A Great(er) Manchester Initiative for Affordable Football

Games between Oldham Athletic, Bury and Rochdale will routinely be described as Lancashire derbies and no doubt when any of these sides meet it it is pleasing for fans to get one over on the opposition.

But off the field the three clubs have again teamed up for an initiative that allows for season ticket holders to watch an additional five matches per season for just £5 each when their own team are playing away.

10 fixtures have been earmarked for Oldham fans to watch at either Bury or Rochdale with 5 Latics' games each available to Shakers and 'Dale supporters (Bury and Rochdale currently have home games scheduled for the same dates although these may change due to postponement or re-arrangement and the offer will then be extended).

Full details on the official websites of the various clubs.

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 Mention for Eastleigh FC

Newly-promoted into the Football Conference for the coming season, Eastleigh FC are doing everything they can to attract new supporters to the Silverlake Stadium.

A very successful season ticket early bird offer was extended until the 1st of July after the initial deadline of the start of June saw over 500 being sold with over 200 of them being new purchasers.

The Spitfires also have a special offer for their three home pre-season friendlies against Football League opposition.

Individual tickets for the matches against Swindon (Thu 17 July), Crawley (Sat 26) and Northampton (Fri 1 August) are £8 but a ticket for all three costs just £10.

http://www.eastleighfc.com/

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.

Capital One Cup Update

In addition to the special promotion being run by the sponsors whereby for all first round games an adult can buy up to five children's tickets for just £1 each, the following clubs have already announced ticket prices for their home ties and at each of them there are £10 tickets available for adults in some or all areas of the respective grounds..

Shrewsbury Town, Leyton Orient, Oldham Athletic, Bolton Wanderers, Southend United, Crawley Town and Burton Albion.

More to come in due course.

Football for a Fiver at Chester FC

A follow up to the article about pre-season friendlies posted below comes from Chester FC who are preparing to welcome Crewe Alexandra, Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers to their Swansway Stadium over the next few weeks.

And the club have set prices for all three games at just £5 for all adults with Under 18's admitted free.

Manager Steve Burr told his club's official website: “I’m delighted the board have agreed to these reduced prices for pre season and hopefully plenty of people will come down and watch.

“Chester are a real community club and we hope the families will come down and cheer us on.”

http://www.chesterfc.com/news/article/football-for-a-fiver-1690420.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 Friendly Reminder

Some of the things that have caught our eye regarding pre-season matches.

I've seen a wide variety of prices for pre-season friendlies and some of them are very much on the high side for what are mainly run of the mill matches.

£10 for an adult ticket seems fair so anything below that gets an Affordable Football thumbs-up.

Games involving Football League clubs that pass that test include Crewe v Wolverhampton Wanderers at Gresty Road (Sat 26 July £8/£4), Shrewsbury v Chesterfield at Greenhous Meadow (Sat 12 July £7/£4) and Altrincham's matches against Tranmere Rovers (Tue 22 Jul), Accrington Stanley (Tue 29) and Shrewsbury (Fri 1 Aug) which are all priced at £7/£4.

Rochdale's home games against Wigan Athletic (Sat 19 July), Bolton Wanderers (Tue 22) and Middlesbrough (Sat 26) are priced at £10 each for adults and £5 for juniors but a 3 for 2 offer is available covering all the matches if purchased before the start of the Wigan game.

A reminder of our last friendly update...

Welsh Premier side Gap Connahs Quay Nomads FC have announced an eclectic mix of pre-season friendlies to be held at their Deeside Stadium with the highlight being a game against Dinamo Bucharest on Wednesday 2 July at 8pm. Bulgarian champions Ludogorets and Cardiff City's Development Squad (managed by Craig Bellamy) are also scheduled to visit with a ticket for all pre-season games available at £15 for adults and £5 for concessions.

Dover FC are again running their ‘Fiver Frenzy’ for pre-season with tickets for the games against Margate, Faversham, Colchester United (Friday 25 July 7:45pm) and Gillingham (Tuesday 29 July 7:30pm) priced at £5, under-11’s and season ticket holders going free.

Not far away, Dartford have a combined ticket for their trio of friendlies against league opposition (Millwall, Leyton Orient and Gilliingham) available for £25 adults and £12 concessions. And Dorchester Town have a three match deal for £20/£12 which covers home matches against Torquay United, Gosport Borough and AFC Bournemouth starting on July 12.

Stoke City Expecting to Beat Season Ticket Record

After a drop in season ticket sales of around 2,000 last summer Stoke City have made up that shortfall in the current close season and are expecting a record number of over 22,000 to sign up for the 2014/15 campaign.

A freshening up of things on the pitch, with Mark Hughes taking over from Tony Pulis and guiding the Potters to a ninth-place finish, has contributed to the steady sales but Stoke have continued to peg prices at the same level as when they came into the Premier League in 2007.

Back in March we highlighted the club's decision to resist a price increase and it wasn't the first time we had mentioned the Potters after their decision to provide free coach travel for all away games in the Premier League last 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.

Under £100 For A Diamond Season

AFC Rushden & Diamonds are the team that supporters' founded in the summer of 2011 to keep alive the name of a club that had gone out of business shortly before.

Progress has been rapid with the Diamonds (who are playing at the superbly names Dog and Duck ground in Wellingborough) now established at Step 5 of the non-league pyramid and having enjoyed a good FA Cup run last season.

For the upcoming season in the United Counties League premier division, season tickets are a reasonably priced £108 for 20 matches with concessions £54, under-16 members and under-8's free.

But for the duration of the World Cup those tickets have been reduced to £99 and £49 respectively making an adult season ticket cost less than £5 a game.

http://www.afcdiamonds.com/201415-season-ticket-price-promotion

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.

£1 Children's' Tickets Across Capital One Cup 1st Round

After subsidising a number of 2 for 1 ticket offers in the early stages of last season's competition, Capital One have announced a new initiative for the 1st Round of this year's League Cup.

The sponsors have teamed up with the 72 clubs entering the tournament at the opening stage to launch an offer whereby adults can buy up to five children's tickets for £1 each.

With the draw having been made on Tuesday, details are starting to appear on the official club websites of the teams who have been drawn at home.

http://www.capitalonecup.co.uk/news/article/family-friendly-start-for-capital-one-cup-1646005.aspx

First Look at Pre-Season Friendlies

Welsh Premier side Gap Connahs Quay Nomads FC have announced an eclectic mix of pre-season friendlies to be held at their Deeside Stadium with the highlight being a game against Dinamo Bucharest on Wednesday 2 July at 8pm.

Bulgarian champions Ludogorets and Cardiff City's Development Squad (managed by Craig Bellamy) are also scheduled to visit with a ticket for all pre-season games available at £15 for adults and £5 for concessions.

Dover FC are again running their ‘Fiver Frenzy’ for pre-season with tickets for the games against Margate, Faversham, Colchester United (Friday 25 July 7:45pm) and Gillingham (Tuesday 29 July 7:30pm) priced at £5, under-11’s and season ticket holders going free.

Not far away, Dartford have a combined ticket for their trio of friendlies against league opposition (Millwall, Leyton Orient and Gilliingham) available for £25 adults and £12 concessions.

And Dorchester Town have a three match deal for £20/£12 which covers home matches against Torquay United, Gosport Borough and AFC Bournemouth starting on July 12.

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.

WSL Returns With A Double-Header

After a midseason break the Women's Super League returns at the end of June and to maximise the impact of having no domestic competition for a month or so, a special double-header fixture has been arranged.

Billed as the 'Battle of Two Cities' and taking place at the Select Security Stadium in Widnes, reigning champions Liverpool will meet FA Cup winners Arsenal in a 12:15pm kick-off. Then at 3:15pm it is the turn of Everton to host Chelsea with both games shown live on BT Sport.

Having recently attended the Rugby League 'Magic Weekend' at the Etihad Stadium, perhaps this double-bill could be a forerunner to all eight teams in the WSL's top division facing each other on the same day at a neutral venue such as Villa Park?

Liverpool Ladies are also offering a half-season ticket costing just £15 for adults which covers five remaining home league games and any home Continental Cup matches.

Manchester City Ladies, meanwhile, have a special family ticket offer for their Continental Cup fixture with Sunderland on July 6 costing £16 for 2 adults and 2 children or £8 for 1 adult and 1 child.

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 Quiet Period With the World Cup Finally Here

So the World Cup is finally here and attention turns to Brazil with the hosts opening the tournament on Thursday night against Croatia.

The start of the football festival also marks a quiet spell in the domestic game with many clubs having hopefully done good business on early bird season tickets by the end of May.

Next week’s announcement of the fixtures for 2014/15 will briefly turn the focus back to the domestic game and also allow clubs to make some tentative plans for when they introduce some match-specific ticket offers (although that is also dictated of course by fortunes on the pitch and events off it).

Pre-season friendlies are still a few weeks away and the Women’s Super League is still on its midseason break (although there is a tasty double header coming up at the end of June with two local derbies scheduled for the same stadium on the same day).

Enjoy the action from Brazil!

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.

Update - Grimsby & Hartlepool

Season ticket sales are going well at two of the clubs we have looked at here on Affordable Football in recent weeks.

Grimsby Town pegged prices at last season's levels while also cutting prices for over 75's. An update on the club's official website on Monday showed that 279 season tickets have been sold to date against 214 at the same time last year with income up by £9,000.

Hartlepool United's offer of a £180 adult season ticket, meanwhile, has seen strong interest at the League Two club with 1,220 tickets sold as of Friday 6 June.

Good news for both clubs and always interesting to see the difference even a handful of extra ticket sales can make at a lower level.

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.

@affordablefooty

Is our Twitter address, where I try and tweet about all of the ticket offers that I come across whereas here on the blog page I try and go into a bit more detail about those deals that really catch the eye.

Tweets this week have included details of a discount offer for large groups attending the Scotland v Sweden Women's World Cup game at Motherwell on Saturday 14th and a free season ticket offer for students at Bradford Park Avenue next season.

https://twitter.com/AffordableFooty

Senior Service at Grimsby Town

Although they were unable to regain their place in the Football League, missing out to Gateshead in the Conference play-offs, Grimsby Town enjoyed a positive season capped by a good FA Cup run.

The Mariners are marshalling themselves for another tilt at promotion and have held the majority of season ticket prices at the same level as last season. For those aged 75 and over, however, the club have reduced prices significantly with season tickets available from £110.

And for the superbly titled 'Ancient Mariners' who are aged 85+ then matchday admission will be free when accompanied by a season ticket holder or carer/family member.

http://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/news/article/a-thank-you-from-the-ceo-1602558.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.

Our Twitter page is where we try and update all of the offers we see. This week for instance we have highlighted an offer whereby 5 adults and 20 children can watch Scotland's women versus Sweden on 14 June.

https://twitter.com/AffordableFooty
 

Albion Rovers Hail Success of 'Pay What You Can'

We've spent lots of time here on Affordable Football discussing Albion Rovers over the past few months, firstly with their 'Pay What You Can' match and then the subsequent decision to extend that idea to season tickets.

And, with the deadline now reached, the club have hailed both the financial and social benefits of the initiative which has seen a 500% rise in ticket sales, a 250% rise in revenue but, equally importantly, a heightened and more positive awareness of the club both locally and further afield (where a lot of sales have come).

Chairman John Devlin can tell the full story better than me and his statement can be read by clicking below.

http://albionroversfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Albion-Rovers-FC-Season-Ticket-Report.pdf

We also looked at Scottish Lowland League side Spartans FC back at the start of the year and the Edinburgh club, in addition to freezing season ticket prices, are offering 50% off to season ticket holders of any SPFL clubs who fancy following two sides in 2014/15.

http://www.spartansfc.com/2014/06/02/season-ticket-price-freeze/

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.

Season Ticket Sales Remain Strong at Bradford City

Bradford City have announced season ticket sales of just over 12,000 for the 2014/15 season after the end of the early bird offer that once again saw the Bantams offer some of the best value tickets in the country. That figure is a slight drop on last summer but one the club had been expecting as sales last time around came on the back of promotion and two trips to Wembley.

"It still represents a real backing of the club and the manager again which helps us to continue to make forward steps," director of operations David Baldwin told the Telegraph & Argus.

City have long been ahead of the game in offering a clear, good value price for their season tickets (£199 for adults this time around, frozen for a third successive year and on sale from February) and have been rewarded with consistently high attendances for the past seven seasons regardless of fortunes on the pitch.

With a stable income in the summer, financial planning surely becomes easier and any extra money (e.g from 2012/13's League Cup run) becomes a genuine bonus rather than a lifeline.

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 Reward Fans With Reduced Prices

Here on Affordable Football towards the end of the season we looked at a special ticket offer from Birmingham City as they prepared for three crucial home fixtures in their battle against relegation. In an extremely honest statement the club basically pleaded with fans with fans to back them one more time despite a shocker of a campaign.

The relegation scap was won in dramatic circumstances at Bolton on the final day of the season when Paul Caddis scored in injury time to earn the draw that kept Blues in the Championship and those supporters who held season tickets for 2013/14 can renew at a discounted price on top of the early bird offer that is in place although the word 'reward' may be misleading given that the season saw just two home league wins!

Birmingham also have a £230 adult season ticket available which works out at just £10 a game although it does cover only a relatively small section of the ground. A quick look at some of the fans forums shows a general pat on the back for the prices available now with some concern as to whether much business will be done after the end of the early bird prices.

http://www.bcfc.com/news/article/20140530-201415-season-ticket-information-1583182.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.

130th Anniversary and Affordable Football at Bury

Back in October we looked at the hard work being put in by Bury FC under new chairman Stewart Day as they prepared for a family fun day at Gigg Lane.

And, after a positive end to the season under new manager David Flitcroft, Mr Day has written an open letter to supporters to thank them and outline plans for 2014/15 which will be the Shakers' 130th anniversary.

As part of what he calls the 'championing of affordable football' the chairman has set season ticket prices at a maximum of £250 for adults which works out at less than £11 a game while there are various reduced prices for different categories including £125 for under 23's and students.

http://www.buryfc.co.uk/tickets/season-tickets/index.aspx

Staying in League Two and Hartlepool United have sold over 1,000 season tickets with a week to go before their early bird promotion which sees season tickets available for £180.