Kieran Maguire: Fulham owner will ignore fans over £160 ticket fury
The owners at Fulham will ignore complaints over ticket costs as they want prices to match the music and entertainment industry.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the protests at Craven Cottage over ticket price rises.
As reported by the Daily Mail, Fulham fans have launched protests towards owner Shahid Khan after supporters were charged £160 to attend their clash against Manchester United.
The London club already increased all season ticket prices by 18 percent for the 2023/24 season and individual ticket costs have also risen with some junior tickets now set at £80.
In Fulham’s latest 2021/22 financial accounts, the club earned £9.53million in overall matchday revenue but that figure is expected to soar following consecutive price increases in recent years.
Maguire believes it is impossible to introduce a new pricing policy in the Premier League as it won’t receive enough support to pass through a vote.
“While you can absolutely understand the frustration of fans, 18 out of 20 Premier League clubs are losing money on an operational basis,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“So there’s no desire from owners, especially American owners, to introduce a pricing policy which represents the challenges of regular fans.
“Owners, such as those at Fulham, are far more interested in picking up the floating tourist fan who is happy to spend more on matchdays.
“Premier League owners will point out the prices being charged by Taylor Swift and the Foo Fighters and so on and they will be trying to align football prices with the entertainment industry.
“They don’t care about the culture, history and heritage of individual fan groups.
“So there will not be enough traction among owners to get the 14 votes needed to have a pricing policy which meets the needs of the hardcore fan base of any club.“
In other news, Fulham to block Adarabioyo January transfer