By Ben McFadyean.
Despite the presence of the three-time champions of the Segunda Division and 2003 Champions League quarter-finalists Celta Vigo, the attraction proved little draw for many West Ham United fans who preferred instead to make their point by staying away to show their dismay at steep price hikes ahead of the new season.
The London stadium, which was built for the London 2012 Olympics, has never been a match for the club’s former home, the Boleyn, even when at its 62,500 capacity.
The Hammers bosses, led by then club chairman David Gold, were never going to turn down an opportunity to take up the tenancy at the stunning multi-purpose stadium, and for a ground rent of just £3.6m, the rental scheme putting the club in a similar position to many Bundesliga clubs like SC Freiburg or Mainz 05, who also rent their stadia.
Though there are 91 years left on the lease, media reports earlier this year have confirmed the club and main shareholder Czech property developer Daniel Kretinsky, who bought a 27% stake in the club in 2021, have plans to buy the stadium from current owner the London Legacy Corporation outright.
Under the current deal, West Ham take all the ticket money from the games but the ground is used for other events to generate further revenue.
The current arrangement means that the club, in spite of suffering the regular deterioration of the pitch resulting from the multi-functionality of the ground, benefit from not having to make payments towards the upkeep and with current recorded annual losses of £31m that the current owners are facing.
When asked about football as an investment, leading investment adviser Cameron Chartwood confirmed that football is a “money pit, an asset in which it is hard to make a return, more of a vanity project than a business opportunity.”
Only Fulham, Newcastle United and Aston Villa made no loss in 23/24, and among the loss-making football clubs of the Premier League West Ham United are one of the few to have run a deficit of less than £60m in the past season, with Everton the worst-case scenario with a pre-tax loss of over £1bn and a combined loss across the 20 clubs of the English top tier of approaching £8bn.
Despite a record media deal which is worth £6.7bn currently, in contrast to the €1.bn of the German league, which is also shared amongst the 36 clubs of the top two tiers unlike the English deal, the ticket prices in the English league remain the highest among the top 5 leagues. An average season ticket seated in the Premier League currently stands at £406, compared to €204 in across the 18 clubs of the Bundesliga.
The Football Supporters Association, a leading campaigning organisation in the English game has for many years been campaigning to lower the prices fans have to pay to watch their favourite teams. The ‘Twenty’s Plenty’ campaign which was set up in 2013 to reduce the price of away tickets to £20 has been successful with clubs agreeing to cap the prices in 2019 but at £30, a full 33% more than the sought price reduction.
Prices, in particular season ticket prices, within the English game remain stubbornly high, with the worst being at Fulham FC’s newly renovated Craven Cottage where a season ticket can cost as much as £3000 or Tottenham where the most expensive seat costs £2405 for the 19 home games.
Though West Ham United’s most expensive season ticket comes in at just over half of that of Spurs, at £1105, fans of the Hammers are not happy amidst a cost of living crisis which has hit UK residents worse than many other in Europe with inflation reaching 7.3% in 2023 and the increase in the cost of groceries in 2023 rising as much as 19% for the average consumer.
In spite of ticket prices for today’s friendly match against the giants from the Northern Spanish region of Galicia ranging from £10 to £35 for today’s friendly, a stark contrast to the €7.50 – €20 charged by Borussia Dortmund for today’s friendly at the Signal Iduna Park against Aston Villa.
English fans are by now accustomed to the prices in the league with the Sport Journal reporting an average increase of 7.5% across the season tickets among the 20 clubs they remain stubbornly high, the ire of the fans of one of England’s most historic clubs is not about the season ticket nor the price of the off off-season games which this year included Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers and 35-time Hungarian champions Ferencváros.
The concerns rather more are about the arbitrary removal of concessions which have been removed by the club for the current season. These include price reductions for children and those over 66. In contrast to the 23/24 season where a children’s season ticket cost £270 for the under 12s will now have to pay the full adult season ticket price of £670.
Much of the fans’ anger is directed towards the club’s managing director Karen Brady. Grayson a season ticket-holder who was outside the ground with his son after the game hoping to get autographs: “I am giving up my season ticket after 22 years, not just because my son Tyler would have to pay a lot more this coming season, but because of what it means for the older people who will be mostly unable to afford to go as a result of the increases”.
The club said: “We recognise that each Season Ticket Holder’s circumstances and needs are individual to them and that your status as a Season Ticket Holder is about far more than simply attending matchdays. we are proud of the fact our prices are amongst the lowest in the Premier League.”
For now, the fans’ anger demonstrated itself in the boycott of today’s game with only 22,000 attending the friendly amidst an organised boycott that was widely publicised across fan social media like the West Ham Fans Only page based in London, which called for a: “Boycott of the Celta game to protest the nightmare Brady’s new season ticket nightmare.”
A petition has been set up which has reached 15,000 signatures a month into the campaign, but the club appears to remain unmoved with no official statement by the club on the issue having been made publically to date. For now, the fans of the Irons continue with their campaign and further protests and boycotts are planned at the Premier League kick-off against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Fans of the Bundesliga will have been heartened by the debut of Niclas Füllkrug. The former Borussia Dortmund striker got a rousing welcome coming on after the halftime. Even a missed penalty did not dampen the spirits, and ‘Fülle’ looked comfortable with his new West Ham teammates throughout the half-hour he was on the pitch.
Asked about the new signing coach Julian Lopetegui said: “We have signed Niclas as he can provide additional options at the front, he put in a good performance today, in light of the late signing, obviously we would love to have an extra week to prepare him, but Niclas is a top athlete and he will be ready for Villa on Saturday.”