The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust have slammed the club for placing a hefty price on one of their Champions League fixtures.
Tottenham Hotspur will get their Champions League campaign underway on Tuesday, with Villarreal travelling to North London. There will be plenty of intrigue surrounding Manor Solomon, who may end up playing against his parent club.
However, one of the biggest talking points about the match has been how much Tottenham supporters will have to fork out in order to attend. The THST has previously criticised Spurs for raising ticket prices. It was later announced that the THST would play a part in the club’s long-term ticketing review.
This season, the THST have criticised Tottenham’s decision not to price all Champions League matches and Category C fixtures. When their protests were ignored by the club, they made an effort to only have the Borussia Dortmund fixture above Category C, but this was again refused.
Tottenham Supporters’ Trust send clear message to the Spurs board
Tottenham have pressed ahead with pricing the upcoming clash with Villarreal as a Category B fixture. As a result, tickets have gone unsold and are being offered on a general sale where anyone can buy them.
The THST posted: “We warned Spurs against pricing our group stage UCL game v Villarreal at Cat B. The fact we are now being urged to invite up to SIX of our friends to this game, suggests we were right.
“Why not price games affordably and pack the stadium? That’s how you create the atmosphere we all want on European nights.”
Tottenham fixtures do not usually make it to a general sale, except for some domestic cup matches. Tickets are usually sold out after the One Hotspur member sales windows.
Spurs have made an error in judgement on Champions League tickets
Many clubs offer a four match package, which allows their supporters to pay a fixed fee to attend every home European match during the league phase of the competition. This means every game is priced exactly the same.
Tottenham have attempted to boost revenue by charging more for the bigger matches against higher ranked opponents.
However, this move has not paid off. It is not easy for many supporters to attend midweek matches and this should be taken into consideration when the club decide their pricing strategy.
If Spurs still have lots of empty seats on Tuesday night, it will be disappointing, because it is good for the supporters to get behind their team.
However, no fan can be blamed for not being able to afford additional cup matches. Playing Villarreal does not make for a standout tie and it should have been priced the same as the Copenhagen and Slavia Prague fixtures.
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