The Premier League’s ‘existential moment’ and how fans aim to force change | OneFootball

They are images from the season that should be as celebrated as any goal, and may well be as important as any headline.

On the weekend of 2 November, fans at nine Premier League games got together to hold up Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) banners imploring the game to “Stop Exploiting Loyalty”.

That went even deeper a month later, as rival fans at Liverpool v Manchester City and Manchester United v Everton held the same banners across opposing ends. All 20 fanbases demonstrated in some form.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Gareth Roberts, spokesman for Liverpool supporters’ union, Spirit of Shankly.

What stands out is the unity. The 2024-25 season might well be a watershed for English fan culture, and consequently the game. It has seen more supporter demonstration than any Premier League campaign outside the Super League.

Nineteen of 20 Premier League clubs raised ticket prices last season, for an average rise of 6.7 per cent. Something is finally starting to give. At last year’s FSA AGM, Spirit of Shankly put forward a motion for a concerted campaign. “We needed to do something,” Roberts said.

“This is an existential moment,” Andy Payne, joint secretary of Hammers United, added.

While ticket pricing is the most immediate and tangible problem, it is really just a manifestation of something bigger. That is the lack of influence fans have over decisions - not even fan advisory boards receive the data on season tickets.

A pricing problem, then, is really an ownership problem. The entire issue is an articulation of the tension between social institutions that have grown out of communities, and actors who just see them as something that can be capitalised from, be that for profit or politics.

Maybe the biggest illustration has long come from one of England’s biggest clubs, at Old Trafford. Attuned fans certainly don’t mock United supporters for “getting the green and gold out when they’re losing”.

Get 3 months free with ExpressVPN

Servers in 105 CountriesSuperior SpeedsWorks on all your devices

Try for free

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Get 3 months free with ExpressVPN

Servers in 105 CountriesSuperior SpeedsWorks on all your devices

Try for free

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

open image in gallery

Fans of Manchester United are seen with a #Stop Exploiting Loyalty banner in protest against ticket prices (Getty Images)

“It’s loudest with ticket pricing but the Glazer issue was always in the background,” says FSA Premier League network manager, Thomas Concannon. “It ties much of this together.”

A new supporter energy can also be seen at England’s most dominant recent force. Manchester City’s ownership may have given the fans everything on the pitch, but unthinkable price rises have thinned loyal support in the stands. City supporters are consequently among the most passionate in all this, and Roberts expresses a pride in “rival fans coming together”. Payne points to the same with his West Ham United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Ticket prices are not just about cost, after all, but the corrosion of communities. Concessions are declining. Many clubs are seeking to bring in minimum attendance requirements, or else fans lose season tickets. Otherwise fair anti-tout measures are being used to prevent available tickets being passed to younger fans, who can’t afford season tickets

“It’s this chipping away at culture all the time,” Roberts says. “The Kop is aging.”

The FSA are consequently working on three main streams: pricing, concessions and engagement. Concannon describes the last element as “dire”, especially with how prices are announced without consultation. One of the most common explanations that advisory boards receive is PSR. Supporters attending are directly told “you want to see the best players, don’t you?”

“Not at the expense of being able to afford watching them,” Roberts counters.

It is just one of the ways this issue illustrates wider systemic problems. Increases are only needed because of the nonsensical wage race clubs engage in, where expenditure on wages has risen to £2bn more than any other European league. That has gone up by half a billion since Covid, with no discernible increase in quality. Clubs could simply display some level of collectivism to stop the madness.

Concannon describes PSR as the “perfect excuse”: “It’s why education is so important. Clubs are spending £400m on agent fees, yet somehow it’s a 5 per cent increase on someone’s ticket that’s going to fix it?”

open image in gallery

Tottenham Hotspur fans protest against the ENIC group (Getty Images)

It is instructive that leagues with more fan-owned clubs - like Germany and Sweden - see the healthiest wage-to-turnover ratios in Europe, at under 60 per cent.

This ultimately comes back to what clubs are for. An increasing strand of owners don’t see them as primarily serving their communities. There is growing suspicion that hierarchies want to gradually do away with season tickets altogether and sell one-off seats for hundreds of pounds, in the way American sports do. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters denied this on the eve of the season, but club actions illustrate a direction of travel.

“We suspect they want a different 61,000 every week,” Roberts adds.

Payne wonders whether they understand a season-ticket holders. “We moan a lot, we don’t spend at the club shop, and we sing derogatory songs.”

All are keen to point out this isn’t about excluding foreign fans, and refuse to use the word “tourist”. It is simply protecting communities around football.

There is also the classic problem of observance and late-stage capitalism. Many fans would pay £400 for one ticket to experience the atmosphere but the increase of that diminishes the atmosphere.

There’s then the other side of it. The cost of following football - especially on trains or in Europe - is “astronomical”, as Concannon puts it.

open image in gallery

Fans of Manchester United display a banner which reads "Protest fan culture 'my seat your debt', Glazers out" (Getty Images)

Bilbao’s Europa League final was a case in point. “It’s not just the ticket price, it’s the broadcasting times, the late announcement of fixtures,” Concannon adds.

Ultimately, though, clubs and companies know that fans will still try. It’s that loyalty being exploited.That emotional connection is nevertheless now being expressed in a new way.

“There’s an air of solidarity,” Payne says. For years, English fan culture has been compared unfavourably to Germany’s, because there hasn’t been the same collective mobilisation over common issues.

“Normally these fan groups would ignore each other and wouldn’t really back each other’s campaigns,” Concannon explains. “On this, they’re working together a lot. It is actually reminiscent of the Super League again.”

Payne describes that unity as “the highlight of the season”.

“A lot of powers don’t think we’ll do that. They always try to divide and conquer. The clubs are concerned.”

open image in gallery

Fans of Manchester United protest against the club's owners outside the stadium (Getty Images)

Roberts describes how FSA discussions are alive with ideas, right up to picket lines. The introduction of the independent football regulator adds another layer of pressure for clubs to engage properly. And it is working.

Increased season ticket prices for Premier League 2025/26 so far

Arsenal

Brighton

Everton

Fulham

Manchester United

Newcastle

Nottingham Forest

Seven clubs, from the 17 clubs that stayed up in 2024/25, have put up prices for next season, with Ipswich also increasing prices despite relegation. Six of the 17 clubs that stayed up have frozen them so far, with Leicester City freezing prices after relegation too. Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Crystal Palace are yet to announce their 2025/26 prices.

“The rest are still waiting,” Roberts says, “but it’s good progress when you compare to last year.” It's also more than prices. While Arsenal's have gone up, for example, the club have listened to fans on Champions League obligations. Concannon similarly points to how a £30 away cap comes from "when the league, clubs and supporters work together".

Frozen season ticket prices for Premier League 2025/26 so far

Brentford

Liverpool

Manchester City

Tottenham Hotspur

West Ham

Wolves

“Fan groups will be working even more closely next season,” Payne says. “There’s been a realisation.”

So, it is a sign of football’s problems there has never been more fan protest. It is also a sign of fan culture’s strength there has never been more collectivism. That might be the main legacy of 2024-25.