West Ham tickets: Karren Brady’s generosity on season ticket prices only worth two cheers

COMMENT: West Ham have an announced a cut in ticket prices - but not just yet

Karen Brady, vice-chairman of West Ham United, says they will not give up on the Olympic Stadium (David Ashdown)

Gosh! How generous of Karren Brady and the Davids, Gold and Sullivan, not previously known for their altruism towards supporters. They are slashing the price of season tickets, with West Ham’s cheapest adult season costing £289 – a reduction of £331 from current prices.

But not yet. Ticket prices next season will be up to five per cent higher than current ones. The reductions will be in 2016-17. This, says Brady, the Hammers’ vice-chairman, is because that is when the new £5bn-plus TV deal kicks in, so they can cut prices.

Coincidentally it is also when West Ham move into the Olympic Stadium which, with a capacity of 54,000, has 19,000 more seats than the 35,016 at the club’s current home, Upton Park. This might be the real reason for the price cuts and explain why supporters of other teams should not expect their club to follow suit.

Ticket prices for West Ham fans will come down by more than £300 (getty images)

West Ham have long been renowned for having a solid body of support, a sizable hardcore who turn up regardless of the team’s form, the division they play in, or even who the manager is, but they have never had a large support.

The Hammers failed to average 25,000 in the post-war attendance boom. In 1966-67, the year after “West Ham won the World Cup”, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters were watched by an average 29,171. In 1985-86, when Frank McAvennie and Tony Cottee’s goals took the Hammers to their highest finishing position of third, the average was 21,179.

These are boom years for West Ham. Their average last season was 34,197, which is 98 per cent of capacity. The previous season there was barely a spare seat to be had as an average 34,720 turned up. Startlingly, given Upton Park had terracing on three sides until the 1990s, this was the club’s highest ever seasonal average.

Now Brady, Sullivan and Gold have to fill 54,000 seats, 12,000 in excess of the club’s record gate. And they have to do so at a ground which, though iconic to the nation, is not “home” to many West Ham fans and may never be to some. Thus, perhaps, the price reductions.

Should Queen’s Park Rangers ever build their planned new 40,000-seat stadium at Old Oak there may be similar discounts, but other Premier League clubs have no problem filling their grounds so do not expect widespread imitation.

West Ham need to fill 54,000 seats - 12,000 more than their current record attendance and 19,000 more than can fit in Upton Park (AdamRivers/Twitter)

This does not mean there will not be reductions in 2016-17, but they will be targeted at specific groups (under-16s, families, perhaps people on low-incomes and away fans) and restricted to relatively few seats.

It is, nevertheless, a welcome gesture by West Ham. And while more punters will mean more sales of food, drink and merchandising, that also means higher staffing costs. Especially welcome is that season tickets for under-16s will be cut to £99 – or £5.21 per match.

“Any reduction is welcome, so two cheers for West Ham for that,” said Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters’ Federation, “but before we give them three cheers, we await to see what they do about price categories, what they do about away fans and what they do with ordinary admission.”

It could be argued there is a moral obligation on West Ham to provide cheap admission given the public subsidies they have received in converting the arena but that argument also applies to Manchester City. Besides, the reality is without a football club tenant both stadia would be white elephants costing the taxpayer even more.

The real test will be if West Ham start selling out the Olympic Stadium – will tickets prices rise then? If not it will show the old porn barons really do have East End hearts of gold.