get what we want, Arsene.
    I think the Pool supporters were spot on last week, and heh, It worked.
    Nothing will change unless something drastic is done, just IMO,

  7. rico says:

    Dublin, I can’t take any credit for the graph… 😉

    I get what Kev is saying about the protest during a game but I fear for how the players would react. As said earlier, it’s not their fault but they’ll be the ones any walk out or protest would have an impact on.

    Imo, 90 mins of playing time is about being behind the team, rather than against the manager, board or owner…

  8. scottfromoz says:

    Well protesting during the game is crazy, IMO, especially in a game of such importance.
    Dont go to the Barca game….spread the word for fans to boycott it.
    There’s your protest.

  9. dublingunner says:

    You Still have to dig the graphs,Stats and Statements out, your too humble Rico.
    ye thats were we Differ slightly, because I just cannot see any effect of before and after game protests, unfortunately no one wants to disrupt the team at this stage of the season, but the only way to hurt the club is bums on seats, so either a walk out or a boycott is the only way, true timing is essential,but i can think of no other alternative.
    It,s just for a club who have not won a title for 12 years, or been past the last 16 in the champions league for 6, for them to justify their prices is criminal, and it is only a matter of time before their hiked up again.

  10. rico says:

    But fans would want to watch Barca play I’d suspect Scott…

    Thanks Dublin… lol

    I guess it’s easier for me to suggest the best way as I don’t fork out for a ST or a ticket very often and so when I do go, I’d want to be there from start to end regardless…

  11. Bob John says:

    I am not one to defend the ST prices as I gave mine up two years ago but our prices do include 7 cup ties including champions league which other clubs don’t do. The press always conveniently ignore this.

  12. rico says:

    It’s a tough one Scott…

    Bob, I was wondering about the additional matches included as I was writing and didn’t know what they were. I thought about dividing the matches into the ST price to see what it roughly works out how much each costs each home game.

    I make that 25 so for just over £2000 for a ST, it’s quite expensive or has my maths failed me again…? lol

  13. dublingunner says:

    I dunno, I just can,t see the justification in it at all, anyways.
    Happy 60th Birthday to my favourite player as a kid Liam Brady, chippy.
    for years I thought he got that name because of fantastic abilty to score free kicks and fine goals with deft little chips into the top corners, only for my bubble to be bust by finding out that as an apprentice and youth he lived out of the chippy,
    Funny.

  14. potter says:

    Football is running scared ,I always thought that either football in England would grow until it ate itself or until a bigger fish would come along . Seems the big Chinese take away fish is arriving . We can expect a number of big name players to be linked with moves and tempted by high salaries and a feeding frenzy from their agents and the press pointing as many poisoned arrows at us as they can. Already both Alexis’ and Ozil’s agents are jockeying for position . This will happen to us and it will happen to every big club in Europe , the ones that pay up will keep their players and those that don’t will slip down their respective pecking orders , it’s no different to that which happened when Abramovic changed the situation here . Money has already ruined the game and now is getting ready to burn it’s heritage. This is what is behind Wenger’s comments , he is well aware that when push comes to shove The Arsenal are likely to be one of the clubs that don’t pay up and he is getting the excuses in first.

  15. rico says:

    Afternoon guys. A few funny old results today. Utd beaten, Hammers scrambled a draw and Stoke won. Everton got beat after have 30+ chances on goal.

    The only team to have more chances yet still lost was…. Yep, Arsenal..

    Potter, you could be right. Especially about the early excuses….

  16. potter says:

    Interesting( to me anyway) is the question of just how much of football in general is built on solid ground . The more I read in the other forums that I frequent the more I hear traditional fans of both this and other clubs feeling disenfranchised. Certainly at The Arsenal there is a kick against pricing and at Liverpool too it seems and I doubt that we are alone..My thoughts are if we witness a backlash and the traditional fans stop paying and traveling just how strong is the base on which the premiership stands. The artificial money from TV and sponsors could soon dry up especially if the suggested exodus of players takes place and if the people that can afford the prices stop going or, don’t pay up front for season tickets , how will the club’s cash flows be affected. Will the younger set make up the shortfull and when the league loses it’s gloss will the tourists turn out for the games against the straglers ?.

  17. rico says:

    Asked earlier, is Kroenke trying out price ST holders? Because I sure don’t know why ours are so highly priced compared to other clubs.

  18. Wavy says:

    Morning all.

    Bright, brisk and blue skies here. Lovely, a great day to win a football game!

    Game predictor. 2-1 to the Arsenal. A nail biter but a season changer……….I hope!

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