The Etihad. Where you got more bangs for your buck than anywhere else this season.
Last summer the esteemed Mudhutter Martin Tarbuck wrote an article in This Northern Soul where he evaluated which team offered the best value for money in 2010/11 based upon the average season ticket price at each club then factoring in goals scored and points attained.
We have taken the same premise for this season and simplified the formula even further by concentrating entirely upon the amount of goals scored by each individual Premier League club then dividing that into the cheapest available season ticket.
By doing this we can determine who has provided the cheapest possible goals-per-pounds ration because ultimately that’s what we pay our money to see.
However, we’re fully prepared to admit that by using this method we are over-looking some significant criteria not least those dreaded words the ‘matchday experience’. The prices for stadium food, the pre-match/half-time entertainment, diplomatic stewarding, and a decent view are all important considerations to some if not most. Then there is the competency of the ticket office should something awry occur.
This is all before we even get to the quality and entertainment of the football itself – Swansea and Villa may have scored roughly the same amount of goals this term but I know which team I’d rather watch every fortnight even if it cost 30p more per goal to see the former.
Lastly, omitting the goals against column in this analysis may be common sense but it is also conversely true to say that a 3-2 is often more thrilling and value for money than a 3-0 stroll in the park.
So by my own admission this is hardly a comprehensive study of which club has offered the best all-round value for money for this campaign. For two reasons –
1/ Most of the above is subjective and cannot be condensed to hard data beyond a widespread report that is beyond my limitations.
2/ Just working out the simple sums below eventually had me spelling ‘BOOBLESS’ on my calculator. A statistician I am not.
That being said, the findings are revealing and often surprising.
Who would have thought that the second cheapest season ticket anywhere in the top flight could be purchased at Manchester City? By virtue of also scoring the highest number of goals that means they are, by some distance, the best club to support if money is tight but you enjoy jumping up and down with your back to the pitch and your arms around two strangers. £5.50 for each goal….that’s cheaper than twenty fags or a night with Jenny Thompson.
Blackburn fans may have undergone a season of discontent and protest at Ewood Park but at just over a tenner a goal they can’t complain about getting their moneys worth whilst at the other end of the table it’s perhaps no shock to see Arsenal fare badly due to their infamously high ticketing policy. Wolves’ dismal campaign is made all the worse for their supporters by having to pay through the nose to experience rare respites of joy but it is Liverpool propping up the table that really stands out. At just under forty quid a goal all those wayward efforts from Downing and Adam haven’t only cost the club dear in 2012.
1/ Manchester City £260 47 goals = £5.50
2/ Blackburn £225 22 goals = £10.20
3/ Fulham £379 31 goals = £12.20
4/ Manchester United £526 40 goals = £13.10
5/ Newcastle £345 24 goals = £14.30
6/ Bolton £339 19 goals = £17.80
7/ Sunderland £410 24 goals = £17.00
8/ Stoke £344 19 goals = £18.10
9/ Chelsea £595 31 goals = £19.10
10/ Wigan £270 14 goals = £19.20
11/ Tottenham £690 34 goals = £20.20
12/ Norwich £469 23 goals = £20.30
13/ Aston Villa £360 17 goals = £21.10
14/ Swansea £408 19 goals = £21.40
15/ Everton £443 17 goals = £26.00
16/ Wolves £522 19 goals = £27.40
17/ Arsenal £951 34 goals = £27.90
18/ QPR £549 19 goals = £28.80
19/ West Brom £439 15 goals = £29.20
20/ Liverpool £725 19 goals = £38.10
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