Until two months ago, Steve Kay had a proud record as a football fan. He had been to every Manchester City game, home and away, since the start of 1998. On 24 August, that changed. City were playing Birmingham at St Andrew's and Kay stayed at home.
It was the cost of his ticket - £40 - that proved to be the breaking point for him. Because of that he did not go and thus ended a sequence of 327 consecutive games watching his team around the country.
Many of the stay-aways are travelling fans - hardly surprising, given the prices clubs charge. At Birmingham last weekend, Manchester United fans had to stump up £45, a fiver more than their City counterparts in August. Chelsea charge up to £48, while at Tottenham and Crystal Palace it is up to £40.
The fact there are fewer away fans explains why Arsenal, the champions and great entertainers, have not sold out a home league game this campaign. And that is despite the club charging all visitors £33, a reasonable sum by Premiership standards. 'Bolton didn't take up their full allocation when they came here last month, but then kick-off was 12.45 on a Saturday and it was live on Sky,' says a club spokesman. 'And when Middlesbrough came on a Sunday after noon and we then played Blackburn on the following Wednesday night, they both took only 1,702 tickets in our South Stand rather than the other 944 in the West Stand that they could have had as well, if they'd asked for them. Saturday games at 3pm attract more away fans. The kick-off time and the day of the week a game is played do matter.'
There are signs of a fans' revolt. At St Andrew's last weekend, United fan Pete Boyle was expelled before kick-off after trying to persuade fellow Reds in the ground not to buy programmes or refreshments as a protest at the rising price of entry.