December Update

Some new offers since we first looked at December's Affordable Footy in this post
 
1st Free under-21 football at Goodison Park (7pm) as Everton take on Sunderland with a host of family activities taking place before the game kicks off.

2nd Eastleigh FC have designated their Conference clash with Dartford (7:45pm) as free admission for all as a thank you for the levels of support that the Spitfires have experienced this season so far.

11th Back to Goodison for the Toffees last Europa League group game and reduced prices mean it is a maximum of £15 for an adult to watch the Krasnodar match, £12 for season ticket holders and half-price for concessions.

20th Gillingham are looking to boost their pre-Christmas crowd for the home fixture against Chesterfield with admission £10 for adults, £5 for under-18's and £1 for under-12's.

20/28th Sheffield United have a number of offers covering their games against Walsall (20th) and Scunthorpe United (28th). The Walsall fixture is 'Kids for a Quid', season ticket holders can bring a friend to the Scunthorpe game for £10 (£5 concessions) and any adult ticket brought for the Scunthorpe game qualifies to get one for the Walsall game for £10.

28th Burnley have used some of their ‘away fans fund’ money to subsidise season ticket holders who want to go the Manchester City away game. The price of adult tickets has been cut from £47 to £25 with sharp reductions in concession tickets as well.

Everton Say It With Reduced Prices for Krasnodar Clash

As both a long-standing admirer of Everton Football Club (from studying in Liverpool and games against Coventry at Goodison watched with friends who followed the hosts) and someone whose televison consumption of live football comes mainly from ITV4, it has been a pleasure to watch the Toffees in the Europa League this season.

No rotation, no moaning, no wishing they weren't there in the first place. Roberto Martinez has approached the competition with the style that has become his trademark and has been rewarded with qualification for the knockout stages with a game to spare.

The fans look to have had a ball as well, on trips to Lille and Wolfsburg and to say thank you, the club have significantly reduced prices for the final group stage fixture when Krasnodar visit Goodison Park on Thursday 11 December (8:05pm).

Season Ticket holder prices are £12 for adults, £6 for over-65's and 16-20's and £5 for under-16's. For non-Season Ticket holders it is £15, £7.50 and £5 respectively.

Before then there is free entry to Goodison Park for this Monday's under-21 game against Sunderland (7pm) with lots of family activities taking place beforehand.

http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2014/11/27/krasnodar-ticket-information

Coventry City, Gillingham & The Game Before Christmas!

Traditionally seen as a game that attracts lower than average attendances, the Saturday fixture before Christmas suffers from being on the last major shopping day before the big occasion and without the kind of family turnout that normally ensures a good turnout in the games between Christmas and New Year.

A hangover from Friday night's partying may also be a factor so to act as a kind of footballing alka-seltzer, Coventry City and Gillingham have both reduced admission for their League One home matches on Saturday 20 December.

The Sky Blues have cut prices for the game against Fleetwood at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday 20 December to £10 adults, £5 concessions and £1 children.

Similar prices apply as the Gills host Chesterfield, £10 for adults, £5 for under-18's and £1 for under-12's.

Free Conference Football at Eastleigh Next Week

It's not reduced prices and it's not even a 'Pay What You Want' game.

Eastleigh's Vanarama Conference clash with Dartford at 7:45pm on Tuesday 2 December is completely free for home and away fans.

A simple statement on the club website merely says: 'The club has been delighted with attendances both home and away this season and would like to thank the fans for their continued support.'

Tickets are avaliable at the turnstiles on a first come first served basis.

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.

December’s Affordable Football

Christmas is coming and there’s plenty of reasons to avoid the shops…

1st Brighton & Hove Albion host the first of three under-21 games to be staged at the Amex Stadium this season when they entertain Arsenal with a 7pm kick-off. Season ticket holders can attend the game for free, admission otherwise is £5 for adults and £2 concessions.

5/6/7th The Second Round of the FA Cup takes place so check out your local team for any offers. Scunthorpe United, for example, have reduced prices to £12 (seating) and £10 (standing) for adults and £2 for under-16's as they host Worcester City.

6th Hitchin Town’s home game against Poole Town (3pm) is a ‘Pay What You Can’ fixture and kicks off after a march in the town aimed at highlighting the potential sale of the club’s historic Top Field ground.

10th Bristol City host Coventry City in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy and, like their FA Cup tie against Telford three days earlier (Sunday 7th, 2pm), are offering 'Kids for a Quid' tickets for under-12's.

13th The first of three Mansfield Town home games that are part of a special cut-price ticket offer is against Cheltenham Town. Matches versus Exeter City in January and Northampton Town in February are also available at just £7 each.

17th After attracting 10,000 to their last under-21 fixture at Carrow Road, Norwich City will again be hoping for a big crowd when they take on Liverpool (7pm kick-off). Tickets in the Jarrold Stand are available free of charge at the official club website, on the telephone or in person.

20th Shrewsbury Town’s two Christmas home games against Morecambe and Wycombe Wanderers (28th) are covered by a special ticket deal with a reduction in matchday prices when bought together.

20th Coventry City The Sky Blues have reduced prices for the match against Fleetwood at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday 20 December to £10 adults, £5 concessions and £1 children in a bid to get a big pre-Christmas crowd supporting the City.

20th Barrow AFC have a Christmas ticket offer in place which covers the games against Boston United (20th), Harrogate Town (28th) and AFC Fylde (1st Jan) and which gives a £5 saving on usual admission prices.

26th Sheffield Wednesday's first home Boxing Day clash since 2009 has been designated as a 'Kids for a Quid' fixture meaning all under-16's can attend for just £1.

Full details on the official websites of the relevant clubs.

As always, this is just a sample. Please Tweet me with anything that your club is doing.

'Pay What You Like' Hits Scotland's Top-Flight

As part of a whole raft of offers and initiatives to get more people through the gates of the Tulloch Highland Stadium, Inverness Caledonian Thistle have designated their top-flight fixture against St Johnstone on Wednesday 21 January as a 'Pay What You Like' game.

At the time of writing, Inverness sit proudly level on points with Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership but they have always faced a struggle to boost attendances.  

One Caley Jags fan, writing on the Daily Record website this week, suggests that the slightly inhospitable nature of the stadium may put people off but a bigger factor may be the club's rapid rise from their formation in 1994 as a result of a merger between two Highland League sides and the difficulty that then ensues trying to build a fanbase when loyalties in the local area already lie elsewhere.

The club have also announced the following: Saturday 13 December v Partick Thistle - season ticket holders can take up to 2 under-16's to the match free of charge.

Sunday 4 January v St Mirren - season ticket holders can bring a friend for a fiver while under-16's (max 2 per adult) can attend for free.

Saturday 31 January v Ross County - all under-12's (home and away fans, accompanied by a paying adult) can go free.

Last season in Scotland saw Albion Rovers enjoy great success with a 'Pay What You Like' fixture and their decision to extend that to season tickets in the summer has seen attendances rise by around 40% at Cliftonhill.

“Things are going well and there is a great feelgood factor in the community and around the club," said player/manager Darren Young with his side in the hunt for promotion from League Two.

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: March for Hitchin Town Before Some Free Football

We looked last month at a planned 'No Pay Day' in the battle to save Hitchin Town and their historic Top Field ground from plans to sell up to property developers.

The 'No Pay Day' will now take place on Saturday 6 December for the game against Poole Town which kicks off at 3pm. It will be preceeded by a march to raise awareness of the campaign.

More details are available at http://savehtfc.wordpress.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.

Update: Oxford United Pleased With Ticket Offer Response

We looked last week at a pleasing initiative from Oxford United in which the U's were contacting around 700 lapsed season ticket holders from last season were being offered a free ticket for the AFC Wimbledon game tomorrow (22 November).

Around half of that number have contacted the club to book their place and, quoted in the Witney Gazette, Kevin Smith, the man responsible for sales and marketing at OUFC, said: “It won’t change the attendance massively, but hopefully the 300 will remember why they used to come every fortnight and even those who haven't take it up will appreciate it.

"We could’ve done nothing and we can’t do that. I think this is the right thing to do.”

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.

Can Norwich City Break Crowd Record Again?

As a perfect example of how under-21 football, marketed properly and with a family-friendly kick-off, can be a win-win for clubs and supporters, Norwich City take a bow.

Free entry to their October clash with Tottenham Hotspur saw 10,405 come through the gate at Carrow Road, a record crowd for a Barclays Under-21 Premier League clash.

An exciting 3-1 victory for the hosts followed and the initiative is being repeated when Liverpool are the visitors on Wednesday 17 December for a 7pm kick-off.

Tickets are available now from the club via the official website, over the phone or in person at the ticket office.

Birmingham City Launch Grassroots Tickets Initiative

Birmingham City have featured more than once before on these pages and it is clear that the club, despite its struggles on the pitch and the turmoil created by distant owners off it, has people within its ranks who realise the importance of the club to the local community and the duty they have to maintain those links.

That is perfectly illustrated by this week’s announcement of a new initiative that will see local clubs and leagues sell Blues tickets - at a discounted rate of £10 adults, £5 for 13-18 year-olds and £3 for under-13’s – and receive 50% of the proceeds for themselves.

“We view it as a win-win for all sides,” commented Wayne Cowen, Blues' head of ticketing and retail at Birmingham City. “We understand how important grassroots football is through the work we do in our academy and we want to be supportive of it. The added bonus for us is extra supporters in the stadium, many of them youngsters who will hopefully become future Birmingham City fans.”

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.

Come Back and See Us Say Oxford United

I'm always pleased when I come across an offer of a kind I haven't seen before and Oxford United have come up with an excellent one for their home game against AFC Wimbledon on Saturday 22 November.

Deals for season ticket holders (while always welcome) can sometimes be of limited value. Reduced admission prices for a match (again, generally a positive thing) does run the risk of upsetting slightly those who have paid in the summer for a season of football and rewarding people who may have no intention of coming again or have not shown a commitment to the club in the past.

Charting something of a course between the two, Oxford are offering a free ticket for the Wimbledon game for season ticket holders from 2013/14 who didn't renew this time around.

As a former Coventry City season ticket holder I recognise the words of U's chief executive Mark Ashton who told his club's official website: "I know that deciding not to renew a season ticket at your football club is a big decision and one that I am sure was not taken lightly."

Mr Ashton arrived at the club in the summer and this iniative is part of his drive to engage with supporters.

Those people who qualify for the offer are being contacted by email and post in the next couple of days.

http://www.oufc.co.uk/news/article/00141114-wimbledon-offer-2083627.aspx

More 'Football for a Fiver' at Coventry City

This photograph was taken at the Ricoh Arena on Wednesday night as Coventry City repeated their 'Football for a Fiver' offer for the visit of Plymouth Argyle in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

It was the second successive game that the Sky Blues had reduced prices for following on from Sunday's FA Cup tie against Worcester City (the result of which I will gloss over) and a crowd of 7,121 came through the turnstiles to watch the home side triumph 2-0.

City are also aiming for a big pre-Christmas gate when they entertain Fleetwood at the Ricoh on Saturday 20 December, traditionally a day when attendances are slightly lower, and admission for this game is £10 adults, £5 concessions and £1 children.

Free Football in Bracknell This Saturday

Just a quick glance at the official Bracknell Town FC website tells you that this is a club that aims to place itself firmly at the heart of the local community with the 'Winter Ale & Sausage Night' looking particularly inviting!

And the Robins have partnered with their local newspaper the Bracknell Times to offer free football this Saturday when they entertain Cheltenham Saracens in the Uhlsport Hellenic League at 3pm.

A voucher will be included in this Thursday's free edition of the 'paper which just needs to be cut out and handed over at the turnstiles.

Premier League International Cup

A new competition organised by the Premier League themselves, the International Cup pits eight English under-21 teams, from clubs with category one youth academies, against eight European clubs on a group basis.

An excellent article by Ian Herbert on why the tournament has come about, and the demise of the NextGen competition, can be found on the Independent website

Because of the politics involved, all of the games, including those between two European sides, are being played in England and coming up before the end of November there are scheduled for fixtures at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, Upton Park and Goodison Park.

As with the Premier League under-21 Cup competition, the next round of which is scheduled to begin in the week commencing November 24, this does give supporters the chance to watch a competitive fixture in their club's own stadium for a relatively small outlay.

Leicester's two upcoming matches, for example, are 7pm kick-offs against Schalke on Tuesday 18 and Benfica on Monday 24 November with admission £3 for adults, £1 for under-18's and over-65's and all profits donated to the LCFC Community Trust.

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.

Mixed Messages from Cheltenham Town?

Cheltenham Town's decision to class their FA Cup home game against Swindon as a Category A fixture with tickets priced accordingly has led to criticism of the Robins at a stage of the competition where the majority of league clubs drawn at home have made some kind of reduction to their normal matchday prices, recognising that this is an additional fixture at a busy time of year.

Chairman Paul Baker issued a lengthy statement on the club website in defence of the prices.

This blog doesn't exist to criticise clubs for the prices they charge, more to highlight when good value is on offer, and Mr Baker makes many sound points regarding the increased costs that will come with policing what is a high-profile local derby and the difficulties that exist in trying to successfully run a football club on a limited budget.

However I do feel he is unwise in saying, about season ticket holders: 'Is an extra £2 really going to be the difference between coming to this mouth watering fixture and staying at home?' Most cup games represent an extra outlay for season ticket holders anyway and it is possible to offer them some kind of discount whatever prices you are charging.

Anyway, fast forward four days and the Robins have decided to cut the price of terrace tickets for the home fixture against Wycombe Wanderers on November 22 with adults able to stand for £10, a saving of £6.

Mr Baker said: "We are trying to show we are listening to the fans, some of whom were not happy with the prices for the Swindon FA Cup tie."

Again, it doesn't help season ticket holders too much but it's an offer and hopefully it will entice some more people out to the game.

Quick Update

On a couple of earlier articles. Reduced FA Cup prices are in effect at Dagenham & Redbridge for the game against Southport on Saturday 8th. Adult terrace tickets are £10 (seats £12) with 10-16 year-olds £1 (£2) in advance.

Notts County have cut prices to £12 and £5 for under-16's as they host Accrington Stanley on Sunday 9th.

Hitchin Town, meanwhile, have moved the date of their 'pay what you want' fixture from Saturday 29th November to Saturday 6th December (against Poole Town) to coincide with other 'Save HTFC' events taking place on that day.

November’s Affordable Football (Part 2)

Something for the second half of the month…

17th There is free admission for under-19’s and both students and staff from Bucks New University as Wycombe Wanderers host Burton Albion on a Monday evening in addition to special offers for both Chairboys season ticket holders (bring a friend for £5) and those from other clubs in the area such as MK Dons and Queens Park Rangers.

18th England C, representing the best non-league players in the country, take on Estonia under-23's at The Shay in Halifax. Admission is free for the 7:30pm kick-off.

18th (and 24th) The Premier League International Cup is a new competition for this season and offers supporters the chance to watch some of the most talented youngsters from some of Europe's top clubs. Leicester City under-21's for example host Schalke (Tuesday 18th) and Benfica (Monday 24th) at the King Power Stadium. Both games are 7pm kick-offs with admission £3 and £1 and all profits donated to the LCFC Community Trust.

20th As part of their Victory Shield campaign England Under-16's meet Scotland at Yeovil's Huish Park at 8pm. £3, £1 for children/Oaps and a group ticket also available for parties of 15 or more.

22nd After some negative feedback from supporters regarding pricing for the FA Cup match against Swindon, Cheltenham Town have reduced terrace tickets to £10 adults and £5 concessions for the visit of Wycombe Wanderers.

23rd England's Senior Women play their first game at the New Wembley in a friendly against Germany. Adult tickets are £15 with children priced at just £1 and over 40,000 have already been sold for the fixture.

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.

An Affordable Opportunity to Watch Chelsea at the Bridge

Jose Mourinho’s after-match comments about a lack of atmosphere at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, as his side battled to defeat Queens Park Rangers and maintain their cushion at the top of the Premier League, have drawn a response from Chelsea Supporters' Trust chairman Tim Rolls who told the BBC that ticket prices mean those most likely to make some noise cannot afford to come in.

"Until the clubs recognise that and do something about affordable pricing for young people and creating sections of the ground where they can sing and make some noise then the situation is unlikely to improve," said Mr Rolls.

The response from a club spokesman was that "We work hard within the constraints of the current stadium to keep ticket prices down, and have frozen those prices in seven of the last nine seasons.”

There is a good opportunity for families to watch a game at the stadium next week however and it should be a game of some quality as Chelsea and Manchester United Under-21’s meet on Sunday 9 November with a 1:05pm kick-off.

Tickets are priced at £5 for adults and £3 for juniors and seniors.