An interesting motion was tabled in the House of Commons this week. Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron called for football fans of clubs in the higher echelons of the Football League and Premier League to stop supporting their team and turn to their local community club. His reasoning was that a mass exodus of fans would lead to owner’s reducing their prices.
This came in the wake of a survey by BBC Sport that listed the most expensive clubs for fans to experience a match day at. The idea of a large scale protest to bring about change in the way football is run and attracting new crowds to non-league football is commendable and on some levels his argument has a point.
However, it is also naïve and idealistic, and fails to take into consideration a number of factors. The first is the issue of fan loyalty. In an era where loyalty in football is always being questioned, the one continuous element is the loyalty the fans show to the club. They go week in week out to support their team and are the ones that suffer and rejoice, and they are the only ones that collectively keep the history of their club going. Those fans of very top level teams that are able to go in spite of all the financial setbacks pride themselves on that fact, so it would be very difficult for them to just turn around and go elsewhere.
What this also brings into play with the top clubs is that if a fan were to take Farron up on his suggestion, they would almost certainly lose their seat immediately to those who have no problem in paying out large sums for a game of football, even if they are not a supporter, because of the social significance now held with going to watch a match.
There are many who have turned their backs on their clubs due to things like dissatisfaction with owners, prices etc. Some have even gone one step further by creating new teams, FC United of Manchester being a well publicised example. The work they have done is admirable and should be rightly praised.
My point here does not focus on this side of the argument so much, but more the specifics of what was being discussed in Parliament. As I have already said, Farron’s concept is on paper a very good idea but I think it fails to grasp the points above when asking fans to walk out on their club.
His reasoning is that owner’s will make it cheaper so that the fans who walked out could then return. This may be possible at some clubs but as has been stated, the likelihood of a Chelsea or Manchester United fan returning to an empty seat is extremely low. Were one less fan to show up, it is likely that the space would be quickly filled and therefore the owners would continue to get the same income their prices aim for, and things at the top would stay the same.
Daniel Smith – @dmsmith1987
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