B.O.G.O.F at Brentford & Oxford United and a Positive Day for Salisbury City

As the season approaches its climax, two teams with plenty to play for at the top of Leagues One and Two respectively are offering 'buy one, get one free' ticket deals for upcoming games.

Brentford host Crawley at Griffin Park on Tuesday 8th April at 7:45pm and the offer applies to all home sections of the ground. East Stand tickets for Oxford United's game against Fleetwood this Saturday (5th April 3pm) are also two for the price of one.

It's a smart move from both clubs, ensuring healthy attendance at a time when regular supporters and season ticket holders are more likely to welcome the extra numbers through the gate if it manages to push their team over the line in the battle for either promotion or a play-off place.

Other offers that have been announced since our April update include more free football as Chelsea and Liverpool meet in the Under-21 Premier League at Aldershot on Tuesday 7th April, kick-off 7:05pm.

Saturday's Conference Premier game between Salisbury City and Kidderminster Harriers, meanwhile, attracted a crowd of 2,217 to the Raymond McEnhill Stadium, the result of a month of hard work by the club to raise their profile locally.

Manager Mikey Harris and his players toured local schools and handed out complimentary tickets while military personnel were offered entry for £1. "Hopefully that will be a catalyst for our crowds increasing over this season and next season."

Affordable Football aims to bring you the special offers, reduced ticket prices and family deals that make catching a match anywhere in the country more affordable. You can tweet us @affordablefooty or email affordablefootball@yahoo.com if your club are doing something worth hearing about.

April’s Affordable Football

Some of the things we have noticed for the month ahead…

Monday 31 March: Ok not quite in April but it’s a good one anyway. Reading’s Under-21 clash with Manchester United at the Madejski Stadium, kick-off 7pm, is free for all supporters.

Tuesday 1 April: More free football (and not an April fool) as Welsh champions The New Saints throw open their doors for the game against Newtown, kick-off 7:45pm.

Saturday 5 April: England’s Senior Women continue their World Cup qualifying campaign when they host Montenegro at Brighton’s Amex Stadium, kick-off 12:55pm. As of Wednesday, over 6,000 tickets had been sold for the game with family tickets (2 adults and 2 children) available for just £10.

Tuesday 8 April: Peterborough United go to Wembley this Sunday for the JPT Final against Chesterfield and any Posh fan with a ticket for the big game can buy one for the home league game against Gillingham on April 8 for just £5.

Wednesday 9 April: Forest Green Rovers host Cheltenham Town in the Gloucestershire Senior Cup with prices reduced to just £3 for adults.

Wednesday 16 April: England Under-18’s take on Germany at Rotherham’s New York Stadium with tickets priced at £3 for adults and £1 for children/OAPS.

Wednesday 16/ Thursday 17 April: The new FA Women’s Super League season kicks off and as we have highlighted before on Affordable Football there are some great value season tickets available at all of the participating clubs. Reading’s WSL2 opener against Yeovil on Wednesday 16 April at 19:45pm will be played at the Madejski Stadium and entry is free.

Ongoing: Dorchester Town’s family offer of a £5 ticket for one adult and two children is ongoing for the remainder of the season as are Sutton United’s reduced entry prices of £10 for adults.

Affordable Football aims to bring you the special offers, reduced ticket prices and family deals that make catching a match anywhere in the country more affordable. You can tweet us @affordablefooty or email affordablefootball@yahoo.com if your club are doing something worth hearing about.

A Mention for Stoke City & Liverpool On Season Tickets

It isn’t always here on Affordable Football that we delve into the top-flight of the English game. The nature of the offers we are highlighting means we focus more on the Football League and below as clubs try and attract supporters through the turnstiles.

But two announcements on season tickets have caught the eye this week…

For the seventh consecutive season (and with Premier League football again likely to be on the menu after an excellent win at Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon), Stoke City have frozen season ticket prices at the Britannia Stadium.

"It's evident since my time here, and to someone who's been to other clubs, how much the club takes on board what fans are saying and the economics of the area,” manager Mark Hughes told the Stoke Sentinel and the Potters will be hoping that a good season of home results under Hughes and the price freeze will win back some of the season ticket holders who did not renew last summer, an issue which we highlighted back in September.

http://affordablefootball.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/attendance-worries.html

Liverpool have no such worries about filling their stadium on a regular basis but it is to the credit of the club that, with one eye firmly on the future, they have reduced the price of junior season tickets to £200 in all areas of Anfield whereas previously that price had only been available in one family-specific section of the ground.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, managing director Ian Ayre said: “It's always been a big challenge for Liverpool FC as with the crowds we get and the massive demand for seats, we just don't have the capacity, but making the right price and opportunities for kids is important. We have an ageing fan base and it's vital that we encourage youngsters to come to games.”

Affordable Football aims to bring you the special offers, reduced ticket prices and family deals that make catching a match anywhere in the country more affordable. You can tweet us @affordablefooty or email affordablefootball@yahoo.com if your club are doing something worth hearing about.

A Double Bill Of Pay What You Want Football This Saturday

Bath City FC host their community day this Saturday (22nd march) when the club are inviting fans to 'Pay What You Want' for the game against Chelmsford City. 10% of the money taken at the gate will be given to local charity partners, the RUF Forever Friends Appeal. 

In addition, Saffron Walden Town FC are also hoping to attract a big crowd to their Catons Lane home when they entertain Braintree Town Reserves having adopted the 'Pay What You Want' initiative for this game.

Vice-chairman Martin Johnson told the club's official website: 'Our Boxing Day match with Braintree last season saw the biggest crowd in the country all season at Step 6 and hopefully we can do something similar this time.'

Also this weekend, FC Halifax Town are offering some reduced prices for their game against Alfreton Town which has been moved to Monday night for television coverage, under-12's can attend for free and under-16's for £3 in the South and East stands.

Full details on the official club websites of the relevant home teams.

Affordable Football aims to bring you the special offers, reduced ticket prices and family deals that make catching a match anywhere in the country more affordable. You can tweet us @affordablefooty or email affordablefootball@yahoo.com if your club are doing something worth hearing about.

 

Birmingham City Ladies Offer Even More WSL Value

The new season of the FA Women's Super League kicks off in April and, as previous articles here on Affordable Football have highlighted, the competition offers a family-friendly, affordable way to watch some of the top players in the Womens' game.

Season tickets for most clubs competing in the new two-division structure are priced at around £30 for adults and less for concessions and a good link from the official FA WSL site will take you to an online ticket store for all 16 teams.

Birmingham City Ladies have taken that one step further as they prepare for the new campaign, with games being played at the home of Conference South side Solihull Moors. Under-16's season tickets brought at the same time as a £30 adult season ticket are free and offer entry to all home games in both the Super League and the Continental Cup competition.

With seven home league games that means an adult and child could watch for less than £5 a game. The Blues ladies are also preparing to play at St Andrew's on Monday 24th March in an eagerly-anticipated Champions League clash with Arsenal.

http://www.bcfc.com/news/article/20140318-birmingham-city-ladies-season-tickets-1428109.aspx

http://www.ticketstores.co.uk/fawsl

Affordable Football aims to bring you the special offers, reduced ticket prices and family deals that make catching a match anywhere in the country more affordable. You can tweet us @affordablefooty or email affordablefootball@yahoo.com if your club are doing something worth hearing about.

Sutton United Reap The Benefit Of Their Hard Work

A superb crowd of 2,172 came through the gates at Sutton United on Saturday afternoon to watch the Skrill South game against Basingstoke and it was not just the 4-0 victory for the home side that sent the vast majority of them home in good spirits.

Those coming down to Gander Green Lane were allowed in free, with 'Pay What You Like' collections raising £2,577 which the club say 'compares very favourably with an average gate receipt'.

Supporters were also able to see comedian Tim Vine take on a host of roles around the club throughout the day in aid of charity partners St Raphael's Hospice.

Having written about a number of 'Pay What You Like' games throughout the current season it is clear that the initiative has a big future but also that it requires plenty of work to make it work.

Sutton distributed 20,000 leaflets across their borough in the build-up to the game and also made full use of social media to publicise it.

The benefits go way beyond one 'feel-good' afternoon with the club having generated untold goodwill among their local population which should be continued by the reduction in ticket prices between now and the end of the season.

£10 adult admission begins on Tuesday night when Gosport Borough are the visitors and I'm sure more than a few people who enjoyed their day on Saturday will be back.

http://www.suttonunited.net/news.php

Affordable Football aims to bring you the special offers, reduced ticket prices and family deals that make catching a match anywhere in the country more affordable. You can tweet us @affordablefooty or email affordablefootball@yahoo.com if your club are doing something worth hearing about.

John Hartson Foundation Benefits From Free Footy At Stirling Albion

An affordable football offer I've just caught up with took place on Tuesday night when Stirling Albion took on Elgin City in a re-arranged Scottish League Two fixture.

Having seen the game called off in December, the Binos took the decision that to turn the situation into a positive one, when faced with a midweek date for the new game, was to allow free entry with donations to the John Hartson Foundation.

And a crowd of 641 (around double what the club would normally expect) turned up, giving £2,368 to the cause.

Stirling Albion Operations Director Stuart Brown told his club's official website: "I would like to thank everyone behind the scenes who helped to make this venture an outstanding success. A huge thank you, also, to everyone who contributed to the amount raised – with a special mention to our Polish visitor for their one zloty!"

http://www.stirlingalbionfc.co.uk/

Free Football And Laughs At Sutton United This Saturday

The names of Sutton United and Gander Green Lane are designed to bring any Coventry City supporter out in a cold sweat after the Sky Blues famous FA Cup defeat at the ground in 1989.

Even this City fan, however, can't help but be impressed by the twin initiatives being offered by the Skrill South club.

Firstly, this Saturday's home game against Basingstoke Town (Saturday 15th March 3pm) has been designated as a 'Pay What You Like' fixture with free entry and another appearance from top comedian and Sutton supporter Tim Vine who will act as club mascot for the day. This follows an earlier appearance which, unfortunately, coincided with a postponed match.

Not only that but the club have cut admission prices for their remaining home games of the season to £10 for adults, £5 for concessions and £1 for juniors as they, like so many other teams, battle with a fixture backlog after the bad winter weather.

Speaking to the Streatham Guardian, chairman Bruce Elliott said: "We hope that by making this reduction to admission prices, which also sees the age for senior citizen entry revert to 60, we will help people to get to more games and maybe attract new supporters.”

http://www.suttonunited.net/community_news.php#118


Affordable Football aims to bring you the special offers, reduced ticket prices and family deals that make catching a match anywhere in the country more affordable. You can tweet us @affordablefooty or email affordablefootball@yahoo.com if your club are doing something worth hearing about.

Affordable Football & Rugby (Or Vice Versa)

Some interesting deals have cropped up over the past few weeks that have combined football and rugby (both codes) either where the sports take place at the same stadium or they are planned to do so shortly.

With the London Broncos having moved into Barnet FC's The Hive for the new Super League season, the Bees (who are always very active when it comes to ticket promotions) have already run a couple offers. With both sides at home on the weekend just gone, members from either club were able to watch the other match for free.

Something similar is happening at Rochdale this coming weekend under the hashtag #TeamRochdale. The promotion-chasing footballers host Accrington Stanley on Saturday and anyone who purchases a ticket for that game (from £15) can return to Spotland the following day to watch Rochdale Hornets in Challenge Cup action for just £5.

Bristol City season ticket holders, meanwhile, are able to watch Bristol Rugby's game against Ealing Trailfinders on Sunday 30 March for free with season ticket holders at the Rugby club able to do the same when City host Preston North End on Saturday 5 April.

This comes ahead of a move to Ashton Gate next season for the Rugby club, one that has seen plans for rail seats to be installed at the ground, for use at rugby matches only to begin with ahead of possible changes to legislation that allow them to be used for football.

Affordable Football aims to bring you the special offers, reduced ticket prices and family deals that make catching a match anywhere in the country more affordable. You can tweet us @affordablefooty or email affordablefootball@yahoo.com if your club are doing something worth hearing about.

March Update

An update of the Affordable Football offers that are coming up for the rest of the month.

Tuesday 11: Stranraer have reduced prices for a second midweek game in succession after a positive response last week. Adults are £10 for the game against Forfar.

Saturday 15: It’s ‘Kids For A Quid’ at the City Ground when Nottingham Forest host Doncaster Rovers. On the same day, West Bromwich Albion have subsidised ticket prices for travelling fans off to the game at Swansea.

Saturday 22: Bath City host their first Community Day with the fixture against Chelmsford City a 'Pay What You Want' game. 10% of the money taken on the gate will go to charity. Tuesday 25: Carlisle United are offering adult admission for £10 (£1 for 7-17-year-olds and free for Under 7's) when they host Shrewsbury Town at Brunton Park.

Saturday 29: Under-12’s are free for MK Dons home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Ongoing: Alfreton Town have continued their policy of offering reduced price admission to Under 16's and Under 21's for their four home fixtures in March .

Looking Ahead: Early Bird tickets for the Women’s FA Cup Final at MK Dons on June 1 are available now priced at £6 for adults and £3 for concessions with a family ticket £15.

Newport County Aim To Weather The Financial Storm

This winter's bad weather has left its mark firmly on football with even the Premier League not immune to the effects of Mother Nature. Outside of the Football League, postponements and damage to grounds have left clubs fighting for their very existence while inside, two clubs in particular, Crawley Town and Newport County suffered more than most.

Speaking on 7 February after the postponement of a fifth home game this season, Newport chief executive Dave Boddy said: "It's devastating for everybody at the club, frustration is not the word.

"It's killing us on all fronts - on the cash flow front we're now £180,000 down just on the gates for the five games we've had postponed."

Those games all get played eventually of course but often in midweek rather than on a Saturday and, in the case of Tuesday night's match with Fleetwood Town, on the back of four previous consecutive home fixtures.

To help try and alleviate the burden of that for supporters and also to try and get something positive out of a difficult situation, prices were cut to £5 in all areas of the ground for the visit of the Cod Army, resulting in a gate of 3,728 and nearly 1,000 extra fans through the turnstiles than for Saturday's home clash with Scunthorpe United.

A Century For Affordable Football

To mark this, the 100th post on Affordable Football, I'd just like to thank anyone who has ever read the blog and everyone who has sent me links on Twitter highlighting any offers at their club that I have missed.

Keep checking @affordablefooty for all of the up to date links.

Just today I've seen that Alfreton Town are continuing their reduced price admission for Under-21's for the four home games in March, that Sunderland have reduced season card prices for 2014/15, there is a Kids for a Quid offer at Stevenage this Saturday in conjunction with the local newspaper and adult tickets for Wales versus Iceland at Cardiff on Wednesday night are just £10.

Carlisle United Cut Prices In Bid To Win Back Fans

Carlisle United Football Club have announced a cut price ticket offer for the home game against Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday 25 March 2014 as the Cumbrians bid to win back fans to Brunton Park.

Adult, senior and young person tickets for all areas of the ground will be priced at £10 for entry and juniors (age group 7 to 17) will gain entry for just £1 – children under the age of 7 will get free entry to this game as normal.

With attendances falling below the break-even figure of 4,200, manager Graham Kavanagh faces a budget cut next season as outlined by managing director John Nixon at a recent fans forum.

“If we can play attractive football and win games, people will come back and watch us.

“People don’t want to leave feeling brassed-off, saying we played really well but didn’t get a result and we are five places above the bottom. They feel as if they have wasted money on a Saturday so we can’t have that. Unfortunately, the pressure is going on Kav."

That fans forum was the first in over a year and supporters have expressed concerns about the lack of communication from the club. Jon Colman of the local newspaper the News & Star consistently writes excellent articles about this and other issues affecting the club.

Crowd numbers have been an issue throughout the season with only 1,484 watching the FA Cup game against Boreham Wood earlier in the campaign. 7,934 did come through the gate against Preston on Boxing Day, however, helped by free entry for anyone dressed as Father Christmas!

http://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/news/article/shrewsticketoffer25march14-1384290.aspx?

Affordable Football aims to bring you the special offers, reduced ticket prices and family deals that make catching a match anywhere in the country more affordable. You can tweet us @affordablefooty or email affordablefootball@yahoo.com if your club are doing something worth hearing about.

A Yorkshire Double Bill Of Affordable FA Cup Action

Next weekend sees the quarter-finals of the FA Cup take place with eight teams only one game away from a trip to Wembley.

Yorkshire takes centre stage on Sunday as Sheffield United host Charlton Athletic at 12pm and then Hull City play Sunderland at 2pm.

For the Blades it is a huge occasion, one that would have been bigger had city rivals Wednesday beaten Charlton in Round 5 but still a game that has captured the imagination with ticket sales proceeding briskly.

With prize money in the bank and all the games at this stage being televised it makes sense to keep prices realistic and that is just what they have done with tickets £20 for Adults, £15 for Season Ticket Holders and Concessions and £5 for Juniors.

At the KC Stadium it is a meeting between two Premiership teams and again there is no point in pricing it the same as a league game.

Regardless of the magic that the FA Cup still has, supporters cannot stretch to those when they have already paid for season tickets and when you are looking at essentially the same pool of people to come to this fixture in contrast, perhaps, to the matches at Manchester City and Arsenal where there are more 'one-off' potential attendees.

Prices are £20 for Adults, £15 for Seniors (65+) & 16-22 Year-Olds, £5 for Under 16s and £1 for Under 10s.