Posted on 4th September 2026
The money exists to Stop Exploiting Loyalty
Three billion, one hundred and ninety-eight million pounds. Unfortunately, that’s not this week’s EuroMillions jackpot. It is, however, the estimated record amount spent by Premier League clubs during the summer transfer window.
38% of those deals were between Premier League clubs, while clubs have still ended the window with an estimated net spend of around £1bn, according to BBC Sport’s Steve Sutcliffe and Emlyn Begley. It is an extraordinary amount of money.
And while the transfer window will be celebrated as another demonstration of the Premier League’s global appeal, there is another question that supporters should be asking: if Premier League clubs have access to this level of wealth, why are so many of them still putting ticket prices up?
Because this summer has made one thing abundantly clear, the money exists.
Agent fees
Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernandez joined Manchester City from Chelsea for £125m this week © Alamy
The argument that clubs have no choice but to increase prices because football is becoming more expensive is becoming increasingly difficult to swallow when billions of pounds are being spent on players in a single transfer window.
We’re yet to see the amount that agents involved in those recent transfers made but from February 2025 to February 2026 FA figures show top-flight clubs spent £406,300,308 on agent fees while 15,820,861 attended Premier League games in 2025-26.
That’s the equivalent of £25.68 from every fan, at every game, going to agents. It’s obscene.
Supporters are repeatedly told that increasing costs mean we have to pay more. Instead, maybe clubs could stop throwing money at agents like confetti?
The money being spent at the top of the game has become so vast that the extra money generated by squeezing loyal fans is loose change. It doesn’t help competition either as, if all clubs push up prices, it largely benefits those who already generate the most in matchday revenue.
There is, of course, the old argument that it’s basic supply and demand. As if a football club is just a supermarket at which you choose to shop.
But football isn’t like that. You can’t tell someone who has supported a club for generations to go away and follow another team, as if they’re choosing a different brand of coke.
Loyalty is precisely what makes football special and it is precisely why clubs need to stop exploiting it.
Football clubs trade on the name of the towns and cities which created them. They owe supporters in those communities a debt. You can’t trade on a city’s name, price people out, and expect no pushback.
Some clubs have frozen prices. Some have listened to supporter groups. Some have introduced measures designed to protect affordability.
That matters, because it proves that clubs have a choice.
The good exists
The £30 away cap is a great example. It was won by the FSA and our member groups after years of campaigning and lobbying the Premier League.
We rightly celebrate it as a huge victory for the hardcore away support. It recognises the importance of supporters travelling around the country and the value of full away ends. But why should that principle stop at the away turnstile?
Every club is different and home prices will always vary but we believe that, for the long-term health of our stadiums, imaginative thinking is needed to ensure future generations are not priced out.
Nobody is suggesting that ambition should be discouraged. But perhaps clubs could take a very small percentage of the enormous wealth flowing through the Premier League and use it to look after the people who have been there all along.
The supporters who were desperately missed when grounds were empty during Covid.
The supporters who filled grounds when football wasn’t so fashionable.
The supporters who created the atmosphere which helped build the league’s success.
The supporters who travelled when the weather was awful and the team was losing.
The supporters who passed on the love of their clubs from generation to generation.
The Premier League has every right to be proud of its global popularity and clubs have every right to compete for the best players.
But asking supporters to continually pay more is not the only option. The money exists. The transfer window has proved it.
So when clubs sit down with supporters this season and explain why ticket prices “have” to go up, the response should be very simple.
You don’t have to raise prices. You have chosen to raise prices. Stop Exploiting Loyalty.
