I am afraid I just don’t care.

It’s been quite a while since I last wrote something. Life, family, work, the usual. Day to day life has just taken over .Unfortunately the website and this page has been forced into the back seat. Although, fortunately, with the introduction of the away ballot, I have to say, it’s been a little less stressful running a branch. I don’t miss the two hours, three days a week of  sitting in front of a computer trying to order tickets on that website.

Pity those folks who in the previous decade or so have never had to go anywhere near the ticketing page. Firstly, clicking on the right link, let alone try to remember the login details and tick all the boxes. Secondly, that pressure of waiting for that screen to change from the East Stand to that little man walking across the screen. Finally, logging in to find that even though you clicked on the link at 10.30am (before it changed to 1.00pm), you were still 17000th in the queue. Plus, ticking on all the boxes that had a traffic light in them. They missed all of this.

Now they get all day to apply in the ballot and I cannot. Consequently, I am now excluded and frankly I don’t care. I did my time with all that, and it was enough.

The why.

Therefore, my main raison d’etre – moaning about tickets – has gone and football has happily bobbled along this season. Plus, we are above Spurs as we stand, so it’s not so bad right now. Sadly I have been moved by the latest “controversy” that has been stoked up by the people who hate Leeds this last week. A feeble attempt to condemn all Leeds fans as intolerant racists and bigots etc. etc blah blah blah. Whatever the flavour of the month “anti” thing to cause dissent and division. I don’t care what it is. Basically, the latest trend to give the bored attention seekers something to bleat about and make themselves feel really important.

The context.

On Friday, I was unlucky enough to be in front of the telly when SkyTVisf**ings**t Sports News was on. The headline? Breaking news at Leeds United -“Latest development at Elland Road”. Haha I thought. Farke has finally got the backing of the Board. He’s going to appeal against the red that was frankly being pulled out of the ref’s pocket before he had even stepped on the pitch. Nope. The breaking news wasn’t even that Joel Piroe might even start a game this season. No. The “news” was the press release from ER about what had happened at the Citeh game. Eyes roll emoji  (which may or may not trigger someone).

To be fair, the Club set out a well thought out, reasoned statement.  I could screenshot and insert, but it would probably breach some copyright rule, so I won’t. You’ve all seen it anyway. In no uncertain terms, it clarifies the position that several of our players, let alone at least 25% Leeds (and some Citeh) fans were not aware of what was taking place. The statement unquestionably confirmed that this stoppage had never happened at ER before. Bravely spelling out the extenuating circumstances that occurred at the Emptiad stadium and at the Sunderland game the week before. And these were proper extenuating circumstances, which provided much context to what transpired.

Does it matter?

It was a bold step. But to be honest, personally I don’t care. We are not just fans. We are customers who pay a large amount of money to watch 22 men kick a round ball about and try to get it in between a set of two sticks for 90 minutes plus Fergie time. If His Holy Grace The Pope had stepped onto that pitch to announce the canonisation of Beckford for putting the ball in the Man U net, I would have still booed. Likewise, had the Dalai Lama strolled on to acclaim Beradi as the Golden Child, the next reincarnation of the great Bodhisattva of Compassion, equally the same.

The fact was all the Citeh players ran to the sideline and there was a “tactical” break. Just like there was when their goalie sat down in the Emptiad.  They can pretend all they like. I just don’t care. Undeniably, they were cheating. Perhaps Pep, so incensed that their goal machine Haaland didn’t want to play, let alone score against us, flipped. Why a team of Citeh’s stature, resources and £££, would sink so low as to attempt to disrupt play, to gain advantage is anyone’s guess. Pathetic.

The facts

I’m there to watch a Premier League football match. End of. If the players concerned just did what every other player who needs a drink or an energy sachet through the game does and just grabbed one from the sidelines, that’s fine. They are paid an awful amount of money to run around for 90 minutes plus fergie time. More than in a week than we can ever dream of in a year. We pay a lot of money to watch them run around for 90 minutes plus fergie time. Just get on with it.

It is 90 minutes a week. Just let me have that 90 minutes, with no other distraction than what’s going on the pitch. This is what I care about. Nothing else for 90 minutes. Leave it at the turnstiles and concentrate on the game.

Surely, if the medical team thought players were at risk of injury if they didn’t get that drink at that specific time, then the Club should not be playing them. Likewise, if a player is not fit to play, they should not be on the pitch. I’m pretty sure there are rules about that. After all the manager picks the team to win the game.  Or hold onto a 1-0 lead for 80 minutes – yikes!

No other team sport has the money, the means and most importantly the PRIVILEDGE to deprive paying customers for their right to receive what they paid for. Can you imagine a Grand Prix being stopped halfway through the the race to let someone get a drink? Can you imagine a load of jockeys suddenly pulling up their horses after the fifth fence to get a quick snack? How about a 4 x 400m relay race?

It’s important to show

I keep hearing the phrase “it is important to show”. Important to who? Not me, I don’t care. Oh wait, it was important to make other people who have not paid to watch a football match feel that they were just as important as the paying customer? No.

Oh – the global audience. The people who are just enjoying the experience on the telly. I forgot. They are far more important. But wait, aren’t these people just there to watch the game as well? As in the 90 minutes of kicking a ball about? Are there actually people who are more bothered about what happens outside of the activity on the pitch? Everything just needs to be left at the turnstiles.

Football is the most important thing at a football game. Nothing else.

Leave us alone

Why can’t football fans be left alone to just watch the game? What makes the PL, or anyone else, think they have the right to spoil the 90 minutes plus fergie time that we have paid for. It’s bad enough that over the years we’ve gone from our hallowed Saturday 3pm kick offs to Monday, Tuesday , even Sunday kick offs. Why do we have to be puppets in the agendas of the globalised standardisation crew, to make sure we are all “equal”?

We are just football fans. Every one of us unique in every way. We are already massively diverse but for 90 minutes a week, for 40 weeks a year, we are ONE. Stop preventing us from being the individuals we all are, because THAT diversity is what makes us stronger as a fan base. Leeds United boast one of the biggest worldwide networks of all PL clubs, we are already very different, but with Leeds United we are one. Leave us to choose how we want to react (albeit within the law obviously – can’t go around knocking five bells out of anyone who disagrees). We have basic right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech (currently) within the law.

Standardisation and fairness.

If the PL / UEFA / FL want to bring in standardisation, than they should start with making sure all fans get the same facilities and “experience” for the same amount of money at every ground. If they want to equalise everything so it is fairer, maybe they should make sure that all fans (able and disabled) can have access to safe seating, decent toilet facilities and decent access to parking. How about ensuring all stadia have lift facilities for the people with mobility problems? Similarly, how about making sure every fan with mobility issues can park up and walk to the ground in less than 5 minutes? Maybe all fans should get the same treatment home or away (ask the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans for their feedback). These are the things that really matter, and quite rightly, should be done. However, they are not.

Is it because of money? Or is the impetus and will just not there? I just don’t care. Just get it done.

Rather than the media, social media, newspapers, influencers etc crowing on about something which was actually nothing, focus on something which should improve.

I’m not defending the small minority who were booing because they knew what they were doing. All I am saying is that there is so much more going on in the world right now, there needs to be an escape. I just want to watch the game that I pay for. Leave the rest of the politics, religion whatever at the turnstiles.

It’s a football game. Stop pretending it is anything more.

July 2025 update

Just to remind folks, the main LUSC AGM will be held on Sunday 6th July 2025. Billy Bremner Suite (West Stand) . 11.30am arrival for 12 noon prompt start. Our president Josh Warrington will be present. It’s your LUSC AGM, so come along and hear what is going on with it all.

Our own Harrogate & District LUSC AGM will be 7 hours later. So Sunday 6th July 2025 7.30pm arrival for 8pm prompt start please.

Renewal / new members forms

Renewal forms will be available on the night. Otherwise please check your inboxes for email version, and whenever Harrogate posties deign to deliver your letters, hard copies will be sent out soon.

Apologies for the delay. As usual, we have been very busy this summer in paid employment, and there’s been a few technical issues.

Please remember you need to fill in a renewal form EVERY year and pay subs (still only £7 as it stand today) as required.

New members are welcome, but you need to contact us for a NEW members form. This needs to be filled in and returned with two passport sized photographs please and the necessary subs if applicable. We will email one out to you or will send one in the post if you provide a snail mail address.

Social media

We will NOT accept or send out friend requests for you oldies on facebook, purely because we have attempted hackings continuously. The public page is open to all. The closed group is really only for paid up branch members and only has info on departure times etc and events. So, if you intend to participate in any events or are lucky enough to get a ticket to an away game, you’re in. Otherwise there is no need to ask to be on that group. You might get someone randomly inviting you, but until someone else takes over the running of the page (and the hacking attempts) I won’t accept you.

If you are a paid up / signed up member, and I have forgotten you. Please get in touch and let me know. If I haven’t included you on the email list, again let me know. I am only human and prone to mistakes.

We aren’t on any other social media platforms. Not enough time in the day!

Cheers. Back in the PL!

GDB

 

For a number of seasons now, those words “Real Fans Don’t Discriminate” have been clearly visible on the scoreboard at ER.

The first incarnation I found on google was the above picture from 2023. Recently, the “real fans don’t” phrase, is emphatically used as the introductory mantra which tells us what we can’t / shouldn’t do.

To spare you squinting or shading your eyes, in one of the four days per year that we have sunshine. In summary, that poor excuse for a scoreboard says, real fans don’t use discriminatory language, take any illegal drugs, chuck stuff or run on the pitch nor use pyros. Real fans don’t do any tragedy chanting etc. etc.

Basically, in the 21st century sanitised era of English football, real fans don’t do anything that harms the brand. Real fans all look the same, eat the same, sound the same. Identical grounds, uniform layouts. One fat homogenous blob. That’s what they want. But, want never gets.

What we do,do,do

Please don’t get me wrong, some of the language at football is quite frankly appalling. I’m not trying to excuse or condone any of it. But most of what is said, is purely reactionary, on the spur of the moment. In the main, joining in with the rest of the crowd. After all, in essence, football is tribal. Them against us.

Some of the new songs are to catchy tunes from yesteryear. Some are quite cleverly done, capturing the essence of the moment. Spontaneity at it’s best. Spontaneous yet ephemeral. Basically as ephemeral as our squad, sometimes, especially under certain managers.

However, some have lasted the test of time, in some instances decades. For example, Imre. Imre Varadi. Imre Varadi. Dom Matteo. Scored an excellent goal, etc. The Gaetano song to the tune of Abba’s Voulez Vous. Not forgetting, the old nursery rhyme, the animals went in two by two, morphing into Enoch Showumni, United’s 21.

The majority isn’t chanting in aggression or malice. It is just banter. Drunken, or “other ” substance fuelled, witty repartee. I disagree that it is discriminatory or inflammatory. Some of it is childish and in poor taste. Some is just sad frustration. Things said on the spur of the moment, and usually regretted within 24 hours or when sober.

What we don’t do

Contrastingly, we just don’t do patience. “I am prepared to wait and see how the season pans out before I start calling for the heads of the Manager / Board” said no Leeds fan EVER.

Only a tiny minority of Leeds fans have got what it takes to stand back and take a measured view. Many have been beaten into submission by the years, nay decades of the proverbial ups and downs. Despite the perpetual shoulder shrug, “Leeds have to do it the hard way” platitudes, most, if not all seasons, it’s do as I say, not do as I do. It’s hard being a Leeds fan.

Take Luton the other week for instance. I WISH I’d filmed that, just so I could put it on noseybook to shame them all. We drew against a desperate side, fighting to stay up.

Unlike last season, we didn’t fold. We got a draw. You’d have thought we’d just lost 3-0 and Farke had killed a load of puppies, such was the venom at the front of the away end. Grown adults crying that we’d thrown away the league. People screaming Farke Out and shouting some real abuse at our players. People fighting with each other.

Tanake apparently took it really badly. I’m not surprised. So far this season, our Japanese Jack Russell has enjoyed the spoils of midfield domination. But the toll of long international trips and Rothwell getting injured, has recently reared it’s ugly head.

But a week later, and it’s all change. You just couldn’t make it up.

Real fans?

Real fans. What does that actually mean though?

If I were to do the AI trend thing of plastic toy models, what would a “real” Leeds fan look like? Would we get a miniature Mick Hewitt? Or a double pack of Big and Little Mick Hewitts? Does anyone fancy doing it for a laugh? I genuinely wouldn’t know where to start! Someone do it, and put it on noseybook please.

What is a real fan?

No one knows. It means different things to different people. I have written essays on this before, so I’m not wasting time repeating myself. All it does is create arguments and division within the Entitled who continual bicker between themselves to justify why they think they are the better fan.

Why does it matter?

Personally, this is the main issue. It does matter who the “real fans” are. I have written far too many blogs on why “Fans matter”. It’s not just me either.

Look at the ESL debate a few years ago. If not for the protests from fans of all clubs, we might well have PL teams playing in a European Super League right now. It still may happen, but temporarily we don’t.

If not for facebook / twitter / social media, we currently might have a shirt with THAT abomination on it.

In the famous words of a recent famous White “weird,weird, weird”

Fans matter. But which fans? How do you choose which fans opinions you listen to? Because, as sure as eggs are eggs, not all fans will think the same. And, concurrently, not all will want the same thing.

If we knew what we want

This is a vague reference to one of Chairman Charleys favourite singers, Susannah Hoffs. She is in the Bangles. They did a song – if she knew what she wants.

If only the people who make the decisions knew what we want.

Digital tickets

We were told that because of Covid, everyone had got used to doing everything on their phones. We were told everyone wanted digital tickets, and also to save money and be a bit greener, the Club would no longer do paper tickets / season ticket cards. Digital tickets reduce ticket touting, they said. I have no problem with people wanting digital tickets, but the season ticket card should always have been an option. I would pay to have mine back.

Tech

Technology just wasn’t that good in real life though. The turnstile I used was so intermittent and inconsistent, it was a real trial to get in on matchday. Many people struggled with that turnstile. User error / device incompetence was blamed, and many many emails bounced to and fro. Ticket office staff were despatched to the turnstile to “facilitate” us. Eventually, they admitted it didn’t work. Woo hoo, we have a new turnstile!

The latest debacle with the introduction of the 80% rule (talk about that later), the turnstile technology has again been thrown into doubt. One season ticket holder went to the YEP, as apparently ccTV proved he had attended the sufficient number of games. According to our Club, he had not. I’m not sure why he would lie. Buying a season ticket isn’t exactly cheap.

There are other cases where season ticket holders have been told they haven’t attended enough games, even though they know they have. Are we ready for digital ticketing? Or do we need to wait until the technology improves, so it is consistent. Remember a few seasons ago, Arsenal fans were all locked out at the 1st game of the season.

Ticket touting? Not got any better, in fact, now that they are digital instead or paper, it is worse.

Ticketing website

As for Seatgeek, don’t even get me started. My trustpilot review would be less than one star. Checkout issues being the main problem. How many people had problems with Wembley play off tickets? Too many to mention. Come back queueing at the West Stand please, all is forgiven!

Season ticket pricing difference

For those of us who have had season tickets for a while, the renewal price might be a bit of a shocker. By the way, you don’t actually know your renewal price until you log in. Even then, you have to “add a card” (even if you have saved cards), get a bank transaction of £0.00 done, before you can renew. I digress. It’s a bit of a shocker this season, if you are a long standing ST holder.

If you only bought a season ticket around about the Bielsa Era, it isn’t as much apparently. However, if you bought one quite recently, the renewal price is apparently in line with inflation.

Why is this? The newer (perhaps more important and valued) ST holders moaned to our current custodians that they had to pay more than someone who was sat next to them. If only the current custodians just turned round and told them that we deserved to pay less because we had stood by the Club whilst others didn’t. Maybe if they had said, “frankly putting up with p*ss poor passing and abysmal shooting, deserves a bloody medal, let alone cheaper season tickets”, things would be different.

Yellow shirt

For literally a decade, we have wanted a yellow away shirt. For literally a decade, we were told, no one wants to buy a yellow shirt. We had puce pink, lilac, WYPT bus seats, stilton cheese, baby blue. Everything but yellow. This season we got a yellow shirt. I don’t even need to say anything else. It’s the best selling shirt ever. Hmmm.

Refreshments

Everyone wants to do everything on their phones. Cash is for dinosaurs. Order your poison on the McDs screens, it’ll be waiting for you. Many do not buy anything in the ground anymore.

Last week at Boro they must have raked in loads. Cash or cards.

Honestly, impulse buying plays a massive part in food and drink sales. When you are standing in that queue for your Bovril and someone goes past you with a pie and pint, all of a sudden the urge to get the same takes over. At Boro you get parmos, and very tasty looking chips and gravy / curry. I could really tell, but it smelt damn good. I wasn’t even hungry or thirsty, but I joined in once the aroma overcame me. How much money is our Club losing out on?

80% attendance

Regular attendance to ensure that the ground is filled isn’t necessarily a bad thing. No one wants to see an empty ground. Apparently, people are always desperate for a home ticket.

We don’t always sell out though (see above). Perhaps people are always desperate for tickets for matches they can get to. But not so always desperate on a Wednesday night in winter? Bit harsh, maybe?

Perhaps there could be a distinction between non attendance of regular fans v corporate fans? Certainly, if the West Stand does become majority corporate tickets, THAT would be interesting to see on  cold Tuesday night in November.

In the old days every seat sold was counted in the attendance records. A massive surprise in that season that West Ham fans boycotted home games, yet recorded big crowds, despite rafts of empty seats.

However, in the era of FFP, every filled seat counts. As does every shirt and other piece of tat. But then maybe if you allowed people to buy at the ticket office on the day / night, without needing a membership, it might help? Social media can quickly spread the word of seats still available. Tourists / walk ins might be useful? Better than going through a tout.

But to enforce an 80% rule is poor. What happens if you are unwell? What happens if work rings you and says you have to go in? In these times of austerity, people would struggle to say no. A season ticket is a seat purchased. End of discussion.

Email addresses

Every season ticket holder  / member needs an email address. Even if you are a member who probably doesn’t ever stick a chance of getting a ticket (home or away). Not everyone has the time or wherewithall to get on that website to get a ticket. Seriously – yes it still does happen. Especially away tickets. Regardless of age, a separate email address is needed. Even if a concerned ST parent does want a ST child to have an email address, there needs to be an email address. Why? It can only be for data harvesting.

If you are a parent and you pay for your childrens ST, is it really necessary for your children to provide a separate email address to Leeds? Evidently, it is. Despite recent concerns re on line safety in young children, that email is necessary. The digitally excluded don’t even get a nod. Apparently they don’t exist!

Know your price

With A1 / logarithms etc, knowing how much our season ticket should be easy. Each of us got sent an email, but it did not tell us how much the ST was. It’s not as if we were rocking up to the ticket office with a wad of cash, waiting for someone with a calculator to work it out. But you have to navigate that website, add a card and make a payment of £0.00 first. If you don’t like it, don’t worry the Club isn’t bothered. There’s 25k others wanting your seat. As for paying for your season ticket in cash at the ticket office…..

1st and last game loyalty

In years gone by, it used to be the case that the first and last games of the season were ring fenced for loyal fans. Loyal fans were prioritised. Seriously, this is what used to happened. The 1st and last games were always the ones that would be guaranteed sell outs, so your loyalty counted.

Loyalty

Once upon a time loyal or legacy fans were prioritised. Now, ostensibly, we are at best ignored, at worse resented, perhaps even treated with contempt. Not particularly disliked, just resented for being part of a history that isn’t relevant to current custodians, but will always be an uncomfortable reminder of what once was.

Once upon a time, our Club recognised and acknowledged that those legacy fans would be die hard enough to keep showing up, no matter how crap we played. When the average attendances plummeted after successive relegations, we stood by. Hopefully this will never be repeated. Regardless, we will still be there, whereas the one season wonders may not.

Parity

Seemingly at the Luton away game, our (current) CEO Mr Kinnear was seen handing out / offering fans tickets before the game outside Kenilworth Road. Given the tiny allocation, hardly any long standing fans actually got tickets to that game in the on line sales. But there he was, randomly handing out tickets. If those tickets were not being used, would it have been any hardship to put them back on sale on the website for loyal fans to buy and pick up on the day?

So much for the insistence that tickets should only go to people who have paid for Club membership. What happened to the rule that every ticket should be able to be traced back to it’s legal owner for safety reasons?

Again, after the Preston game, one of our owners was in Billys Bar and announced a free bar. How lucky the ones in Billys were. How unlucky the rest of us! Right time, right place? Just lucky.

Real v reality

Our Club claim that it wants Real fans. It is on the side of Real fans, because it listens to Real fans.

In that case, why in reality, is so much going on that a lot of fans are not happy with?

Well, I suppose we have finally got a yellow away shirt.

Are the “Real fans” the Club refers to, akin to the comparison drawn between astronauts like Helen Sharman and the “Real astronauts” like Katy Perry and the rest of the Entitled Smurf Space cadets?

Rich celebrities doing something, dressed up to the nines, on a big day out, just to say that they are Real and putting it on Social Media to prove that they are?

Is the gap between what the Club deem as real fans and what the actual fans are THAT big?

March 2025 sees us start with a draw against West Brom.

It was back to playing the ball out from the back again, but given our two games against Sunderland and T’Blades, it’s not so bad. It is still average 2 points per game.

Monthly branch meeting

This was held on Sunday March 2nd at the Londesborough Club. The usual minutes from the LUSC execs were read out, as well as the SAB minutes and notes. The Football Governance Bill is still being discussed in Parliament. It is now at the House of Lords at the Report Stage. Dave says that he isn’t sure whether anything will change as there is so much money involved. There is always hope that it might stop another Bury event, but remember, it is the hope that kills.

There was a discussion regarding the pre-season friendlies. Angus was evidently in with the away fans at T’Blades and was apparently hinting about a trip to Helsinki and then a game against Sc*m or Rangers. We weren’t sure if this was before or after he went to the bogs at half time, and if anyone had offered him anything. I’d hazard a guess that until the actual pre seasons are announced, there isn’t any point planning anything. Given it is still March 2025, there is plenty of time to plan.

Away games

There’s been a dearth of tickets lately. It is basically luck of the draw in all the sales. we just haven’t been very lucky! Despite being 120 in the queue for QPR, the cupboard was bare! Bear in mind, we used to get that whole end for QPR (crap view that is is) but the allocation’s now restricted due to QPR not selling the lower tier anymore. Apparently we are also being limited by previous bad behaviour. We are managing to pick up passengers requiring travel, so funds are ok as it stands. But with Luton and Oxford looming imminently, the bank is going to be severely depleted by April. Luckily, we decided not to run a bus to Plymouth ages ago.

Memberships

We will be looking to stop memberships at the end March, as the season will hopefully be drawing to a close by then. The website is still attracting members. If there is more stuff on there to read, it may prove even more valuable. Hint to anyone who wants to contribute articles / pieces!!!

A.O.B

The quiz!

Thank you for everyone who has got back to us. The LUSC Annual Quiz is a good laugh and there will be a raffle for a signed Leeds shirt from 2016/17 donated by our President Josh Warrington. The teams are as follows:

Chairman Charley, Steve Smith, Dargs and Acid

Andy Yates, Rob Cartman, Ricky Greenwood and James Proctor

The Tovey and Barry team

Smuff, Max Littlefair, Ben Simpson and possibly Paul Ingles

Ripon Mark, Leoni and Jane Parkin and Maz (or Emily if he can’t make it)

The Secretary, gdb, Dave Poole and Peter Hart

Ripon Kev, Jordan, Morro and Adam (Dougie’s lad) from Ripon.

Sponsorship Hospitality Tickets

Still awaiting confirmation, but hopefully, it’s the Swansea game on Saturday 29th March 2025 3pm. SkyTVisf**kings**t have announced their televised games, and it isn’t one of them. Tickets available from Andy or The Secretary at £1 each. Will draw the winner nearer QPR game. Good luck everyone!

Annual Summer BBQ

We will discuss at the next meeting and speak with Trish to see what availability the Londesborough have.

Season tickets

There was something on the Leeds website on Friday. No one has actually clicked on yet to see how much they are. Last year they told us they would be going up again to “equalise” the pricing. I take it it means making things level as opposed to Edward Woodward’s The Equaliser from the 80s or the Denzel Washington latest versions. At least that would make it interesting!

It’s that time of year again! Comes around quickly, doesn’t it? But yes, it’s here again!

That time of year, when there will be much heated debate amongst people who stand shoulder to shoulder with you at games. Time when the keyboard warriors will hurl insults, left, right and centre in a bid to prove they are right. A time when simple banter will become such a ferocious war of words, it will make finding the solution for World Peace a doddle.

Yes folks, it’s that time of year again. It’s season ticket renewal time!

ppp

Don’t get me wrong, most of us dread it, but equally eagerly look forward to it. Desperately, at times, anticipating the ritual that many of us have gone through for decades. Accepting, with relish to paying our annual dues to the harsh mistress that is Leeds United. Our one love who gives us so much joy, yet punishes us with so much misery.

In days gone by, you used to go to that big jar of coins that you collected over the season. More often than not, the result of emptying your pockets on a Sunday morning. Then when we got paper notes, it was coins and green / blue paper. For the tech savvy clever folk, a creation of a fund in the bank . I actually remember doing that once – a season ticket standing order! Which I emptied on the last day of the season to pay for next year. Yes, it was the last day of the season that I used to pay for it.

£££

Then came B*tes. We were skint. The football was rubbish. B*tes rubbed salt into the wound and made us pay up in January. Cold comfort at least for those loyal fans who paid £500 or £5000 for their 10 / 20 year bonds up front to help keep Leeds United afloat. Some of whom were forced from their nice seats on the half way line to make room for the B*tes corporate boxes in the Magnificent New East Stand. In exchange for them coughing up their hard earned £££ up front, they got a season ticket for 10/20 years at a cheaper rate.

By today’s standards, taking into account inflation, there would be NO One bar a small nation state who would or could, do that now. Build a new stand, I mean, not keep a club afloat! But, building a new stand by asking supporters to stump up the cash? It is never going to happen again. It would be the modern day equivalent of the Gen Z choosing between Leeds United or putting down a deposit for a mortgage. And the rest!

$$$

It’s irrelevant now, the world has changed. Football is unrecognisable nowadays. Things have moved on. Our beloved game is still about 22 men trying to stick a ball in the back of the net, but everything around it is different.

The off field activity is far more prominent now, and some would say, as much of a money spinning venture as the 90 minutes on the pitch. Yes, going / staying up is vital, but then again so is the corporate image of the global brand. Whether this will go hand in hand, and a happy, balanced partnership can be reached, is up for debate.

Take a look at the top teams in the PL. How happy are the fans? How united are the fans? No pun intended. Has the demand from the shareholders and owners got to the point where the desire of the fans been eclipsed? What do the satisfaction surveys show? Are the fans and the owners on the same page? Is the hymn sheet intact or torn into shreds?

₿₿₿

Is truly football about the fans?

Given the decision to get rid of concession ticket prices at some of the bigger PL clubs, I would say no.

https://thstofficial.com/press-release-support-our-petition-to-stop-the-erosion-of-senior-concession-tickets/

Spurs isn’t the only example of clubs refusing to have concession prices. The greed has no bounds.

Time and time again, when discussions about ticket prices come up, the Bundesliga example rears it’s head. For the PL owners, it’s an ugly head. Fancy the Germans treating its football fans better than the PL does. How dare the Bundesliga embarrass the PL by having reasonably priced tickets? The PL is the best league in the world isn’t it?

Yet it, and the British FA chooses to allow its fans to be ripped off by extortionate ticket prices, especially if you live in London. Even though the fans and the PL / FA know full well that ticket sale monies are a drop in the ocean compared to the revenue from advertising, sponsorship and TV rights.

https://thefsa.org.uk/news/fsa-writes-to-pl-calling-for-ticket-price-freeze/

As you can see, it is rampant. Thanks to FSA website for below photo.

Fairness

In our case however, some of the issues regarding season ticket pricing has been actually caused by our own fans. Our own fans who don’t accept the value of us “legacy” fans. The main reason why our season ticket prices have gone up again is because our new fans were complaining that someone sat next to them was paying less for their seat than they were. So to “equalise” this, the Club have chosen to increase our prices to appease them. Rather than saying tough to the 5,000 whingers, they chose to make the 20,000 legacy fans pay more. Reset and realign. Marching on together, further standardisation and sanitisation continues.