Chelsea v Arsenal tickets from £5. Has the media said anything about today’s ticket prices?

By Tony Attwood

You may recall a situation last season when Manchester City (a bit like Wigan before them) were unable to sell their away ticket allocation for a league game, so within the rules of away allocation, they returned the unwanted tickets to Arsenal.

Arsenal then moved the barriers separating home and away fans, and sold the spare tickets very quickly.

The media went berserk over that.  So berserk in fact that you could almost see the revolting saliva spilling from their mouths as they ranted about a supporter revolt, about fair prices for fans, about the importance of away fans…

The point the bandwagon jumping journalists made (actually I could have lifted that phrase from the Daily Mail, except they never write negative stuff about journalists) was that greedy Arsenal’s top prices are killing football, and yes it is greedy Arsenal that is doing it, and by the way did we tell you this is evil greedy Arsenal.

So I have waited with interest to read the mass commentaries in the press about the prices of tickets for today’s game against Chelsea.   So far I have found a Daily Mail piece which is here.   I don’t like their little England right wing fanaticism but let’s be fair, they have mentioned the price.

To the best of my knowledge the Chelsea end has sold out, and the tickets were a whopping £10 each in the lower reaches of the clock end.

Now surely, if £60 for a Manchester City fan is such big news that every media outlet has to mention it at least five times and then every pundit has to mention it another 30 times, then £10 for Chelsea is worth a mention to.

I mean it costs me £10 to go and watch Corby Town play in the 6th tier of English football, and I feel that the quality of football on show tonight (assuming the trains are running and I can get there) will be higher.  No criticism of Corby Town – I enjoy going to their matches to all the non-league games I have seen this season.  But it just puts tonight’s price in perspective.

But having raised the Man C issue, I would like to see the ticket price mentioned in the press and on radio and on tv for this game at the Ems.

Now I suspect the media will say, “well, it is always £10 downstairs for league cup games” and yes it is.  When we played Ipswich in the semi-final it was £10 downstairs, £20 upstairs.    But then the price that the Man City fans had to pay was the same as every other away fan for a game involving the biggest teams.  It is just that some journo ran the story.

So, could I ask you to help me…

If you have seen any piece in the press or heard it on radio or tv – anything at all, on the price of tickets for Arsenal v Chelsea on 29 October 2013, could you write in below so we can all celebrate the even handedness of the press.

Now there is one site that is offering these tickets at £65 to £75 – but I’m not talking about touting – just about buying the ticket legally from the club.

Chelsea on their site, sold them at Arsenal’s prices, of course.  Indeed juniors and seniors were priced £5 each.   Now that is a deal and a half.

And if the press is not venturing wholesale into the notion of tickets for an Arsenal starting at £5 then perhaps we could ask why not?  Could it be that the TV, radio and press pundits are not absolutely fair and even handed?

The books…

And from the same team…

20 Replies to “Chelsea v Arsenal tickets from £5. Has the media said anything about today’s ticket prices?”

  1. The reason you will not read great swaths of media coverage about the price of the Arsenal v Chelsea game is the small fact that Norwich fans are being charged £45 to see Manchester United play in the same competition

  2. i think you are missing the point of newspapers Tony.. its not about presenting ‘good news’ stories
    its not about seeking to represent ‘truth’

    no

    the point of newspapers…

    …is to line the bottom of rabbit hutches

  3. I have read that Jose is going to field first team squad players. I don’t know the Arsenal team but even if we play a reserve 11, ten pound to watch the Chelski first team and Arsenal youngsters has got to be the bargain of the season.

    Yet more evidence that Arsenal are the best club in the country to support.

  4. Blacksheep: No its not used for that at all, it is used for keeping homeless folks warm when sleeping, then if you have left overs, you use them in rabbit hutches, sheesh!

    I was just wondering while on train home that the guys who have not played against City are the squad so how much game time have they had? Our guys have been together for a good amount of time so might be more ‘gelled’?
    I really have no idea about the Chelsea side but that is what bottomless pits of money get you, a bench that is fooking quality. That is wat they mean by our squad is not as good as theirs. If we try to hard in this comp we will be fooked too!
    Still I believe it us football and anyone can win.
    COYG!!!

  5. As someone who has played and watched football in the most atrocious of conditions, I now welcome the sedentary twilight of my life when the thought of the wearying journey to and from the Emirates, the spiralling cost of tickets and the mystery filling in the pies, is now so off-putting that I cannot resist the attraction of a warm fireside and the TV.
    Not forgetting a glass of Calvados and a pipe of St Bruno ready-rubbed.

  6. The first time i read is from some Chinese on-line feeding…

    not from fan sites of blogs keeping track of Arsenal news from all the medias.

    no kidding

  7. Blacksheep – isnt the point of newspapers also to rest in Colindale Library so that historical researchers can study them and understand what was going on in the past?

  8. I sometimes wonder: where did it all go wrong with the media like newspapers and TV….

    If in some 100 years time a historical researcher is looking at the newspapers from today he will come to the conclusion that our society was filled with hysterical people and idiots.

    But most people I know are not like that. But will that researcher know that?

  9. Actually if we win the league this year ppl can look back and see just how blind they were. The see a title winning team so just be good but papers are saying they are shit, papers must be wrong.
    God I hope we win something this year because my biggest fear is that we don’t and knives come out for Wenger with aaa leading pack.
    That scares me more than just not winning. I hate seeing bad things written about him he is like a family member or something.
    COYG

  10. There is no sense whatsoever in the media.
    Frimmy is on the frame of the media today for instance. It can only be a joke when he said” I wish i was English and white” when replying for not being on the team sheet for tonight game.

    Even when clearly is admitting it is a joke the media what they care only interest is negativity of the club.

  11. Wasnt that the case last year. 10 pounds for cup games, league cup ie….
    Arent ARESNAL subsidizing our away fans when they go to the away games???….

    And what about the price freeze for seasons ticket???…..Why is that not in the news???

  12. Hope the linesmen, whoever they’re, will ask the chelski players to acknowledge the Arsenal board for making this game affordable to so many of their supporters.

  13. As a man sow, shall he reap. and I know that talk is cheap. But the heat of the battle is as sweet as the victory.
    Bob Marley

    What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
    Thomas Paine

    The ’60s are gone, dope will never be as cheap, sex never as free, and the rock and roll never as great.
    Abbie Hoffman

    My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.
    Thomas Jefferson

  14. Excellent value tonight (will be in the lower tier), but I still find the price difference between the lower tier and upper tier too big. Here we are talking 100% difference!
    Ok it’s still cheap at £20 plus fees, but

    On cat-A games it’s over £80 a standard ticket. I think the base price of the tickets is pretty decent and the cheaper games balance out the more expensive ones, but the ticket site queuing is a bit unpredictable and the lower tier goes fast

  15. Great value indeed but the fact is that gate receipts for cup games are split meaning had Chelsea not agreed to the ticket prices they would not have been reduced.

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