Fans' charter seeks back-to-basics soccer
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Your support makes all the difference.The Premier League believe the new fans' charter will bring the people's game back to the people.
The Premier League believe the new fans' charter will bring the people's game back to the people.
The 20 clubs in the top flight of English football have signed a legally binding document, ensuring greater accessibility to games for the general public, with the number one pledge being to make tickets cheaper.
Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, says the clubs backed the idea of raising the price of executive packages in order to lower the price at the other end of the spectrum.
"We are always concerned we treat the people's game as the people's game as much as we can do. We are not ignorant to the calls of the supporter groups.
"But it is also very good business. So it's a win-win in this situation. We are obviously looking to do this and clubs are wanting to do this because they see it as good commercial sense, it's good business sense and it's just good practice," Scudamore told BBC Radio 5 Live.
It is hoped the prices cuts will entice the disabled, pensioners and children, who will have reserved seats at each game, into the stands.
The profitable practice of changing club kits within a season will become a thing of the past - clubs have agreed that replica strip designs should have a minimum two-year life span.
And in an effort to help maintain a lively atmosphere at matches at least 10% or 3,000 tickets will be sold to away supporters provided that the same prices and concessions are available to home fans.
"Obviously stretch pricing is a way of maintaining access, if you can keep tickets at the lower end or move tickets to the lower end, those could be subsidised by tickets at the higher end.
"Whenever we see surveys on what are the top ticket prices I think it is a little unfair on many of our clubs because you can always go along and find the top season ticket price, which in some clubs includes meals and other benefits, so you are not really comparing like with like.
"The real issue is access and access under this (charter) will also be improved because tickets will be made available on a match-to-match basis - that in itself means you don't have to buy a season ticket to get in which makes it more accessible."
Clubs have set their own agendas by creating individual charters but the Premier League will have the power to impose fines should rules - such as the recommendation on away supporters be broken.
"We had our summer meeting, the clubs all agreed to put into the rule book the requirement for a club to have a charter and also the subject matters which have to go into these charters.
"It's the clubs that have then done the work and put the meat on the bones and come up with their own charters, so it's not one charter that's in everywhere.
"It's very much a bespoke thing because some clubs have wanted to go much further and historically have always gone much further than anything we might wish to do en masse.
"Basically if you breach those rules they are able to be fined and sanctioned by the Premier League. And that's exactly what they have signed up to do."
The Premiership will, in essence, monitor itself with Scudamore rejecting the idea of an ombudsman overlooking the charter's implementation.
"We don't see a practical way of (the ombudsman) doing that. We see what we are doing - we want to move things on, this charter and the issues surrounding this charter aren't new issues."
All the clubs are expected to report back to the Premier League on the progress of the scheme and will listen to their own supporters' groups on the various issues.
However, the influential Football Supporters' Association have said the charter "does not go far enough" to address their needs.
FSA chairman Malcolm Clarke admitted the measures announced today were a step in the right direction but added that the public relations adopted within the Premier League varied enormously from club to club.
"It is too vague in many ways," he said. "We are not convinced that some of the Premier League clubs have really changed and we would like to see stronger regulations with relation to treatment of supporters.
"We are looking for accesibility for all sections of the community otherwise the game could suffer in the long term."
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