Guardian:
‘Football is in trouble. Analysis of early-season attendances suggests that the decline in Premiership gates is set to continue. Nine of the 17 top-flight sides that were in the division last year have suffered falling numbers through the turnstiles, with only the European champions Liverpool and Everton, back in Europe for the first time in a decade, recording significant increases.
‘With an aggregate 10,675 fewer fans attending live matches for those 17 teams so far this season than at the same stage during the last campaign, statistics suggest that football's boom period has ended. "We shouldn't be alarmist but football needs to watch things very carefully," said Stuart Barnsdall of the accountants PKF, whose sports-business unit conducts an annual survey of football clubs' finance directors
‘“For the Premier League it's been growth every year since it was established. It could be the turning of the tide. As soon as people say it's a bit boring and too expensive, it spells trouble."
‘A report released in July investigating the competitiveness of the Premier League warned that the dominance of the Champions League clubs would make the game predictable, having a detrimental effect on incomes. For the past three seasons four of the Premiership's top five finishers have been Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool; in the previous two seasons Chelsea finished sixth. This is not how it used to be.
‘"There has been a trend decline in competitive balance and this decline became much steeper in the 1990s," said Michie and Oughton's Sports Nexus report. "A league that is not competitively balanced is not maximising potential income. There has been a further marginal decline in Premier League attendances for the second season running. Given Chelsea's [£115m-plus-per-annum] wage expenditure there is a danger that this will lead to a further deterioration in competitive balance."
‘The Premiership's initial success in 1992-93 was smoothed by Gazza's tears at Italia 90, as the dinner-party set again took an interest. With middle-class fans willing to pay higher prices, English football has enjoyed unprecedented wealth.
‘There are signs that this supporter base may turn away. "This is another business risk for football clubs," said Barnsdall. "Football is entertainment. It has to compete with city breaks and meals out. That's the stall major clubs have set out. It's entertainment."’
Independent:
‘The Premiership is on course to lose half a million fans this season, a record year-on-year decline that suggests the bubble has burst for England's top division. After 55 matches, up to and including Sunday, average crowds are down more than four per cent. That equates to an average drop of more than 1,300 fans attending each game.
‘A combination of factors have been blamed for falling interest, especially the amount and timing of televised games but also high ticket prices, boring games, the "Ashes factor" and a belief that the title will be a one-horse race.
‘"We've said for years that a combination of price rises way above that of inflation, decreasing competitiveness and messing about with kick-off times would eventually result in the bubble bursting," Malcolm Clarke, the chairman of the Football Supporters' Federation, said yesterday.
‘"We are now seeing the first signs of that happening. Supporters have had enough of being ripped off. The Premiership is boring. It is no longer competitive. It is all a bit of a turn-off."’
Times:
‘Eddie Taylor, a 55-year-old service engineer from Whitefield, has been a Manchester United supporter for 42 years. He is a religious follower of his team. For the past five years, he has also ensured that his 19-year-old son did not miss a home game. This year, however, they have made a difficult decision. For the first time, they are splitting a £380 season ticket between them.
‘“We flip a coin and I go to one home match and my lad goes to the next,” he said. “European matches are the same and we don’t buy anything at the ground. Last season I worked out that for just home matches, it was in all £1,500. I can’t afford it.”
‘Taylor’s story is familiar as another football season gets under way accompanied by signs that fans are starting to turn their backs on Premiership clubs because of rising costs. An attendance of only 29,575 turned up at Stamford Bridge last week to watch Chelsea play Anderlecht in a Champions League group match for which the cheapest walk-up ticket was £48. The Premiership champions’ ground can hold 42,500.
‘José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, admitted that tickets were too expensive. Yesterday, Joe Cole, the midfield player, joined in the criticism of high prices. “The club have got to find a way of filling the ground,” Cole said. “The normal fan cannot afford the ticket prices and we have to work with the schools and try and bring more people in.”
‘The FA Premier League is refusing to panic. For every anecdote like Taylor’s, the collective of the top 20 English clubs has a statistic to prove that its product is as popular as ever. Last season, the clubs operated at a 94.2 per cent occupancy rate, compared with 82 per cent in Germany and 70 per cent in Spain, where prices are lower.
‘The Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) accuses the Premier League of complacency and gives warning of an ageing audience. “We are at the beginning of the downward slope on the graph,” Malcolm Clarke, the FSF chairman, said. “The danger is that the next generation will be TV-watching, replica shirt-wearers who don’t actually go to games.”
‘The big leap in the cost of attendance happened some time ago, with the introduction of all-seat stadiums after the Hillsborough disaster, which claimed the lives of 96 fans. However, Lord Justice Taylor, who conducted the 1989 government inquiry, said that the elimination of traditional terraces should not equal huge price increases.
‘“He said a reasonable price for sitting down to watch football was £6,” Clarke said. “With inflation, that’s about £11. You cannot sit anywhere in the Premiership for anything remotely approaching that price.”’