Warm Up With Football for a Fiver

One of my favourite grounds for an old-fashioned football experience, Altrincham FC's Moss Lane plays host to the National League clash between the Robins and Maidenhead United on Tuesday 14 January.

Tickets for the game have been reduced to just £5 and £1 for under-12's.

Also in the National League, Wealdstone FC have designated their home game against Hartlepool United on Saturday 18 January as supporting Her Game Too, dedicated to creating a more inclusive environment within football.

Tickets for girls aged under 19 are available free of charge and are priced at £5 for women aged 19 and over.

Easter at Christmas

Testing times for both of the big Edinburgh clubs so far this season, Hearts enjoying some success in Europe but currently at the foot of the Scottish Premiership, one place behind a Hibernian side who have once again managed to flummox their fans with some dismal results and yet another managerial change.

The potential of these two historic institutions, in a city visited by people from around the world, can be seen in the interest that has been shown in them by outside investors such as the Black Knight group who own AFC Bournemouth and took a stake in Hibs earlier this year.

But for the moment it is a battle at the bottom for club legend David Gray, whose side host Kilmarnock at Easter Road on Sunday 29th December.

All tickets for the game have been reduced to just £5, a great opportunity to visit one of the game's famous grounds at a special time of year in Scotland's capital.

Football for a Fiver*

*A bit less actually, around £4.35!

I was lucky enough to be in Athens last week and managed to catch a game at A.S.Sourmenon, who play in the top tier of regional football in the capital.

Five Euros for entry and then a beer in the late October sunshine made for a good afternoon with the home side earning a 1-0 victory courtesy of a second-half penalty award that didn't go down too well with the visiting supporters.

Situated just a short walk from Elliniko station, at the end of the red line, on the city's, excellent, Metro system, the ground has the added attraction of a plane at either end, a reminder of the area formerly being the site of Athens' airport.

Back on home soil and a couple of things to look out for this coming weekend; admission is just £5 at Basford United on Saturday (9th Nov) for the home game with Whitby Town while there is free admission for season ticket holders of local professional clubs at Uttoxeter Town as they host Shifnal in the Midlands Premier Division on the same day.

Any Publicity Is...

If the old saying is true then Barnet FC have had plenty of good publicity this week, the after-match comments of their manager Dean Brennan following the midweek win against Altrincham having reached a worldwide audience.

Having finished second in the National League last season, the Bees are again in the play-off places in the early weeks of the new campaign and Brennan, far from 'losing it' as some of the headlines would have it, seems to be a popular figure at the club and one willing to engage with supporters.

The club have moved quickly on the back of this week's events to offer football for a fiver when AFC Fylde are the visitors to The Hive on Saturday 28th September, so come and see what the fuss is all about!

From Academical to Supermarine

Two of the most interesting club names in British football with special admission offers for the Saturday before Christmas (23rd Dec).

All tickets are £5 at New Douglas Park, the home of Hamilton Academical as they welcome Kelty Hearts in Scottish League One, the hosts currently sitting just behind Falkirk at the top of the table.

And it is also football for a fiver at Swindon Supermarine (accompanied under 12's free) when they host Bracknell Town at the Webbswood Stadium.

Not only that but you will get a voucher on the gate this Saturday to come back for the same price the following weekend against Didcot Town.

Five Alive

 

It's been too long since I was at Moss Lane, or the J.Davidson Stadium as it is now known, the home of Altrincham FC and a cracking place to watch football with the perfect blend, for me, of a big enough crowd to create an atmosphere while still being to move around to different vantage points if you so desire.

Tickets for the National League game at home to Kidderminster Harriers on Tuesday 24th October have been reduced to £5 for adults, £2.50 for children aged 5-11 and £1 for under-5's.

The Harriers themselves are offering £10 terrace tickets (purchased in advance) when they host Wealdstone on Saturday 7th October.

Football for your Fiver

Plenty of football for a fiver this coming Saturday, February 19th, with one match in League Two and two in the National League.

If you're looking for a game in the Manchester area then all adult tickets for Salford City against Crawley Town are priced at £5 with under-16's costing £2.

Altrincham host Weymouth in an important National League fixture at one of my favourite grounds and are looking to pack Moss Lane with tickets at £5 for adults and juniors and £1 for under-12's.

Also in the National League there is the chance to take in a game at the historic home of Maidenhead United as tickets for their televised clash with Bromley (kick-off 5.20pm) are £5 adults and accompanied under-16's free.

Festive Footy for a Fiver (X2)

A great bit of collaboration between Bromley FC and Southend United as they prepare for a double-header of meetings over the holiday period.

Bromley's upward progression of recent years means they will head into Christmas with genuine hopes of being in the Football League next year.

They host the Shrimpers on Boxing Day in a 5.20pm kick-off and all adult tickets have been priced at £5 with accompanied Under-16s getting for a pound.

Getting back into the Football League at the first time of asking may be beyond Southend this season but supporters will be hoping that rock bottom was reached in October when a heavy home defeat left them in the relegation zone and saw manager Phil Brown leave the club amidst protests against chairman Ron Martin.

Legendary non-league figure John Still has recently been appointed to a Head of Football role, working alongside head coach Kevin Maher and football strategist Stan Collymore.

Southend have reciprocated Bromley's prices for the return fixture on 2nd January.

Southend Manor FC

Founded in 1955 as a boy's football club, Southend Manor FC compete in the Essex Senior League and are hoping to reach out into their local community and further afield when the 2020/21 season gets underway.

Admission prices have been reduced from £7 to £5 for Adults and from £5 to £3 for Concessions with free admission to all NHS employees as well.

Speaking to the club website, media officer Andy Wilkins commented: "We hope this reducing of prices will mean more people will be enticed to visit us at our Southchurch Park home whether it for the first time or 100th time."

With Southend United having endured a very poor season perhaps one or two of the disillusioned Roots Hall faithful may look for a different football experience next season.

The future of programmes is a keenly-debated topic among the non-league fraternity and Southend Manor are sticking firmly with the printed version, available for £2 on matchdays but for £1 plus P&P for those from further afield keen to get hold of a copy.

Football for a Fiver and an Unlikely JPT Sell-Out

Coventry City's run to the area final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in the 2012/13 season came at a very strange time in the history of the Sky Blues.

It was their first season since relegation from the Championship and a first back in the third tier of English football since the days of Jimmy Hill.

Andy Thorn had stayed on as manager despite the drop but would only last two games of the new League One season while popular former player Richard Shaw had unfortunately overseen a fairly disastrous period in caretaker charge before Mark Robins was appointed as the new boss.

Off the field things were little better with owners SISU increasingly unpopular.

In the JPT, having beaten Burton Albion in an epic penalty shoot-out and then eased to victory at Bootham Crescent, Coventry took on Sheffield United in the area quarter-final in early December.

Mark Robins' changes were slowly taking effect and the Sky Blues were becoming a more potent force in attack thanks to the goals of loanee David McGoldrick.

Tickets for all areas of the Ricoh Arena were priced at £5 and more than 10,000 took advantage to watch a close tie settled by another shoot-out in Coventry's favour and set up a new year home area semi-final with Preston North End.

Once again it was football for a fiver and this time over 12,000 were in attendance and hopefully the majority of them stayed until the end to watch a dramatic conclusion with two goals for the hosts in injury time turning around a 2-1 deficit.

All of this was in the context of league attendances that averaged just under 11,000 across the season and ever-more ominous rumours that a rent row between SISU and the owners of the Ricoh Arena would see the club leave Coventry at the end of the campaign.

The area final of the JPT paired City with Crewe Alexandra over two legs and the club, to their credit, again offered all tickets at £5.

A first Wembley appearance since 1987's Charity Shield galvanised the city and ticket sales grew on a daily basis to the point that 31,054, just shy of the record attendance for a Coventry game at the stadium, filled the Ricoh Arena in expectation.

What happened next? 

A deflating 3-0 defeat for the hosts told less than half of the story. 

Robins left for Huddersfield before a second-leg that saw City nearly, but not quite, pull back the deficit, a 10-point deduction for entering administration was imposed by the Football League and it was announced that Coventry would be playing their 'home' matches in Northampton the following season.

From hope to despair in the space of a few weeks.

Football For A Fiver & Optimism Back At Charlton Athletic

A new year and new optimism at The Valley after the completion of a takeover of Charlton Athletic by East Street Investments meant the end of Roland Duchatelet's time at the club.

Manager Lee Bowyer has a new five-year contract and the talk, of course, is of reaching the Premier League but equally important will be getting the club back to a position where their supporter engagement was the envy of many.

Football for a Fiver continued through the Duchatelet era but there will be a new impetus to the offer, in place for the visit of Blackburn Rovers on Saturday 15th February.

Not too far away, Dagenham & Redbridge celebrate their Diversity Day the following Saturday, 22nd February, when Solihull Moors are their opponents.

Tickets purchased before the day of the game are available from just £2.50 for Adults and 50p for Concessions.

Football For A Fiver At Walsall

With the final international break of 2019 soon upon us Walsall FC are looking to get a healthy crowd through the turnstiles of the Banks's Stadium with all tickets for the League Two game at home to Cambridge on Saturday 16th priced at £5.

The lengthy reign of Jeff Bonser as owner of the club was ended in the summer when Leigh Pomlett completed a takeover and also assumed the chairman’s role.

With former Bristol Rovers boss Darrell Clarke taking over after relegation that meant a new start for the Saddlers, one that hasn’t quite gone according to plan as yet as they currently sit in the bottom four of the table.

But the new chairman has been looking to build bridges with supporters, attending a recent fans forum and targeting an average attendance of 5,000.

Interestingly, fans on the UpTheSaddlers forum, when discussing the 5,000 figure, focused less on prices than on the matchday experience at the stadium and improving waiting times for food and drink in particular.

In the West Midlands, the old Sports Argus on a Saturday used to give a brief summary of the day’s games for the ‘Big Six’ on its front page with match reports and club news inside.

Walsall were one of the six (as were my own Sky Blues although we had our own Pink as well) and although always smaller than West Brom or Wolves they were part of the fabric of football in the area.

The landscape is changing fast as the bigger clubs take a bigger share of the money and attention while a plentiful local football scene offers cheap admission and beer on the terraces.

An ambitious outfit such as Solihull Moors have designs on getting into the Football League and competing further for floating fans.

But Walsall FC are still very much alive and kicking and, perhaps using a phrase we’ll hear a bit over the next six weeks, looking to get out their core vote.

Next Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Darlington has a £15 family ticket available and there is also an FA Youth Cup game at the stadium this Tuesday against Fleetwood for which entry is priced at £5/£2.

International Football For A Fiver In September

Some good chances to catch a match next month...

Starting with Wales Under 21's who face a tough task in qualifying for the next European Championships having been drawn alongside Belgium and Germany in their group.

They take on both of those sides in September, facing Belgium on Friday 6th (5pm) and Germany on Tuesday 10th (7pm) with Wrexham AFC hosting on both occasions.

Tickets for each game are priced at £5 Adults and £2 Concessions.

Rodney Parade in Newport hosts Wales Women in their opening qualifier for Euro 2021, Northern Ireland providing the opposition on Tuesday 3rd at 7.05pm. Tickets are priced at £5 Adults and £2 Concessions (16 and under, 65+).

St. Mirren host Scotland Under 21's against San Marino in a European Championship qualifier on Thursday 5th at 7.30pm with two Buddies named in the squad for the game.

Supporters can pay on the gate, £5 Adults, £2 Children.

England Under 20's, meanwhile, are in friendly action against the Netherlands at Shrewsbury Town on Thursday 5th at 7pm.

Tickets are available via the Shrews website and are priced at £5 Adults, £1 Concessions and free for Under 12's.

And there is a mini-tournament for England Under 18's with three matches at non-league grounds in the midlands. They take on Australia at Leicester Road FC on Friday 6th at 7pm, Brazil at Hednesford Town on Sunday 8th at 4pm and South Korea at Alfreton Town on Tuesday 10th at 7pm.

Admission to each game will be £5 Adults, £1 Concessions on the turnstiles.

Football For A Fiver At Leyton Orient

Providing perhaps a faint sense of hope for supporters of clubs such as Bury and Bolton Wanderers, Leyton Orient have been on the brink and come back stronger with passionate, involved owners placing the O's back at the heart of their local community.

Promotion back to the Football League last season was tempered, of course, by the shock death of manager Justin Edinburgh but the sense of momentum remains strong at Brisbane Road with more than 4,200 season ticket holders having signed up for the campaign.

Pleasingly neither that or the higher level of football has stopped the club offering their 'Football for a Fiver' deal with the games against Walsall on Saturday 12th October and Scunthorpe United on Saturday 16th November already announced.

Football For A Fiver At Boundary Park

It's been a season where managers have brought Oldham Athletic to national attention, one of them unknown and one being one of the most famous English footballers of his generation.

Lifelong supporter Pete Wild had been the interim academy manager at Boundary Park when he was made caretaker boss following the sacking of Frankie Bunn in late December and celebrated with the Latics fans at Craven Cottage after knocking Fulham out of the FA Cup a short time later.

The next permanent manager was another Oldham fan albeit a more celebrated one as Paul Scholes took what was assumed to be the first step of his managerial career.

31 days later he had resigned and Wild was given the reins again until the end of the season.

The BBC story announcing that news ends by saying the Latics are '15th and heading for a mid-table finish' but four wins and two draws since then mean a play-off spot remains a possibility at the time of writing.

Looking at the bigger picture and there is seemingly a constant struggle for survival for the likes of Oldham, and neighbours Bury (currently experiencing a financial crisis), as they try and square the circle of competing in the professional game with two major powers just along the road and a crowded Non-League scene below them but they remain proud members of the Football League and with good people behind the scenes trying constantly to keep the club as a focal point of the community.

A 'Football for a Fiver' offer against Mansfield on Easter Monday drew in over 6,000 through the gates and the club are repeating the deal for the final home match of the season against Northampton on Saturday 4 May with prices as follows, Adults £5, Concessions £3 and Under 18's just £1.

Double Football For A Fiver At Leyton Orient

A busy spell coming up at Brisbane Road and two excellent matches that may be of interest later this month.

On Wednesday 10th the stadium plays host to England C against Estonia Under-23's, kick-off 7.45pm.

Paul Fairclough is the man in charge of this particular England squad which gives an opportunity to wear the Three Lions to players currently outside of the Football League and many of those who have worn the jersey over the years are now plying their trade at a higher level.

A number of new faces have been selected for the friendly against Estonia for which tickets are priced at just £5 Adults and free for Over 65's and Under 18's.

Three days later, on Saturday 13th, two sides showing encouraging signs of having bounced back from rock bottom meet in the National League as Leyton Orient host Hartlepool United.

The game takes place on Non-League Day 2018 and all tickets are priced at just £5 for home and away supporters.

£5 Football Is Back At Coventry City

Affordable Football started out, tentatively, as a blog and on Twitter in the summer of 2013. It's inspiration came, strangely enough, from Coventry City's run to the area final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in the 2012/13 season.

The Sky Blues had offered tickets at £5 for the area quarter-final against Sheffield United and were rewarded with an attendance of over 10,000 at the Ricoh Arena at a time when gates were falling amidst deepening discontent with the club's owners.

Prices were held for the semi-final against Preston North End (12,665 coming through the gates) and, to the club's credit, for the area final home leg against Crewe Alexandra. This game took on a life of its own as ticket sales grew and grew until the Ricoh was sold out for the first time for a Coventry home match.

31,054 were there and I sat next to a gentleman who was travelling around the country for the next two weeks and watching a game on most days. He had read about the ticket offer on the City website and it formed an idea in my mind about a website where you could read about reduced price tickets and offers in one place.

I wondered whether there would be enough to write about but that certainly hasn't been a problem as clubs, at all levels, up and down the country are constantly trying innovative ideas to get people through the turnstiles.

The Sky Blues were very proactive in that area two seasons ago but disappointingly have not been so since, moving from a 'twenty's plenty' stance in 2015/16 to higher prices now despite being in a lower division.

Add some PR own goals (such as footage of stewards ordering supporters to sit in their numbered seat at a Football League Trophy game despite their being just the 31,180 empty places in the ground) and it has intensified the bad feeling around the club, on top of the ownership and stadium issues, at a time when Mark Robins has put together a competitive side who are firmly in the League Two promotion mix.

But for the visit of Accrington Stanley to the Ricoh Arena, on Saturday 10 February, City have gone all out and have priced tickets at £5 in all areas while local schoolchildren will be handed free entry with their families in the North Stand.

Fiver Football at Hartlepool United

Hartlepool United were under no illusions about how tough life in the National League was going to be after their dramatic relegation from League Two last season and August provided confirmation of that, defeats against Dover Athletic, Maidenhead United, AFC Fylde and Bromley making it a baptism of fire for new manager Craig Harrison after he made the step up from The New Saints.

Loyal supporters made long trips to Maidenhead and Bromley but the shorter journey to Guiseley on Bank Holiday Monday finally delivered some cheer with a hard-fought first victory of the campaign.

Maidstone United are the visitors to Victoria Park this coming Saturday and, to thanks fans after a 'frustrating month', the club have reduced prices to £5 Adults and £1 for Under-16's, prices which apply to travelling supporters as well.

Keep an eye out for your local club this weekend to see if they are doing any offers for the international break.

Premier League and EFL season ticket holders who head to Chorley on Saturday for the National League North game against York City can watch for the concessionary price of £9 while Bath City are offering £8 admission to Bristol City and Bristol Rovers season ticket holders as they take on Welling United.

Football for a Fiver at Charlton Athletic

‘Football for a Fiver’ is an offer that has been running at the Valley since 2011 and it returns for the 2016/17 season when Charlton Athletic host Rochdale in League One on Saturday 1 October at 3pm.

I touched on the deal in an article last season but that came at a time when the main backdrop to matches at the stadium were the protests against owner Roland Duchatelet and chief executive Katrien Meire‘s running of the club.

A recent article in The Guardian gives an account of the current situation, Russell Slade’s appointment as manager being seen as a necessary first step towards restoring some stability and identity to the playing side although it may take longer (and for some supporters, a change of ownership) for divisions off the field to be healed.

As the Guardian piece touches on, such divisions seem more pronounced at a club where supporters played such a huge part in saving and then re-building it and where initiatives such as the Valley Express travel service have reached out to the whole community of those people with links to the Addicks.

My own club, Coventry City, in contrast, continues to suffer from a total lack of trust between fans and owners but there is no golden age of good relations to look back on, unless you followed the club through the glorious 1960’s when Jimmy Hill’s team and the city as a whole seemed interlinked.

I've added a 'Coming Up' tab to the top of the page which I will update regularly with matches that may be of interest and dates for the diary.

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.