Way Out West (London)

Two good opportunities to visit Premier League grounds coming up later this month with Brentford FC Women back at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday 23rd, kick-off 3pm for their game against Bromley.

Tickets are priced at just £2 adults and are free for under-18's.

On Monday 17th, Fulham's under-21s will play their Premier League International Cup tie against Sporting Lisbon at Craven Cottage. Ticket details to be announced in due course for a 7pm kick-off but hopefully an inexpensive chance to be at the famous old ground.

Both of these games are sure to feature in what will be a bumper London Football Guide that week as Non-League Day founder James Doe highlights what will be a packed schedule.

Keep up to date using the Coming Up tab at the top of the home page as well.

Update: Tickets for the Fulham game are priced at £3 adults, £1 concessions.

A Brentford Bargain

Brentford Women will take on Clapton Community at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday 29th September, 3pm, and tickets for the game are just £2 for adults and free for under-18's. 

Also coming up this month, Exeter City Women versus Oxford United at St James Park on Sunday 15th, 1pm. Tickets priced at £5/£3 if purchased in advance.

And Cambridge United Women against Dulwich Hamlet at the Abbey Stadium on Sunday 22nd, 2pm. Under-18's free, adult tickets £5.

Updated 8th September: Another good chance to watch a game at Brentford comes in the next round of the Carabao Cup, on Tue 17th Sep, against Leyton Orient.

Adult tickets are priced at £10, concessions £7 and juniors are £5 or free with every full paying adult or concession.

Catch A Final Match At Griffin Park

The 2019/20 season marks the final bow for Griffin Park, home of Brentford FC since 1904, with next year seeing the opening of the new Brentford Community Stadium at Lionel Road.

Having been scarred for life by Coventry City's move away from their spiritual home of Highfield Road, to the soulless modernity of the Ricoh Arena (and Northampton and Birmingham as well but that's a different story), I'm always wary of clubs heading for pastures new as you can never go back and if there's not much in the way of success on the pitch then the idea of trekking out to the ground appeals less and less.

But, crucially, Brentford are not going too far away, meaning that pre-match rituals can hopefully be preserved or altered only slightly, and they are going at a very stable time in the club's history with an innovative and forward-thinking owner happy to do things slightly differently to the football norm.

Every match at Griffin Park this coming season is being marketed as one to remember, from the local derby fixtures to the games under floodlights and one of those comes early on with the visit of Cambridge United in the League Cup on Tuesday 13th August.

With Ealing Road Terrace tickets just £5 for Adults and £1 for Under 18's this looks like a decent way to visit the famous old ground one more time.

Tickets are currently on sale to Club Members but are scheduled for general sale on Monday 22nd July.

Update: Brentford & Norwich City

Brentford ran a 'Pay What You Want' scheme for the third season running when they hosted Rotherham United last weekend and, as well as raising money for Sport Relief, the Bees believe that they will again reap some longer term benefits from the near-11,000 attendance.

Chief executive Mark Devlin told the official club website: "The home areas of the stadium were once again packed almost to full capacity and we know that the scheme introduced more potential new supporters to the Club.

"We can already identify more than 100 Season Ticket Holders who've become hooked on The Bees after being introduced through the initiative."

Norwich City continued their highly successful policy of hosting high-profile under-21 fixtures at Carrow Road and allowing free entry to all supporters when they entertained Manchester United last Friday night.

A crowd of 9,682 for the game means that around 30,000 people have taken advantage of the offer over three fixtures.

Crucially, those figures will include a large number of families with children able to watch a competitive match, under the lights and at a good time (7pm kick-off), keeping the Canaries firmly at the forefront of their local community.

'Pay What You Can' Is Back at Albion Rovers and Brentford

Having made headlines throughout the UK with their 'Pay What You Can' match against Montrose last season and the subsequent selling of season tickets on a similar basis, Albion Rovers are repeating the matchday initiative for this Saturday's game against Annan Athletic (3rd January, 3pm).

2014 was a good year off the field at Cliftonhill with attendances increasing and the club working hard to increase its profile in the local community.

A minimum of price of £2 is in operation for a game that Albion will want to win as they challenge Arbroath at the top of Scottish Division Two

Flying high in the Championship they may be but that has not stopped Brentford Football Club continuing the 'Pay What You Can' initiative that have proved successful over the past two seasons in attracting new fans to the club and rewarding regular supporters as well.

Advance match tickets for the game against Rotherham United at Griffin Park on Saturday 10 January are available at a minimum of £5 for all categories and home areas of the ground.

When over £10 is paid for a ticket then a donation will be made to Sport Relief with the charity continuing to benefit from an excellent initiative from the Bees who were the first to try it in the English professional game.

Move Quickly for Half Price Brentford Tickets

A slightly different kind of offer to one we normally see here on Affordable Football comes from Brentford FC who are selling a limited number of tickets for their home game against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday 13 December at half price.

According to the official club website: 'Tickets in Blocks 500, 501 and 502 in the New Road Stand will be available for 50 per cent of normal price – adults £12, seniors £9, students £8, juniors £3.

 

'Tickets in Braemar Road Blocks B300, B301 and B305 will also be reduced - adults £12.50, seniors £9.50, students £8.50, juniors £3.'

 

These go on sale tomorrow (Tuesday 14 October).

 

Also in the Championship, Ipswich Town have announced some ticket promotions covering the next month or so.

 

A 'group save' bundle ticket is available for the home games against Huddersfield, Watford, Leeds and Wolves which can save up to £21.40 on normal prices.

 

For the Watford fixture (Saturday 8 November) season ticket holders can also purchase up to four extra tickets at £1 for under-16's, £8 for concessions and £10 for adults.

And Sheffield Wednesday have a number of special family offers still available for this Saturday's home game against Watford at Hillsborough.

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."

Brentford Boosted By 'Pay What You Can'

Last weekend's game at Griffin Park between Brentford and Shrewsbury attracted over 9,000 home supporters after the Bees repeated their 'Pay What You Can' initiative following its success last season.

Tickets were available from as little as £1 but, despite that, the club exceeded their revenue target for what ordinarily would have been a low-key fixture.

Some interesting comments from chief executive Mark Devlin appeared this week in which he said that spending in the club shop was higher than any other game apart from the season opener against Sheffield United while catering revenue was the best of the season to date.

“We were pleased with the numbers and the plan is to look at the people that we’ve added to the database and come up with some offers to try and attract them again to Griffin Park.”

As a one-off this offer seems to have ticked all the boxes (including a donation to charity) and the innovative nature of it may not have upset season ticket holders too much, especially as Mr Devlin has been quite clear in outlining the benefits that it has brought to the club.

Brentford's 'Pay What You Can' Offer Is Back

One of the more innovative ticket offers of recent seasons was Brentford's 'Pay What You Can' iniative for the League One fixture against Stevenage last season when more than 10,000 tickets were sold at a minimum price of £1 (the actual attendance for the game was less as it was postponed due to bad weather first time around).

Now, for the game against Shrewsbury on October 26, the Bees are again offering all tickets except those held by season-ticket holders, for sale on a 'pay what you can' basis with a £1 minimum price.

Money will also be raised for charity at the same time as when more than £5 is paid for a ticket, 50 per cent of the excess, excluding VAT, will be donated to the charity Sport Relief.

It is the kind of offer that has been made at non-league level and Portsmouth did it for a per-season friendly this summer but to repeat it for a competitive League One fixture is of great credit to Brentford FC with the club having already made an innovative offer for their recent JPT game against AFC Wimbledon thanks to the support of a local businessman.

As a social experiment it is interesting too. At a non-league game, where you could perhaps walk in for free and then put a donation into a bucket, the amount you pay is anonymous.

Here, however, you have to go and get your ticket in advance. Will people pay just £1 or will the goodwill generated by the offer lead them to pay more than the real cost of the ticket? It would be interesting to know what the maximum price paid last season was.

The price of football has been a major talking point in a slow second half of the week after the release of the BBC’s major survey into the cost of attending games. There’s lot of interesting information in there although some of the headline figures can be a bit misleading in terms of how many of a particular ticket type are actually available.

What’s clear is the Premier League is still relatively immune to the pressures that are bearing down on clubs at all other levels and making them find ways to make football more accessible and affordable while still maintain a competitive level on the pitch.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24052562