The increasing cost of watching the Clarets

Some clubs charge more than others; that's been the case for years, and often, when we visit a club with high prices, and Leeds will come to mind for many, the question has been asked as to why we don't charge them the same price when they visit Burnley.

The 2012/13 season's most expensive ticket

There are rules of course on what away fans can be charged but clubs are finding ways round them; such as membership schemes similar to the one that's been in place at Burnley, and offers where away fans are not included. We seem to have had an incredible number of offer games this season where adults have paid as little as £10, but it has never been offered to those supporters perched up in the cricket field stand.

Over the years it has probably been the case that Burnley fans travelling away to games have, overall, had to pay more than visiting supporters watching their teams at Turf Moor. It's been a bone of contention with our travelling supporters for years.

What would be the answer if I was to ask Burnley supporters what they thought the difference has been for the 2012/13 season? I reckon most, without any investigation, would say that we'd paid more on our travels than fans had paid coming to Burnley. That's what I would have said, but I, like most others, would be very wrong.

It might surprise you to know that visiting supporters this season have paid over 10% more than we've had to pay on the road. That is based on the advance adult seat price for all games, disregarding the increases required for on the day entry and also not including the cheaper £15 standing price at Peterborough.

Leeds, as expected, were again the most expensive and, as was the case with Ipswich, they charged us £4 more than we charged them. Only four other clubs had a higher price for us than we did for them. Both Blackburn and Middlesbrough charged £2 more and there was £1 more to pay at Brighton and Crystal Palace.

We charged Hull fans what they charged us which leaves us with sixteen other games where we had the advantage of paying less for the away game than their supporters did at Turf Moor, stretching as far as Birmingham charging us £9 less.

At Turf Moor the pricing was simple. (Did I really say simple?) Depending on whether the game came into the gold, silver or bronze category, away supporters were asked to pay either £30, £27 or £25. By the end of the season we'd had five gold games, eleven silver games and seven bronze games.

That meant a total cost for one away adult ticket at each game was £622 or £27.04 per game.

How much did we pay? Leeds were the most expensive at £34, and that was £2 cheaper than in the 2011/12 season. Two more clubs charged us more than £30; we paid £32 for the privilege at Ewood and £31 at Ipswich.

But, five times the charge was less than £20. Barnsley, at £17, came in at the lowest price but Birmingham, Bristol City, Cardiff and Watford all had a charge of either £18 or £19. A big well done to Watford too. We had an offer for the home game against them which we did not offer to the away fans; they had an offer for our visit there and we were given the same offer.

The total price away from home, for one adult seat ticket at the cheapest price, was £564 or £24.52 per game.

I don't know when we last paid less on our travels than visiting fans did at Burnley but I don't think it happens very often.

I have my own views on ticketing. Like most I think football is becoming too expensive. That's what forces clubs into all the offers and incentives during a season . But neither do I like the membership schemes or the categorisation of games. It needs to be made more simple than it is now, but will we still be paying less on our travels next season than away fans do at Burnley?

The prices charged last season for away fans at all our games are shown below with the differences shown in red being those where we paid more.