This article from lachesis on RAWK is spot on.. ( in my opinion) but not one response from anyone. Like it was never even wrote. I wonder why? because some forums are not open to debate and that's pretty pathetic.
http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=325934.1000£77 is a ridiculous price to watch a game of football.
However, I have to say this is really too little, too late from my perspective. The working class man was priced out ages ago. Those who still go to the match regularly cannot say they are on a working class man's income (I don't mean that in a disdainful way). Obviously a lot of us are from working class backgrounds and have working class political influences so probably do align more with the 'working class'. But economically the real working class folk were priced out years ago. And not just from football. My dad is on a proper working class income, let's just say he is supporting three lads 17-21 who are either trying to go to uni or just starting apprenticeships and my mum works part time. I won't disclose his income but it's far below £20,000. It's a struggle to treat the family to a day out at the pictures for example. So a while back, my money went into helping them out a bit. I could have been dismissive and carried on going the match. To be honest I can probably still squeeze most in, but priorities change as you get older and so they should do. There's more value in me paying £400 to take my brother to career fairs in London than attending 6/7 matches.
Coupled with poor ticketing policies for younger people, this has led to the apathetic, aging Anfield that we know today. If something effective was going to be done, it needed to be done 15-20 years ago. Because nothing was done years ago, a lot of people now find themselves the target. For years 'in's in' and 'I'm alright Jack' is pretty much the philosophy of how you got the match. You didn't care it was someone else's loyalty, you got in by hook or crook and used any advantage/spares to get in. Now the pinch will be felt at these more affluent regular match goers. However, whatever falls out that pinch is actually subsidising that 17-21 group, the free tickets here and there and keeping other ticket prices frozen or thereabouts. The complexity of the scheme and uncertainty of numbers means you can pretty much rattle the statistics and numbers to support pro or anti.
Further to this, most people seem to agree on the model. Just not the price. I've seem comments about 'divide and conquer'. That was done years ago, by the fans themselves. I'm not sold on the method of protest either. A few weeks ago we had the new manager make a political observation that 'he felt very alone'. You can read it how you want but there was a barb meant for the early darters in there as well. The commonality, as above, is a tiered pricing structure - its just the prices at dispute so I think the response is excessive. And to be honest, will probably be lost as it's only about 5-8 minutes before 'all rise' commences anyway (though there has been somewhat of an improvement since Klopp's comments). But you know, on the one hand we've got Klopp trying to build up that relationship between fans and club, and now we've got this campaign going on where players wages will come into it no doubt (of under performing players no less) and drive a wedge between it. I think it's a knee jerk response and someone needs to take a step back and actually think this through.
I think people are having too narrow a focus on the actual mechanics at play here. We have no refresh of fans coming through, as they can't get into the ground. For a refresh to happen, there has to be a purge. We've accumulated more seats so those who can afford to pay more, do pay more. This benefits the much reduced and free tickets and also keeps tickets in the Kop frozen and cheaper in some cases. It's certainly the lesser of two evils compared to what we have now in my opinion.
I've seen mention of already having tiered prices. I think that's a bit of a stretch. Maybe a price differential based on a forty year old economy just about covers what we have now.
I agree with the sentiment on the surface, but the target audience that will be affected by this will be those lower middle class people (economically speaking) who attend or attempt to attend most home games. It won't be the corporate whales - it never will be. They make up a small proportion anyway of the actual ticket numbers and bring in a lot of money. They wine and dine and seduce investors and sponsors. It's just the meta game behind the on-the-pitch stuff that we don't really have to concern ourselves with. The Main Stand Lower has now become premium seating basically. Centenary Lower has dropped in prices - where the matchday camera actually points as well. It basically looks as though the Paddock is going to be where the bulk of premium seating will be allocated as well.
Either way, the real benefit of this is only going to be felt ten years along the road. I think it's short sighted just to be so dismissive and reactive. This ticketing policy has a way in to the club for young fans, and then a multi tiered approach to enable them to tailor their matchday experience according to the job/salary they end up in. If they can stretch to more expensive tickets, then the cycle of subsidisation begins again.
However, if you want to sit at the negotiating table then you have to have a real alternative. This threads around 30 pages and the most compelling argument is a feeling that 70% of the seats should be £30 (a page per pound). I mean, someone else can surely shout that's too expensive we want £20 tickets. The club has the difficult act of balancing club income, player wages, ticket prices along with fan expectations and sorting out a complete mess in temrs of match day attendance demographic. It seems a bit facetious that the current proposal makes no attempt to balance their ticket price demands against the same backdrop. So yes, in principle we'd all love £30 tickets, is it a realistic aim? Possibly, but it will cost the club possibly sinking into the championship.