New Year resolutions are notoriously tough to stick to.
My waistline is proof! But for football’s sake, it’s absolutely crucial that the game’s power-brokers pledge to put fans first in 2015. And it’s even more vital that they follow through.
For too long now, supporters have been marginalised, their views ignored and their voices silenced.
Too many chairmen, encouraged by the blazers running the Leagues, have prioritised the pound over the punter and I get the sense we’re reaching a critical point.
Prices are rising across the board, from the Premier League all the way down to the Conference, from the SPFL Premiership down to League Two. At the very top of the ladder, it’s got to the point where going to a game is a major outlay.
On every rung below, fans are questioning whether they are getting value for money.
The product on the park, the facilities in the stands and the way spectators are treated by stewards and police are all BIG issues for hard-pressed fans these days. And as you look down the Leagues, attendances tell the story.
In Scotland, even the very top clubs are struggling to get people through the turnstiles.
Take Celtic, for example. A good pal of mine is a lifelong Hoops fanatic, a guy who hasn’t missed a game at Celtic Park in decades. This season, however, even he is picking and choosing his games.
When I asked him why on earth he’d decided to break the Parkhead habit after so many years, his answer was telling.
He, like fans at many other clubs, is tired of paying over the odds to sit in a half-empty stadium, watching uninspiring football in a completely sanitised environment, where fans are threatened with being kicked out for daring to get out of their seats.
When guys like that who have watched football in the flesh for most of their lives are calling it quits, you know it’s time to take action.
We’ve got to a point where fans are no longer seen as the lifeblood of the game by clubs they are seen as a pain in a backside. It is time that changed. And it’s a change that needs to come from on high.
This year, we need to see football’s governors opening their eyes to what fans want fair pricing, safe standing, and a degree of respect from those whose wages they pay.
If punters continue to be ignored, the consequences could be grim.
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