Business end?......

Yes, we are now at the business end of the football season, which seems apt for the current situation. The times where dreams are made, dreams are broken, success will be enjoyed, celebrated and of course defeats and chances rued. I don't know how the season has gone for you and your footballing families this season as we wind down, towards the summer, whether your flying high and living the dream like the foxes or maybe your hanging on for dear live in your respective division like Aston Villa.


One thing is for sure there is plenty more to play for, plenty of tears to be shed, hopefully tears of joy, but not in all circumstances, but hey, the ups and downs in football is what we crave season in and season out.


One thing, one common denominator I can ensure the majority of you football supporters are experiencing right now, and sadly are likely to continue to run into throughout the remainder of the season; that is sky high match pricing!


But its Sunday, a day most will relax, sit back and think and evaluate the week just part before a new one commences shortly after, for many it will involve football in some manor, be it Super Sunday, or if your braving the winter weather and prices to watch your sides live.


For us here at TwentysPlenty its a great day to evaluate events passed during this war on match ticket pricing and lets be honest the last month we have seen significant progress, and a constant increase in support and unity between football fans. When I say progress I am not talking about the increase in Twitter followers, while we are supported by over 8K followers, we have barely scratched the surface of supporters that are currently disgruntled and ready to voice an opinion, though not in vain we have to mention the huge presence social media has when talking ticket pricing.


Its key for overall success that we keep people talking about, pricing, TwentysPlenty, protests, comparisons between English leagues. We want to portray the message that this wont go away, and we certainly will not accept anymore of the constant increase in extortionate pricing! Lets be fair that's the concern, we are at the period where teams begin to release pricing structures for next year, at the moment we advise you to prepare for the worst, and make sure your sitting down before having a read!


Yes, its clear to me that the problem is in fact getting worse, season on season. This is deeply concerning, although we have seen small changes with one or two clubs, be it reciprocal deals, or public backing, even ticket pricing freezes are more welcome than some I have seen over the past week. Of course it seems only right to mention events yesterday; it came to light that Liverpool fans could pay a premium £77 for a single match ticket next season, that's a hefty sum! to say it politely.


Its clearly excessive, mix this with comments made by the FSG supporters were rightly left livid. We then saw a fantastic show of solidarity yesterday, arranged by supporter group 'Spirit of Shankley' and 'The Spion Kop'. #WalkOutOn77 was created, during yesterday's fixture fans left the ground in the 77th minute to really hit home the general feeling about this pricing, to those on the board, to the media and anyone else. A truly great and successful action, this followed by a heighten attention towards pricing, one that again sparks the fire within football fans.


Following this action I think as a football fan pride is restored, supporters were shown they do have a voice once more, that they could make an impact, and for that alone we applauded the Liverpool supporters. This of cause sparked media attention, coverage on BBC Sport, Sky Sports news, and of course a hugely respected analysis from Alan Shearer, who went on to say, 'football fans should be rewarded for loyalty, with the new television deal should be paying more that £10-£20' We hear you Alan!


On a final note this is not the only action we have seen over the past few weeks, its worth noting the premier league meeting, the majority of time was spent discussing pricing, whilst  vote did not see the required 14 teams agree to the cap, we do know some did, a shining light if you like, this for sure is something to bring encouragement, the FSF will continue tirelessly to rage war against ticket pricing, as will we! we ask you to continue your support and we believe progress is just round the corner, so lets not be picking ourselves a German football side just yet!


Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, keep here for more to follow over the coming weeks.


#TwentysPlenty
#SupportersNotCustomers
#FansUnite

I'm Boycotting the Boycott... For now.

Boycotting the match, voting with your feet.. could this be the answer?

A very good question in my opinion, one definitely worthy of discussion if not consideration. I write; nearly at the mid way point of the domestic season. Looking back have we made much progress? Many would say no; lets not lose hope - we have to take small steps, we aren't going to combat the evil financial demons of modern football over night!

Something I hear, time and time again is "just boycott the games, vote with your feet". A view many will share and see this as the solution for our issues, whilst I am not against this idea, I really do sit on the fence with the effectiveness of this mind set. Please hear me out as to why, this opinion does of course warrant consideration but for me, we are not yet in a position to launch any form of action that would have a positive effect.

Mass walkouts, or seeing large amounts of empty seats appear to be a pipe dream and there are many factors that come into play, whilst we have seen similar protests of late we remain in the same position, take for example recently we saw fans of FC Bayern Munich operate a similar demonstration at the emirates protesting for the first part of the match. Or even when Liverpool fans purchased children's tickets for a lower price and didn't turn up, we still saw a number of fans in that away section, these protests to be effective have to be completely supported.

Both very creative ideas, and the effort is admirable, however the efforts were largely disregarded with the exception of minor publicity. My point being that for a boycott to be effective it must be done on a large enough scale, which really at the present moment in time is not feasible. It would be so difficult to achieve.

Whilst we consider the constraints of arranging such activity we must note in the current climate the sheer difficulty to get tickets, most so in the premier league. Now tickets are few and far between such as the demand, you must be a season ticket holder, or a member. Not a member? Well then you must have been to 8 home games this season, etc etc. My point being it isn't easy, for every person not taking their seat, there is another five football fans willing to take it off their hands!

This is a credit to our love for the game, how supported our teams now are. Failing that we must consider, a fixture without any away fans as they have boycotted that particular fixture, could this impact the performance of their side? Many football supporters will opt with supporting and watching their sides through rain or shine and would not even toy with the idea of a protest.

Whilst I agree a MASS Boycott one weekend would give out a very obvious message, I think there are first other options we could be exploring, feel free to correct me if I am wrong, we always look to hear your ideas and views, leave a comment below. At this stage of the campaign we must continue to gauge the opinions of football fans to get a good scope of the general consensus of opinion, and continue to ask people to show their support for 'Twentys Plenty'.

I do believe we will see progress prior to 2016, it will take lots of work and it will not be easy, but football fans as one provide many voices and several different views whilst bringing different leverage to the table, stick with us and stay in touch.

@Twentys_Plenty


TwentyisPlenty2015@Gmail.com

Twenty's Plenty > Fan Protests

Last weekend we saw the first of many statements by football supporters to ensure our voices are heard, we are disgruntled we are being exploited and we will not allow this to go on, we seek change and want to prevent continued exploitation. Let me just say on record, the way football fans brought into last weekends ‘Twenty’s Plenty demonstrations were absolutely incredible, we showed unity bet football fans - tribal differences were put to one side and solidarity prevailed. We achieved everything we looked to achieve and for that I thank you.

I must also apologise to all of our Twitter followers specifically, that ‘Re-tweet’ function was hit very hard over the weekend, and we can assure you it was a one off. We wanted to monopolise everyone’s time lines and get our message across, over and over again, thanks for putting up with us, we will tone it down!

Some great efforts out there this weekend from several fan groups, we were noted in several newspapers and news site, notably BBC news, this was great publicity for #TwentysPlenty we showed everyone that we are willing to push our cause on a large scale. There were a couple of points that disappointed me, I was hoping for slightly more media exposure most notably I was hoping from a small acknowledgement from MOTD, however you can’t win them all, (not straight away anyways!).

So what next for us? isn’t that the five billion pound question (do you see what I did there?) Rest assured this is only the beginning, we will not surrender until we have achieved what we set out to achieve, taking football and giving it back to the ones who deserve it most the fans!

Let’s not forget here @Twentys_Plenty we always want to hear from you! feel free to drop us a line on Facebook, Twitter or even send us an email, we are always happy to hear from you.

There was also a number of questions fired our way this weekend, questions which you will need answering, for example ‘why not organise mass boycott’s?’ This question is one we face on a regular basis, one which I will answer this week, if you have any others you would like to throw our way feel free. Keep an eye on our blog this week and we will look at more detail what’s coming up along with some other things we must clear up.

Thanks for your support so far, we must believe we can make a change, I hope you keep your faith, your patience with us as we look to turn stop this downward spiral called modern football in it’s tracks.

@Twentys_Plenty

TwentyisPlenty2015@gmail.com

#TVMoney

The day of the new Premier League television broadcast deal arrived. With rumours abound that the deal would be touching £4 Billion , or roughly 25% up from the existing deal, it was to some surprise that the final deal came out at a massive £5.136 Billion for the exclusive domestic rights for three years from the 2016 season onwards. With Sky facing competition from BT Sport there’s no wonder the next contract is massive. Having lost Champions League action from next year Sky were clearly determined to hang on to their Crown Jewels and promptly secured five of the seven packages available, cleverly broken down by Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore. Although figures have yet to be confirmed it is believed that Sky paid circa £4.2 Billion for their package, and BT chipped in with the best part if £1 Billion for their share. Astronomical amounts of money to cover Europe’s biggest, and allegedly best football competition.

So who benefits most from this latest windfall ? Well certainly the players won’t be taking a pay cut anytime soon. Wages will invariably soar with clubs cashed up. The team finishing bottom of the Premier League in 2016/17 is guaranteed a minimum £100 Million. Yes, finishing BOTTOM ! Last years Bundesliga champions in Germany, Bayern Munich, collected 36 million Euros from their competitions TV deal. The champions of England in 16/17 will get £150 Million. Nearly 5 times as much. As we all know, 95% of this will end up in players pay packets, but that's a debate for another day.

A possible knock-on of this deal is cheaper match tickets for the regular fan. That’s the dream anyway. There’s no guarantee on this but the pressure from fan groups and to  some extent government to make tickets cheaper is gathering pace. The Football Supporters Federation (FSF) already host a campaign called “20’s Plenty”. They campaign for clubs to charge a maximum of £20 for away fans, and with even more money in the game there will be calls for this to extend to the Home fans too, if not in all of the ground then certainly in selected parts. How this will stand with owners plans to maximise profit we will see.

The loser in all of this will surely be the armchair sports fans. Already paying through the nose for the current package, Sky plan to show Friday night games from 2016. This will mean football on our screen’s potentially six days a week, seven when the Europa League games are on. A frightening thought is that the once sacred 3pm kick off on a Saturday may well be a thing of the past. For armchair fans this will be irrelevant. However a downside will be the inevitable subscription increase. After all, someone has to make up the increase in contract, and the existing customer base will be looking at a couple of quid extra every month for the privilege. As someone that campaigns for people to attend games in the flesh, and preferably at their local team, I for one won’t shed a tear for those that get their football fix from the comfort of their settee. Another victim in football’s ever increasing world of reliance on money, and lot’s of it.

Article by - Darren Norton

@Knockernorton1

Are YOU!? - A pessimist or an optimist.

So the football season has arrived, the moment we have all been waiting for full of hope optimism and general excitement – the lead up to the beginning of a new season is always quiet and in some respects you feel as though something is in fact missing from your life’s during those Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but the wait is over. We go again. I as always wish you and you respective clubs every success this season but of course remember to enjoy yourselves live every moment and every kick, there will be some ups there will be some downs, but isn’t that what we crave on a weekly basis? We football fans need that fix.

So yes, I have been a bit quiet over the last few months and this is my first post in a good while, but more will follow as the battle for fair pricing in football rages stronger and stronger. Let’s have a quick stack up of any particular progress or change we have seen prior to the commencing of this year’s season.

In my opinion there has been very little change, we have seen even in some cases larger increases in the price that fans pay to watch their sides in action, but let’s not be completely down. A positive would have to be an increase and heightened attention to particular campaigns launched by fans, and an increase in those willing to voice their opinions and disgust with current treatment – this will only improve our chances of change. Furthermore there are some clubs that are willing to assist their fans, let’s take Swansea, who have subsidised their away ticket pricing ensuring their supporters will not pay more than £22 per fixture, this is the kind of action we are looking for. Well played the Swans!

So as this campaign has progressed we have had some mixed reviews – mostly positive but we do get the odd person that will always say, ‘This will never come into fruition.’ Or ‘what difference can we make?’ well in response to your question actually quite a bit. The only way change is ever made is if it is with reason, the only way something is with reason is if it is well enough supported, I think that Twenty is Plenty is something that would be widely supported and appreciated by all fans of all teams, as I have said previously the need actually sweeps aside the fan rivalries, and see’s supporters stand as one against one greedy evil notion – modern football and its thieving ways, extorting the life blood of the industry. 

Please allow me to put that previous point into perspective for you, currently@Twentys_Plenty Twitter account stands at, 3,300+ follows, not too many when you compare that to the account of The Football Supporters Federation again standing as a voice for football fans, they have over 22,000 followers. But wait; let’s compare that to the recent fixture at the Emirates stadium where attendance was in excess of 59,000 people. As I say, to elaborate we have barely touched the surface – must we take for granted how big this sport truly is! That’s why we need you; to continue to voice your discomfort, to spread the message and generally get behind us, whilst encouraging overs to do so.

Those who doubt the power of the fans in an industry that would not survive without them, must always remember that football is nothing without fans, sooner or later those fans will slowly start to switch the focus, and endeavour to take back the game we helped turn into the multimillion pound giant business franchise we see in front of us today.

Moving on, back to the title of this article, I have always believed that there were two types of football fans that their views & opinions of their team’s aspirations or targets would be because they are a pessimist or possibly an optimist. My question to you is can we really change football now, or have we gone too far to go back now? The pessimist in you would say yes, I ask you to call on the optimist with you! Why not have a go? I cannot sit here in my chair and say to you, we will make that difference. But what I would say is I am going to give it a damn good go, and I hope that you do too.

Keep up to date with us, stay tuned for regular updates, we welcome your view, your feedback and your opinions positive or negative. We must stand as one and we will not roll over – football is a huge part of life to many people, those people want the game to be readily available to their future generations, and will not remain idle whilst this is slowly taken from our grasp, surely that rush, that excitement of a packed stadium is a prize everyone deserves.

I thank you for your support so far.

Against Modern Football - Controversial?

"I am against the rise of Modern Football" as statement we are now hearing on a more regular basis, but what does this mean and why do some people find this controversial?

My take on the rise; of those who are strongly opposed to the rise of modern football is in a way a call to arms - attempting to have fans from all sides stand together and voice our disgruntlement against the negative side of the beautiful game. Its an embedded idea in an attempt to revert the focus and attention in football back towards those all important fans and not a money sucking business with monetary goals only, hence the 'Supporters not Customers' statement so widely and rightly thrown around at present.

It’s a slogan that is becoming increasingly frequent from football fans. It’s on banners, it’s on t-shirts, it’s on stickers. re the jibes at the modern game justified? Many fans now see themselves at war against modern football, lets not forget what was once a working class mans game is now being stripped down and turned into a business with blatant disregard for those fans who created these incredible traditions and lets be fair made the game into the billion pound industry it now is.

As time progresses we are seeing things change in a negative spiral from many different factors,

>Ticket Prices

>Club Name Changes

>Merchandise Pricing

>Poor Ownership - are just some examples.

But why is this being hailed a controversial line? For me it seems odd, but it is something being said on a global scale. Many feel that the line 'Against Modern Football' is something that is thrown around too easily, to symbolise a fans disgust at something, no always justified, and perhaps offers nothing to hold on to as there is no completely defined meaning.

For me I do think it holds value, there are so many things that are currently wrong with modern football that were not previously an issue looking back. Take for example pricing, we are slowly seeing the game we love the game that has such large value in our life's (rightly on wrongly that is).

The football season has wound to an end, but we will face the same demons next season and those to follow unless we stand our and make ourselves heard! this is where we must stand as one, I need your help! We can stamp our feet for the next two weeks and not be heard we must continue to gain support to make noise, to plaster social media, we are not happy and we will take a stand.

Feel free to comment on here, provide ideas, we are on Facebook and Twitter. Let's take back the game we created, To conclude, 'Against Modern Football' as a campaign may be controversial, I for one though; am against many aspects of Modern football. For that I wish to be heard!

#TwentysPlenty
#AgainstModernFootball
#SupportersNotCustomers

Modern Football - Age of a Gambler?

I have a question; at which stage did it become socially acceptable to plaster the modern game of football with very much in your face gambler advertisements? I know this is kind of off topic, but it’s a sign of how the game and football industry has swerved into an industry with so much economic and profitable focus. 

 

Is it right that we now associate football, or any sport with the need to gamble and bet? I do not think so, are we now in the age of the gambler? I hope not. As football clubs continue to suck every hard earned penny from football fans we are also subject to a continued bombardment from gambling companies, to spend every penny that has evaded the hands of the greedy club boards and ownership, into mindless betting.  

We all love a weekend accumulator, a couple of quid here and there, and we wait for that one win a season (if we are lucky). It doesn’t stop there though! Take for example watching a football match on the television, Wham! Before the match, we see these adverts giving the odds, and encouraging mindless betting. We have the in-play markets now too – so don’t just bet before the game do it during!

I for one struggle to believe that this is morally correct. Is this something we want to continue to encourage the young generations to do – let’s put the constant television and even radio drive to one side here. Take into account that now we can place bets at football grounds, some football ground ban the sale of alcohol but happily condone you to place a pre-match bet in the grounds, once you’re in the ground you are constantly reminded be it electric advertising boards on the pitch or sponsorship deals posted somewhere in your view.  

I think this is a sign of things to come with the modern game we are being more and more pushed to separate our hard earned cash with these commercial monsters, and it certainly is a real negative and nasty side to the beautiful game. I have huge admiration for the ‘Gamble Aware’ campaign but honestly think that they are fighting a losing battle when comparing to the promotional giants that push to encourage. It’s no secret the dangers that can arise, to those who do become out of control with this addiction we have even seen footballers themselves lose nearly everything, it’s a dangerous situation we are faced with.

If we are going to save the way our ‘working class’ game is operating we must act before things continue on a negative slide and these issues become the norm of modern football. It’s important to remember that we as supporters, followers or fans (call it what you will). Just don’t call it customers – have turned this industry into the global franchise it is today, perhaps it’s time to give something back!?  

 

Please feel free to comment below, your thoughts and opinions are gratefully received, be sure to stay in touch; using our Facebook & Twitter links on the side. #TwentysPlenty