SECTIONS OF LIVERPOOL’S support have decided to boycott their game at Hull’s KC Stadium tonight due to excessive ticket prices.
Reds supporters are being charged £50 for a ticket – £34 more than Stoke fans paid earlier this season – and the Spirit of Shankly group have organised a boycott in protest of the admission prices.
“We would encourage fans to join us on that night to tell the money men of the Premier League cartel that they cannot continue to charge exorbitant prices, whilst making obscene amounts of money,” a statement on their website said.
“This wealth should be shared and passed back to the lifeblood of the game, the supporters… We will no longer accept these prices when there is more money in the sport than ever before.”
It’s not the first time Liverpool fans have been vocal in their stance against ticket prices having joined forces with Arsenal supporters at last month’s fixture at the Emirates Stadium.
Brendan Rodgers says he respects the supporters’ decision to stay away from the KC Stadium this evening and admits it’s time for the Premier League to take a stand.
“Like everything in modern football I respect the supporters right to protest,” Rodgers said at Monday’s press conference. “Supporters work very hard to earn their money to go to football games so they have a right to protest.”
Steve Bruce is of the same opinion and believes the Premier League should use its new £5 billion TV rights deal to help make tickets more affordable for fans.
“I feel sorry for the supporters of big clubs who have to dig deep every week and I hope, when the new TV money comes into play, the Premier League can remember football does belong to supporters,” he told reporters.
“I know how difficult it is for people here at our club to find the money to bring their two kids to a football match and we have to make sure, with all the money washing around, we give something back to the fans, that it becomes cheaper.
“We have to remember the average man in the street because they are the lifeblood of football and I think if the Premier League set certain rules we would all have to abide by them.”
