Posted on 24th August 2015
Away fans visiting St Mary’s Stadium this season will once again be benefiting from a £20 cap on away tickets at the south coast side thanks to Virgin Media.
Twenty’s Plenty saved fans £396,000 during 2014-15
This is a story from the FSF archive – the FSF and SD merged to become the FSA in 2019.
(Everton & Man City fans say “Twenty’s Plenty” ahead of yesterday’s game)
Last season almost 35,000 top-flight supporters saved £396,000 thanks to Twenty’s Plenty reciprocal deals. Twenty’s Plenty for Away Tickets was launched in 2013 and aims to make away days more affordable by encouraging clubs to set up cheap, reciprocal deals.
Without travelling supporters, and the spectacle they create, football would not attract such mega media deals. Clubs could lose billions.
While football prices are by no means “fixed” we are very proud that Twenty’s Plenty has saved 68,000 fans a total of £738,000 since its launch. In 2013-14 fans saved £342,000.
It’s not just the Premier League where high prices exist though and we’d encourage fans at all clubs to get involved in ticket price campaigns.
Twenty’s Plenty works outside the top-flight too – in June Coventry City agreed to charge away fans visiting the Ricoh Arena no more than £20.
Last season’s top-flight reciprocal deals:
| Home | Away | Fans (#) | Saving (£) | Total (£) |
| Swansea City | Burnley | 1037 | 10 | 10370 |
| Swansea City | WBA | 1646 | 10 | 16460 |
| Aston Villa | Hull City | 1472 | 10 | 14720 |
| Southampton | Newcastle Utd | 1439 | 12 | 17268 |
| Sunderland | Swansea City | 476 | 10 | 4760 |
| Stoke | Newcastle Utd | 1482 | 10 | 14820 |
| Swansea City | Newcastle Utd | 1015 | 10 | 10150 |
| Everton | Swansea City | 1388 | 10 | 13880 |
| WBA | Newcastle Utd | 2,681 | 24 | 64344 |
| QPR | Burnley | 1523 | 10 | 15230 |
| Newcastle Utd | Everton | 3245 | 5 | 16225 |
| Burnley | QPR | 1122 | 10 | 11220 |
| Newcastle Utd | Southampton | 1663 | 12 | 19956 |
| Swansea City | Sunderland | 1630 | 10 | 16300 |
| Newcastle Utd | Stoke City | 1606 | 10 | 16060 |
| Hull City | Aston Villa | 1340 | 5 | 6700 |
| WBA | Swansea City | 1670 | 10 | 16700 |
| Burnley | Swansea City | 1179 | 10 | 11790 |
| Everton | Newcastle Utd | 2340 | 14 | 32760 |
| Swansea City | Everton | 1761 | 10 | 17610 |
| Newcastle Utd | Swansea City | 1243 | 17 | 21131 |
| Newcastle Utd | WBA | 2530 | 11 | 27830 |
– Savings measured against previous season’s equivalent pricing or fixture
What can I do to back Twenty’s Plenty? Campaign actions:
- PROTEST: Football fans will make their anger at ticket prices known in a “weekend of action” protests taking place on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October and we want you to get involved. Click here to find out what you can do or email tickets@fsf.org.uk.
- LOBBYING: Lobby your club to set up reciprocal deals. No two clubs are the same and this might take different forms – how about starting an email campaign or bring together various fans’ groups and fanzines to meet with your club? If you follow a top-flight club, point out to them they have an unbudgeted £1.2m burning a hole in their pocket. Can they use this on fans?
- PETITION: Sign our #ShareTVWealth petition – this automatically triggers an email to your club and the relevant league outlining your support for lower prices/redistribution of TV wealth throughout the pyramid. It’s a vital step in this campaign as the Premier League and Football League always insist that clubs hold the power.
What about home fans? Too many clubs charge too much money for tickets – and that often applies to home ticket prices as well (although home fans can benefit from season ticket discounts and local promotions which mean away fans on average pay more). However, we believe a campaign focused on away fans has more chance of delivering results.
Read more on the reasons for that and other Frequently Asked Questions here.
ARTICLE AMENDS: Figures updated on 26th August with Swansea City v Burnley figures added and 27th August with Newcastle United/Spurs games removed as ticket/transport savings were not done on a reciprocal basis.
Thanks to John Browne for the image used in this story.
