Grecians Earn

Perhaps the best news to come out of this week's FA Cup draw was Exeter City landing an away tie at Manchester City.

As this BBC article explains, the revenue generated from the tie will be a massive boost to the club, supporter owned by the Exeter City Supporters' Trust.

There is action at St James Park this coming Tuesday in the Premier League Under-21 Cup.

West Bromwich Albion are the visitors for a 7pm kick-off with tickets priced at £6/£4/£2.

Update: The Manchester City game has been set for 3pm on Saturday 10 January, meaning no live TV boost for Exeter but a classic FA Cup kick-off time which will hopefully be better for those making the long journey, rather than say a Friday or Monday evening.

Exeter City Women are next in action at St James Park on Sunday 25 January, against AFC Bournemouth in the WNL Southern Premier Division.

Advance tickets for that game are priced at £6/£5 and £4.

Let The Train Take The Strain

A nice story from the South West Peninsula Football League where Okehampton Argyle take on Brixham AFC on Saturday 4th December at 2.15pm.

That kick-off time fits in nicely with the 12.37 train from Exeter St Davids to Okehampton where it arrives at 1.15.

The significance of the journey is that the train line to Okehampton has recently re-opened after nearly 50 years.

Transport is being laid on from the station to the ground (and back) and your £6 admission fee to the game (plus the cost of a rail ticket) also includes a special commemorative programme.

More details, including how to register your interest, are on the SWP website. 

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FA Youth Cup Brings Cheer to Bury and Plymouth Argyle

It has been a dismal season at Gigg Lane, the home of Bury FC, with relegation to League Two looking a certainty and two managers having already been sacked during the 2017/18 campaign.

With two major powers on the doorstep and a thriving Non-League scene underneath, keeping the Shakers afloat in the Football League and as a source of local pride may be getting harder and harder each year.

It is of huge credit then that not only have the club’s youngsters made it into the Fifth Round of the FA Youth Cup but that they have outlasted both Manchester City and Manchester United in the process.

Birmingham City come to Gigg Lane on Friday 16 February for a 7pm kick-off, hoping to avoid the fate of Aston Villa in the previous round. Tickets are priced at £5 Adults, £2 Concessions.

Manchester City’s demise, after three successive appearances in the final, came at the hands of Plymouth Argyle in Round 3, a huge surprise given the disparity in resources available to the respective clubs.

The Pilgrims’ youngsters then defeated Burnley at Turf Moor and now face Fulham on Wednesday 7 February, kick-off 7pm, at Home Park.

Tickets are priced at £5 Adults, £3 Over 65's and £1 for Under 18's.

Other ties coming up in February include Norwich City versus Newcastle at Carrow Road on Wednesday 7 February (7pm kick-off, £3 tickets) and Blackburn Rovers against Nottingham Forest at Ewood Park the previous evening (7pm, £4 Adults, £2 Concessions).

The Barum 250: Barnstaple Town FC

Members of the Western League since 1948, Barnstaple Town are set to play their 2,500th league game when they travel to Hengrove Athletic on Tuesday 14th April.

Located in an area which makes progression through the football pyramid difficult, the achievement of clubs like Barnstaple in keeping the game alive for the local community is often overlooked.

So why not celebrate such a landmark? The club are doing so at their following home game, against Warminster Town on Saturday 18th April which has been named as the Barum 250 in reflection of the club's nickname (and the former name of the town).

The aim is for a crowd of 250 to come through the gate on a 'Pay What You Want' basis with a special souvenir programme available for £2.50.

Speaking to the North Devon Journal, Club historian John Clarke said: "The Barum 250 is an open invitation to all supporters, sponsors, advertisers, former players and committee members to be our guest and the opportunity for Barnstaple Town Football Club to say thank you for the tremendous support down the years.

"We will be asking spectators to pay what you want, although we would like to think a high percentage coming through the turnstiles will pay the normal admission price."

Update: Exeter City

In September we looked at Exeter City and their decision to scrap an unpopular matchday surcharge on tickets that was partly being blamed for low attendances at St James's Park.

Crowds and results have steadily improved since then and the Exeter Express & Echo has carried a positive leader column this week about the club's attempts to engage with fans and consult them over prices for next season.

Low Crowds Force Exeter City to Cut Matchday Prices

Disappointing crowds in recent weeks and a poor start to the League Two season saw Exeter City this week announce a reduction in ticket prices for all areas of St James' Park as they aim to get gates back above the 3,000 mark.

"We hope that these amendments to the pricing of matchday tickets will help to encourage more of our supporters to return to St James Park and that those fans who have stayed away in recent months will start to return at this challenging time," read a club statement.

Aside from a small reduction in student/under-18 tickets for two parts of the ground the price cut mainly concerns the prices paid on matchday. These are now generally just £1 more than the advance ticket price whereas the difference before had been as much as £5.

Comments underneath various articles about the subject this week have been aimed mainly at the price of tickets (regardless of whether purchased in advance or on the day). Without wishing to get into that debate it is clear that, outside the Premier League people still want to decide on the day of a game whether they are going, for it to be relatively easy to buy a ticket and for that ticket to be comparable to the prices paid in advance.

That may be especially true in a city such as Exeter where there are a lot of supporters of other clubs and a big student population and where supply of tickets is greater than demand.

Exeter City The Surprise Package in Under-21 Cup

One of the earliest posts on Affordable Football concerned the inaugural Premier League Under-21 Cup which the league hoped would be played mainly at a club's main ground and at night in order to provide a taster of competitive action for those players in Under-21 and Development squads who over the past few years have found themselves trying to impress on training pitches and non-league grounds as clubs keep their home turf sacrosanct for the first team.

Our hope was that it would prove a family friendly way for youngsters to experience matches under lights and with some big clubs involved.

As with any competition in its first year there has been some teething troubles. Not all Premier League clubs entered and some games have been moved at short notice but some clubs have embraced it fully and been rewarded.

Exeter City have proved to be the surprise package so far, beating Blackburn Rovers in front of 630 supporters at St James' park in the last round. They are at home again in the quarter-finals against Burnley.

The final line-up will be confirmed after Reading play Watford this week (the winners then take on Wolves) but there also clashes between Arsenal and Chelsea and Newcastle and Manchester City to look forward to as well.