Championship: fans urged to lobby for reciprocal pricing

The 2017-18 EFL season is underway and, as many supporters know, away ticket pricing in the Championship remains a real problem with too many clubs charging visiting supporters in excess of £30 or even £40.

So we were pleased to see Ipswich Town reaching reciprocal away ticket pricing deals with 12 other clubs in the Championship – and we’re eager to identify the remaining 11.

Reciprocal deals can save travelling fans a substantial amount of money – as demonstrated by clubs in the Premier League reaching £20 deals before the introduction of a league-wide cap.

We want to see the practice become widespread in the Championship and we’re asking supporter groups across the division to lobby their clubs.

We’ve written to our affiliate and associate members urging them to contact their club and explain the benefits of reciprocal pricing. A visit to Portman Road will be the longest away trip of the season for many clubs and anything to reduce the cost is welcome.

As we’ve always argued, away crowds are vital to the health of the game and make a huge contribution to match day atmosphere. Reciprocal deals are a simple and effective tool that save a lot of fans a lot of money.

So if your club is one of the remaining 11 clubs that hasn’t reached a deal with Ipswich Town we’d encourage you to get involved with the campaign…

What can your supporter group do?

• We’ve produced a template letter than you can use, adding the details of your club and your supporter organisation, to send to the chairman or chief executive of your football club asking them to respond positively to Ipswich Town’s offer for a reciprocal deal

• The letter will help you make the case for why a reciprocal deal will benefit both sets of fans at Portman Road and the home fixture

• If you need further contacts or advice on where to send your letter, your club SLO may be a good option. All SLO contact details can be found on our SLO page.

• Social media: once your letter’s been sent, keep up the pressure highlight the issue on social media. Use the #TwentysPlenty hashtag and copy us in (@The_FSF) and we’ll share it too.

If your club gets back to you on the subject or secures reciprocal deals, we’d very much like to hear about it, so let us know and we’ll use it to promote your supporters’ group on the FSF website too.

Thanks to Simon Allardice for the image used in this blog. Reproduced here under Creative Commons license.