Ipswich Town and Leicester City fans are putting rivalries to one side to back the Football Supporters Association’s national Stop Exploiting Loyalty campaign ahead of the game at Portman Road on Saturday.

Before Town’s late 4-3 defeat at Brentford last weekend, supporters gathered in opposition to rising ticket prices across the Premier League and beyond. Similar banners were seen at every match in the top flight with each club represented by supporters.

Although price rises at Ipswich have been widely understood by fans given the back-to-back promotions, Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks is asking supporters to stand in solidarity with the wider football family against the trend in extortionate ticket prices rises across the nation, as well as the wholesale removal of concessions at some clubs.

Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks, Leicester City Supporters Club and the Foxes Trust are calling on fans to gather for a photograph with the #StopExploitingLoyalty banner at 13.30pm on matchday in front of the Sir Bobby Robson statue.

Elijah Aldridge from Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks believes there is a danger of losing the next generation of footballing fans.

“Sir Bobby’s famous quote of a small child clambering up stadium steps for the first time, gripping their parent’s hand must not become a fairytale but continue to be our communities’ reality,” he said. “We hope Town supporters will turn up in their numbers to support the campaign.”

From the Foxes Trust, Steve Mould was keen to reiterate the importance of supporters who attend games.

“The powers that be in football are keen to repeat the mantra ‘football is nothing without fans’,” he added.

“As Sir Bobby Robson also said, ‘What is a club in any case? It’s the noise, the passion, the feeing of belonging, the pride in your city’. That very lifeblood is in danger of being drained from many clubs.”

Amy Ginnetta of the Leicester City Supporters Club echoed: “Fans are the heartbeat of our football clubs and the importance of players being able to celebrate with packed stadiums in those moments of jubilation must be protected.”

Those unable to attend on Saturday are being asked to use the #StopExploitingLoyalty campaign on social media to help continue the discussions around ticket prices.

Other fixtures hosting a fans’ protest on Saturday are Newcastle v Arsenal, AFC Bournemouth v Manchester City, Liverpool v Brighton, Nottingham Forest v West Ham, Southampton v Everton and Wolves v Crystal Palace.

Photo: FSA

ElephantintheRoom added 09:45 - Oct 29 Seems very odd when all the evidence suggest ‘supporters’ love to be ripped off - and even insist on it.
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PhuketPete added 10:18 - Oct 29 What “evidence” is that? We’re lucky so far but make no mistake that at some other clubs, the blanket removal of confessionary tickets be that for pensioners, disabled, very young children, veterans etc is a major issue. Clubs need to manage their finances better.
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PhuketPete added 10:19 - Oct 29 concessionary even duh .
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Dissboyitfc added 10:35 - Oct 29 I Think clubs should also look at their pricing policy for food and drink, massive mark up. Like me I guess fans can also refuse to buy the stuff in the ground!
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E_I_E_I_E_I_O added 10:53 - Oct 29 Although pricey when you consider how cheap kids tickets are the average price for a adult and child is not all that bad. The food and drink on the other hand like DissBoy says it outrageous. The quality is disgusting with gigantic prices....I'd love for all fans for one game to stand in unison and not buy anything in the ground to make them think twice about prices.

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Bert added 13:00 - Oct 29 Not sure we can be critical of the way in which our club has managed its pricing policy. But we can be critical of the way that the football authorities and tv outlets allow tv rights to stage games at anti social times affecting travelling supporters who rely on public transport.
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OldFart71 added 13:32 - Oct 29 Not in my opinion the way to protest about pricing. Much of the greed in football is driven by tv Company's and those that run football turning licencing into a highest bidder takes all. Yes many things about Premier football is great. Wonderful stadiums, much better pitches, safer environment inside stadiums. But then everything is geared to the Premier League although as we currently see you can spend £100 million and still not compete with the best. Whilst it's great wall to wall football the cost of either going to a match or for that matter is prohibitive to many and starting times of games not in any way to the advantage of fans.

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tempzzzz added 13:56 - Oct 29 RE: OldFart71 - Maybe everyone should take a stand against paying for Sky Sports, TNT etc. I refuse to pay for any of these. There are other services available ;)
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ellaandred added 14:04 - Oct 29 How long before PL matches are moved abroad? Already, it's going to happen in Spain. PL clubs see fans as customers Ipswich Town vs Leicester in Thailand :-)
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Karlosfandangal added 14:37 - Oct 29 The problem is the Premier League. Too much money from Sky, if you pay a player anywhere from 50k to 300k a week then the supporters will have to pay. If Town go down the prices will stay the same as the players wages will not go down, would hate to thing how much the first team wage bill is compared to two years ago. The money that has been put in by the owners at some point they will want a return on their investment

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commuterblue added 17:43 - Oct 29 "Elijah Aldridge from Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks believes there is a danger of losing the next generation of footballing fans. “Sir Bobby’s famous quote of a small child clambering up stadium steps for the first time, gripping their parent’s hand must not become a fairytale but continue to be our communities’ reality,” he said"" What a nonsense quote. My daughters first season ticket was £40. That was two years ago. She's now older so it's about three times that but still is superb value. Not sure why the foodbanks crew need to get involved at all the. Two completely seperate issues.

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AlanG296 added 18:43 - Oct 29 Bottom line is money goes in the top from fans, viewers, etc and goes straight through to players, managers, coaches and their agents and CEOs. None of them really care about fans. Ever heard the PFA or LMA argue for wage restraint from their members?
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Tractor_Boy_in_HK added 06:45 - Oct 30 So...we demand a competitive team which means paying eight figure transfer fees and weekly wages to one player that is more than the national yearly average salary, we also want a top of the line venue and state of the art training facilities, but we don't think the costs should in any way be passed on to the consumer/supporters. Right, um ok, that doesn't make financial sense at all. We can easily cut costs and keep ticket prices low. But we'd have to be happy in L1 or L2. Is the trade off worth it?

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runningout added 16:28 - Oct 30 Been following my club for a very long time mostly away (don’t live in Ipswich and not season ticket holder) one thing that niggles me this season is I have no chance of purchasing a ticket as I don’t wish to pay price of a membership for a lucky dip (Ballot) I get it but price of these memberships are silly in my view
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MickMillsTash added 11:01 - Oct 31 SO far I think Town fans have not been exploited but other owners are showing scant regard for their fans - I have no idea whether our owners have it in them but I would not put my savings on Ipswich keeping pensioner rates etc If we go down then multiple needless 12.30 Kick Offs, Friday and in some cases Thursday games for sure exploits fan loyalty and tradition, did our ownership vote to allow this ?

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