I have been reading the "Happy Times in '73" thread with great interest, and it has got me thinking about how much ticket prices have actually gone up. Obviously they are more, but as a percaentage of take home wage each week/month are they really that different?

 

Say the average take home wage these days is ??400 and the average ticket price is ??30 then attending a ticket match costs 7.5% of your take home pay - and probably a huge amount more of your real disposable income after you have paid your mortgage, car expenses and living costs etc.

 

Back in '73 was the cost to attend a match still this high or was it really considerably lower as people always claim?

 

Some student type on here must have done a discertatin on a subject like this

Well going on what I was earning in 73 and what I was earning when I finished working and started living, the cost of going to football was a lot cheaper in real terms in 73. And I was in a higher salary post when I finished than in 73.

After literally seconds of ceaseless searching on t'internet, I found that the average weekely wage in 1973 was a whopping ??16.

 

Can't find the price of a ticket though

After literally seconds of ceaseless searching on t'internet, I found that the average weekely wage in 1973 was a whopping ??16.

 

Can't find the price of a ticket though

 

From what I remember rightly in 73/74 season it was 50p in the Burnden Paddock.

It's interesting - when you look back at programmes from the late 70s when I started going you find used car prices vastly higher back then in real terms, eg looking at the first programme of 79-80 Parkers of Bolton were offering a Talbot Horizon GL 1300 "finished in Seville Orange with matching upholstery and radio" and 3.5k on the clock for ??3,595.

August 1979 the RPI was 58.5 (http://www.crowsnest.co.uk/north/rpi.htm) and is currently 194.1, making that same car equivalent to 12 grand now. 12 grand would get you an awful lot better 2nd hand car than that - just in reliability, extras etc etc. I mean you'd get a perfectly reliable job with 50k on the clock now for that ??3.5k.

The programme was 20p which relates to 66p now!

I'm sure the 1995-96 Premiership ST I had in the Paddock was ??170 which equals ??220 now; clearly I'm now paying more than double that.

That's one problem - the other is that people are spending a lot extra, even compared to 1995, on phones, satellite, PCs and internet. I mean if you're on broadband then in real terms you're paying as much for that per year now almost as per ST back in 95-6. Football has to cope with all those extras

After literally seconds of ceaseless searching on t'internet, I found that the average weekely wage in 1973 was a whopping ??16.

 

Can't find the price of a ticket though

 

From what I remember rightly in 73/74 season it was 50p in the Burnden Paddock.

which is about ??4 in "now" money!

...eg looking at the first programme of 79-80 Parkers of Bolton were offering a Talbot Horizon GL 1300 "finished in Seville Orange with matching upholstery and radio" and 3.5k on the clock for ??3,595.

 

 

 

nice!

Not too different in shape to the old Golf GTi though.

i think it was 48 quid for a season ticket in the paddock in about 85 (this was 16 games at match day price which was 3 quid)

 

when we played stoke on the sunday in 74? theres some pics knocking about which i think show admittance to the manny road stand at 55p and 1.10

Say the average take home wage these days is ??400

 

I want an average job!!!

...eg looking at the first programme of 79-80 Parkers of Bolton were offering a Talbot Horizon GL 1300 "finished in Seville Orange with matching upholstery and radio" and 3.5k on the clock for ??3,595.

 

 

 

nice!

 

you even found the right colour

i look at it another way.

 

how much did it cost to sit in the pub for 2 hours versus how much it costs to go to the match.

 

in the early 90's it used to be about ??1.20 a pint in churchills, say 6 pints in 2 hours average, and it would cost just over ??7. With pool, jukebox etc you'd spend a tenner. to get on the paddock was about ??6 or thereabouts, either way it was cheaper to go in the ground.

 

now, without ST discounts etc, it would cost you ??25 minimum, which is more than 10 pints, which you would struggle to sup in two hours considering you're drinking before it and afterwards.

 

so the moral of the story is if it is cheaper to sit in the pub then there is no point going to the match.

Smiffs, for a non ST holder and non-member, the City game was ??39 upstairs and ??36 downstairs. In the pub that's a f??cking shit load of ale to drink in 2 hours. Also factor in the 8 pints or so you'd have drunk in the ground at ??2.50 a throw and thats ??56 in 2 hours.

i hate watchin footy on telly, its just not the same...

if my memory serves me right it was 45p to gqt in the paddock

When I first started going on my own in 86 (ish) it was ??1.80 for juniors and ??3 for adults.

 

My paper round paid ??3 and a pint cost ??1 in Maxwells Plum. Petrol was about ??1.80 a gallon.

 

If anyone knows of a paper round that pays ??39, let me know

I've still got the ticket for Man Yoo at Old trafford - April 1979,we beat the fookers 2-1 Frank Worthy got 2 and Martin Buchan got the scums consolation, i think Gordon McQueen missed a pen for them. The price in the Scoreboard end at OT............. ??1. ...... A QUID!

Now i'm no mathematician,but i seem to remember i was taking home about ??100 a week (not bad money then) If the cost of an away ticket at Old Trafford now is ??36, i know for fcuking sure i ain't making ??3600 A WEEK !

When I first started going on my own in 86 (ish) it was ??1.80 for juniors and ??3 for adults.

 

My paper round paid ??3 and a pint cost ??1 in Maxwells Plum. Petrol was about ??1.80 a gallon.

 

If anyone knows of a paper round that pays ??39, let me know

 

In other words, beer and petrol are roughly 2.25 times dearer than they were ie steady inflation, yet football tickets are 13 times dearer ie the fans are being fleeced. A match ticket should cost ??8.

When I first started going on my own in 86 (ish) it was ??1.80 for juniors and ??3 for adults.

 

My paper round paid ??3 and a pint cost ??1 in Maxwells Plum. Petrol was about ??1.80 a gallon.

 

If anyone knows of a paper round that pays ??39, let me know

 

In other words, beer and petrol are roughly 2.25 times dearer than they were ie steady inflation, yet football tickets are 13 times dearer ie the fans are being fleeced. A match ticket should cost ??8.

 

That's pretty much what it costs all across the continent.

I've still got the ticket for Man Yoo at Old trafford - April 1979,we beat the fookers 2-1 Frank Worthy got 2 and Martin Buchan got the scums consolation, i think Gordon McQueen missed a pen for them. The price in the Scoreboard end at OT............. ??1. ...... A QUID!

Now i'm no mathematician,but i seem to remember i was taking home about ??100 a week (not bad money then) If the cost of an away ticket at Old Trafford now is ??36, i know for fcuking sure i ain't making ??3600 A WEEK !

 

by the RPI route ??1 back then is ??3.60 now!

What about figures for player's wages between 73 and now and also transfer fees.

Bolton spent more in the 70's on transfer fess than they do now!

I remember going to Luton around 1981/2 and paying ??2 admission for the first time ever. All the Bolton fans were complaining about being ripped off. I think ??1.80 had previously been the most expensive.

When fans were complaining about prices a couple of years before that, Ian Greaves, in his Evening News/ Buff column, justified the the prices by saying that they equated roughly to 4 pints of beer, which he said, had always been a good yardstick. It must be about 15 -20 pints to get in now on that scale.

What about figures for player's wages between 73 and now and also transfer fees.

well ragging pay them less then!

What about figures for player's wages between 73 and now and also transfer fees.

well ragging pay them less then!

 

 

That's what I was getting at. The money is now going out of the game and into player's pockets. Pay players a decent wage, charge a fair admission price and gates will increase.

I remember goin round back of Working Mens Club in Hag Fold and nickin empty beer bottles, we took them in to the club and got 5p back on each one, it was 2p on the bus and 20p to get in the Lever End, that were about 1972. happy days