Twenty’s Plenty saves fans £342,000

A key idea behind the FSF’s Twenty’s Plenty campaign is that clubs should offer away fans cheaper deals on a reciprocal basis, preferably for £20 or less, and it’s already made football more affordable for 10,000s of supporters.

Last season Barnsley, Cardiff City, Derby County, Hull City, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Swansea City and West Bromwich Albion ran with the idea, saving 31,807 fans a total of £342,260 across 16 fixtures (updated to incorporate newly received Football League stats – see table below).

2014/15 has already seen a number of clubs introducing such deals again – Newcastle United have set up deals with Everton, Southampton, Stoke City, Swansea City and WBA.

Swansea City also tied up reciprocal deals with Everton and Sunderland. Elsewhere, Aston Villa have hooked up with Hull City.

This is only the beginning, and we’d love to see more clubs introducing such deals. Ticket pricing isn’t “fixed”, but it is a small step in the right direction and we’ve always been big believers in giving clubs credit when it’s due (just as we’re happy to give them stick if they get it wrong).

Reciprocal deals (2013/14): 

– Savings measured against last year’s equivalent pricing or previous season’s fixture 

Local pressure

Once the door of reciprocal pricing is open, it gives fans an opportunity to badger their own club to join in. We’d encourage all individual fans and groups to do just that.

We can argue the case for cheaper tickets and reciprocal deals at a national level with the Premier League, Football League, and FA but fans must make the case at their clubs. Ultimately, clubs hold the power to reduce prices and each club’s fan base has to make its voice heard.

If you support one of the club’s who’ve already committed to a reciprocal deal, ask them why they don’t extend that offer to another club listed above? Join those dots. If your club has yet to offer any type of reciprocal deal, this is an opportunity to lobby for just that.

Think of your club like the nervous lad at the school disco eyeing up the pretty girl in the corner. Encourage them to make the first move – someone’s got to.

The first port of call is your club’s Supporter Liaison Officer as every Premier League and Football League club has one, contact details: www.fsf.org.uk/slo

Campaign ideas

If a club’s fan base is prepared to say, “We back Twenty’s Plenty/reciprocal pricing and think away fans should be rewarded for their loyalty” then we might have a chance. 

This list is by no means definitive but it is a starting point. If you have better ideas let us know what they are and we’ll throw them in the mix: 

• Sign the FSF’s Twenty’s Plenty for Away Tickets petition. This will trigger an email to your club and the relevant league outlining your support for Twenty’s Plenty.
• Tell your fellow fans about Twenty’s Plenty using the simple link www.fsf.org.uk/tickets.
• Bring together the fans’ groups, fanzines, websites and blogs who support your team and write a joint letter to the club outlining your commitment to Twenty’s Plenty. How about doing that but on a regional basis with rival clubs? We can help you contact rival supporters’ groups or fanzines.
• Visual displays are another way for fans to support the campaigns aims. If you are going to organise a visual display like this please email [email protected] for further advice as it’s not quite as simple as turning up at the ground with your banner at the ready. Clubs like to be informed in advance and there might be other issues such as fireproofing, ensuring other fans’ views aren’t blocked and so on. Plus, we’d like to help publicise it for you.
• Protests outside the ground/handing out flyers. Again, we’d advise you contact [email protected] before going ahead with these actions as there are often other factors which need to be considered (e.g. informing the police, club and council). It also allows us to promote your actions to fellow fans.
• Designated “walkouts” or boycotts (such as Germany’s Kein Zwanni) or mid-match actions (e.g. fans turn back en masse for a minute or two). Some fans argue for these actions while others felt they were unachievable, unrealistic or even counter-productive. It’s the “nuclear” option and not one the FSF has chosen to do yet but if you think it would work at your club, let us know and we’ll spread the word for you.

Home fans

Of course, too many clubs charge home fans extortionate prices as well, but we also believe that clubs at all levels of the game should recognise the great contribution that away fans make – both atmospheric and financial – by agreeing to cap away tickets at £20.

Away fans don’t benefit from any type of season ticket discounts, are often placed in more expensive areas of the stadium, and have to fork out food and travel on top of that.

However, if you have campaign ideas relating to home prices, or would like to kick-start something at your clubs, we’d love to hear from you, simply email [email protected].

Like this? You might also be interested in:

• Affordable Football For All demo review (Thursday 14th August 2014)…
• FSF Annual Report 2014 – includes “Away Fans Matter” p6-11…
• Away Fans Matter campaign pages…