I think we are too binary when talking about ‘foreign’ and ‘local’ fans. There are tourists who sit on their phones all game. There are also, for example, hundreds from Ireland like me who get over a couple of times a year and sing their hearts out. I’ve also sat beside season ticket holders who do nothing but sit and moan for the entire game
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Last time I was in the Kop there was a lad who said he was there for his first game travelling from South Korea and though he struggled with some songs he started to pick the songs up, thats what I love to see. No one new is going go to Anfield with a knowledge of every song.
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Im making Mrs Limie review the song list every night before we go to bed in preparation for the pre-season game against Wrexham.
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Nah, soz, you’re wrong.
They are less committed. Watching a game at home is easier.
I’m also less committed than matchgoing fans. I’m less committed than I used to be. Why is it a problem to admit that? It’s not a competition to prove who the biggest fan is.
I don’t know why this forum finds this such an unacceptable viewpoint when it’s so obviously true. If you’re watching on TV you are literally commiting far less time, effort and money into supporting the club.
The increase in price of a Liverpool ticket since 1990 is far, far great than inflation. I’d guess by 3 or 4 times as much, if not more.
What an odd metric to use to support your argument.
1992 was £130 for the cheapest season ticket, I think next year is £730? That would make for about a 5% annual inflation. Definitely faster than the broader societal inflation rate through most of those years, but not quite as dramatic as you set out.
I suspect there are a couple of events with some really vertical spikes - the formation of the PL did not have an immediate effect, but ticket prices started climbing more aggressively about 5 years later. It is somewhat telling that the cheapest season ticket price in 2010 was £600. That average price increase more or less since FSG bought the club has been 1.2%, below the broader rate of inflation. Prior to their tenure the rate of growth was just under 9% per year.
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Stadiums going all-seater had an effect, partly due to reduced capacity.
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Prices rose sharply between 90-92, hence why I said 90. If you just ignore that spike it won’t seem as dramatic.
Even then, ticket prices still rose quicker than inflation, the point still stands.
The only reason prices have risen below the rate of inflation under FSG is due to fan pressure.
The dataset I had began in 1992, but yeah, cheapest single match went from 4 in 1990 to 7 in 1992. Season tickets would have been similar
How does this increase compare with other clubs?
It cost me £15 for a FA cup Kop ticket around 1996.
Was my first game
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I personally think it’s a mistake to compare and then segment between the homebased fans and the global fans. I rather see it as two sides of the same coin.
My late uncle it was who introduced me to LFC growing up in Nigeria. I recall that he was in Rome…How do you classify him, armchair or?
Because money isn’t everything. Granted, I’m not spending even remotely as much as match-going fans because I live quite far away from the stadium but that fact should not count against me in terms of commitment.
Without trying to sound melodramatic or anything, you wouldn’t believe the things my mates and I had to go through in order to be able to watch a game on TV or even a shitty stream between, say, 2000 and 2014. The level of emotional investment and time investment was frankly insane, and we were spending our last dimes, too (though the club didn’t have any profit from it, true). I have a lot of stupid stories about those days that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Ultimately, the club needs all of these, i.e. money, time and emotion to thrive, both from match-going fans and those who aren’t able to attend matches. Take out any of these and it will be in serious trouble.
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You’ve turned foreplay into a fucking artform 
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Feels weird to me to criticise local fans for trying to keep prices down, even though it doesn’t currently affect me personally. I think in general football fans take way too much shit from the oligarchs running the show.
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No, I think there is a good portion of those who actually do. Perhaps in the minority, but they are out there. Perhaps more knowing than every song (even some incredibly rare sung ones, which even regulars might struggle with), maybe locals would be still surprised at the levels of passion or knowledge you could ecounter in far foreign lands.
With the tools that internet in modern times made available, you can really learn a lot before your first real life experience. The distance can make you extra eager to learn every detail available (as it was the case with me) that it can even come to a point where expectations are even higher than what the reality shows (that wasn’t the case with me, I really enjoyed it, knowing already by then that not every game is exactly a Chelsea '05 kind of atmosphere and it didn’t have to be).
It took me 15 years as a fan to get to Anfield for the first time. It could’ve happened before if I wasn’t that shy to ask (big mistake now looking back), but there you go. I don’t regret it. I’d always choose Liverpool being successful and what’s good for them even if it meant me never ever attending another game anymore. I’ve had some incredible experiences home and away. Would like more of course. But I’m also not someone who will push my potential future family to get into it. Only if they really want to.
There are different types of fans and it can also evolve with time, naturally. I’m one who really always enjoyed learning about the club and it’s history. With time, perhaps less on the emotional side. I’m not the same “fanboy” I was when I was 10-15-18 years old. I still love it, maybe just differently. Not everything that I like the most is objectivelly the best out there. It’s best for me and that’s enough for me. Maybe makes me a bit more objective, but it’s certainly not less enjoyable. But I still can count myself lucky in the sense that I randomly ended up in an eternal affair with one of the world’s biggest clubs (I wouldn’t have an issue if it ended up with a club that never wins anything, but just saying). 26 years on, it would actually be a shame to stop, so I know for a while now that it’s definitely for life. If not writing on fans’ forums every day, then one day I might still regularly watch games on TV.
Some things are hard to measure, emotions above all. I’d never get involved in trying to do that. There are highly emotional people home and away. Knowledge of songs and club’s history though, perhaps some would be pleasantly surprised. I saw it a few times already.
In terms of sacrifice and money though, no doubt that regular match goers carry most of that. I’d love to even be in that position and see how often I’d be able to go. Everyone squeezes the most they can, if they want, as long as they want.
I had a few trips and games that really squeezed a lot of money out of me and had to sacrifice some other things as a result. But that was never regular. I only went to successive games once. Comparable to how often I think about Liverpool on a day to day basis and how much pleasure they gave me, experiences, places I’ve seen, people I’ve met… I even feel like I don’t give enough back. As funny as it may sound. I pay my OLSC subscription every season and that’s really not expensive. I rarely buy official merchandise stuff from the shop, just because I often prefer those unofficial designs.
I do like that there are such actions from the local fanbase.
For me, I’d love to volunteer when the mosaic papers are being spread out the day before a game or especially if I’m ever able to wave one of the flags on the Kop, since I’ve heard they sometimes need more help with it.
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Not tonight, love. You fucked up the “Steve Heighway on the wing” line again
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Update on the ticket price rises here:
They do mention that they will look at a sustainable solution in future, which I think is the right approach.
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Good news all around for once:
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Also reported in the Guardian.
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