Tw*t of the Week Special – Don't touch their pies

Last updated : 08 April 2004 By Tony Scholes

Over priced seats this way
We will all have paid £16 to sit behind the goals and in a stand that provides us with a poor view. That would be fair enough but in one of the most blatant breaches of Football League regulations there will be home supporters sat at the other end who will have paid no more than £9 for what can only be considered similar accommodation.

Walsall Football Club don’t even try to hide this scam, they are just downright blatant with it, and even changed their own rules to force it when it became obvious that tickets would have to be issued for the Burnley supporters.

They charge away fans £4 more for a start but then add a further £3 discount for home fans who buy their tickets in advance, they normally do not offer tickets in advance to away supporters.

Having now been put in a position where they had no option on safety grounds but to have tickets at the away end it was assumed that we would at least benefit with the £3 advance payment reduction.

Not on your life, and to avoid offering it they changed their rules for home supporters and now offer them a £6 discount for tickets for two games – this is so they can rip off the Sheffield United supporters as well.

Their actions incredibly have actually met with the support of some of their own fans who somehow don’t quite seem to have worked it out. But a Walsall fan who travels away from home would not be happy if he had to pay an extra £7 at every away match. That would cost him an extra £161 over the season – that is exactly what their own club is doing.

Our own club have fought tooth and nail to get us a fair deal but Walsall were adamant that they were going to overcharge us.

It is too late for us now but it is about time that Mawhinney’s Mob at the Football League got their house in order. A member club is breaking their rules but they are not doing anything about it.

We can all do our bit though by giving them not a penny more than we need to. When you pass through those turnstiles on Saturday you will have already paid £7 more than some of their supporters sat at the other end of the ground so don’t give them any more.

If you are travelling by car then park away from their car parks, don’t pay them to park it. Don’t buy a drink in their social club, don’t buy a match programme and don’t buy any refreshments on the ground.

Take your own food preferably and if you can avoid giving this lot any more than the admission money then please do so.

The Clarets Independent Supporters Association have been consulting with the Football Supporters Federation on this matter and they in turn are in discussions with the Football League.

Quite simply clubs such as Walsall should be stopped from doing this and if the League had any guts whatsoever they would stop them from doing it right now.

But at least we can avoid giving them any more, they are already getting far more from us than they are entitled to and far more than they deserve.

If you cannot afford the £16 then why not use the home seats – it is a lot cheaper.