Football

Sadly one cannot buy sandwiches at Stamford Bridge, more's the pity. Pies, hot dogs and other crap but no sandwiches.

Chelsea' capacity is 42,000. In the Bates era there were around 23,000 season tickets. Bates needed the money in early for cqash flow. We once had to renew season tickets and pay for them in January.

Since financial strength has returned, the need for such cash flow is not so urgent. Seasoin ticket prices have been frozen for the past four or five years but season tickets are harder to come by. A non renewed season ticket is not allocated to someone on a waiting list but only allocated to members with sufficient loyalty points. To get a season ticket you have to have been to every home game and some away games for a few seasons.

Reducing the numbers of season tickets means that more people can buy tickets as members and increases the number of people passing through the ground and, no doubt, buying tat. Cup games including knock out stages of the CL are only £25 a pop. These matches bring more families and children with a view to a future fan base.

That said, the vast preponderance of the Chelsea crowd and almost all the away support, are the same people who I saw at football matches 25 or 30 years ago. In those days most supporters appeared to be my age; today, sadly, they still are. Ticket prices have something to do with this. Mind you, these are the people who watched Chelsea play when times were hard and, as a result of financial mismanagement, Chelsea dropped almost down to Div 3.

Arsenal supporters, of course, cannot say whether they would still go to watch Arsenal in the second or third tier. Given their fickle nature, it is reasonable to suppose that most would not. Their ground is largely given over to expensive season tickets for which there is a waiting list. The bulk of their core support are tossers, a core that was added to when Islington residents were given priority for season tickets at the new stadium. Only local lawyers or bankers could afford the prices. The residents of the council estates in the UK's sixth poorest borough did not get a look in. Arsenal need to season ticket cash flow to feed their debt burden. The only passing trade that they get is from the various clients that the lawyers and bankers bring to matches. What was an atmosphere-lacking ground at Highbury has become a morgue at the Emirates as the supporters sit in their plush cushhioned seats wondering what the rugby score might be.

Fixed.