Arsenal ticket prices for PSV 2nd leg fleecing the fans – Enough is enough

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·3 marzo 2025

Arsenal ticket prices for PSV 2nd leg fleecing the fans – Enough is enough

I have long pointed out that our owners have a genius business model. Yet, given the events of the last transfer window, some things are hard to ignore.

It is unique for a top club to wave the white flag halfway through a title race. It has left Arsenal in a bizarre situation—having to compete with their hands tied behind their backs for the rest of the season, yet knowing their issues could have been avoided.

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Very rarely does a team have such obvious limitations that those in power were aware of but have chosen to accept.

The majority of Gooners are hurt by our failure to add to our attack in January. Some do not understand how their manager could ask for help but be ignored. Some are confused about what possible reason there could be not to mend a bleeding wound. Others see it as confirmation of what they knew deep down—Arsenal do not have the ambition to win the highest honours.

The irony is that those same supporters are still expected to pay over the odds if they want to attend the Emirates.

When you see the prices for the second leg of our tie with PSV, you cannot ignore that we are being laughed at.

I almost admire the Kroenke family for being honest enough not even to pretend we matter. They know we are irrelevant, so why even fight it anymore?

Even if everyone were fit, the Gunners would not be favourites to lift the Champions League. Success would not have been guaranteed even if we had invested in the squad two months ago.

Yet, in cup football, you can still hope for that slice of luck, rely on one moment of magic out of nowhere, etc.

There has to be a serious level of neglect for supporters not even to be able to dream anymore.

Yet when a central midfielder is your first-choice forward, how—even in a fantasy world—can you picture success in Europe?

How can your imagination run wild when the offensive weapons are someone on loan who has lost his confidence and a teenager?

If our players do not believe, how can we be expected to?

Although it is not a shock that professional footballers would lose faith when bringing on left-backs is the solution off the bench if we need a goal.

We are Arsenal FC. We are meant to be a massive club. Yet, how many of our size would be run this way?

It is not because we are poor. It has nothing to do with breaching FFP rules. The club makes lots of money off me and you.

Outside of concessions for DA Members and Junior Gunners/Senior Members, for an adult to watch Arsenal vs PSV live on 12th March, you need to pay at least £74.30!

That is the cheapest option, with the prices ranging from £74.30 to £141.00.

Make that make sense to me. Billionaires own a company that makes millions yet cannot release the funds when their own coach insists we are short in a specific area.

Yet those who genuinely are struggling are expected to find £74.30 minimum. The average household in the UK would struggle to take the family to our stadium, and even if they could, it is hard to justify.

As I type this, I can hear the response: “No one forces anyone to go to the match.”

Isn’t that sad, though?

Isn’t that a horrible reflection of where the sport is, that you are right?

Because (barring a humiliation on Tuesday) our home will be packed in two weeks. Those successful in the ballot (do not get me started) or looking on Ticket Exchange will be dictated to by their hearts to find the cash from somewhere. For thousands, expenses will include travelling to London, taking time off work, etc.

It has not taken me over three decades to realise that football is no different to any business. The priority is to make as much money as possible. If 60,000 customers are willing to pay over £100 for a seat, it would be financially irresponsible to charge less based on principles.

That is why I agree with those who point out that this is an individual’s choice.

This is not the first fixture that has been priced highly, and it will not be the last.

So why now am I questioning the moral compass of the institution that insists it has values and will not tolerate those values being ignored?

Because we are in a period of our history where you cannot ignore the chuckles coming out of America.

The gap between what the fanbase is asked to take is huge compared to what those in charge are prepared to give.

This is bigger than the results.

I accept that no fan has a divine right to see their side victorious, no matter how much they spend. That is part of the journey you sign up for—one that has peaks and valleys, but an adventure where you should be able to travel believing in rainbows and unicorns.

We are their market; they are selling us a product. You rarely crush the spirit of your target audience while robbing them of their faith.

Yes, it is a business where the motivation is to make a profit, but there is a standard of quality they should be providing.

They are part of the entertainment industry. For 90 minutes in an afternoon or evening, thousands are paying for content where they can be distracted, comforted, and have smiles put on their faces.

If you pay to witness a theatre production, you expect to see the actors advertised.

You assume at the cinema that the surround sound will be working.

You would complain if, at a concert, the singing was dreadful.

When I authorise my yearly direct debit to maintain my membership, I do so on the provision that effort is being made.

Even though both parties are strangers to each other, they have an understanding.

So, the PSV game is a Category A fixture because it happens at the highest level UEFA has to offer.

Yet of the 16 who qualified from the group stages, we are the ones who do not look familiar from the version that advanced to third place.

In a restaurant, you do not go into the kitchen to double-check that the portion sizes are decent. As a human, you trust that what you pay for is what you get. The more expensive, the higher the quality you demand.

So £74.30–£141.00 should get you more than a midfielder playing out of position as your main source of goals. It should not be up to a 17-year-old to provide the value. While full-backs being attacking subs is the equivalent of finding no bacon in your BLT.

Since deadline day, Mikel Arteta has failed to find internal solutions in the final third in three out of four games. Meaning if we have a disadvantage after we visit Holland, we know our young team are crippled by anxiety because they equally do not know who will provide our threat to work a keeper.

Of course, we have been restricted by injuries, and I am not saying events should be priced based on who is on the sidelines or not. If Saka and Jesus had been ruled out for a lengthy period in March, I would not be writing this article. Then, we would have been victims of being unlucky.

Instead, what happened was those in charge gave up trying at the start of 2025. Not because they are struggling financially but because they do not care. The top four should be safe, guaranteeing revenue, while an added £16 million was made for getting to the knockout stages. The custodians of our club are satisfied with that for this campaign, so they had no reason to push for more.

Of course, that only works one way.

If the Champions League was a boxing match, they have thrown in the white towel, making the upcoming tie irrelevant. If inconsequential, though, should there not be a price reduction?

If a line has been put through the rest of the campaign, should that not be reflected in how much is being asked for?

In what other company can those with responsibility so openly cut back in terms of quality yet still demand the same numbers?

Should they not, in pre-season, have advertised that there was zero intention of trying to get to the final in Germany?

Where was the disclaimer when they released new merchandise in December that, in a few weeks, they were essentially closing up shop for the season?

My peers and I have been conned. In the short term, we cannot do anything.

Longer term, though, to make sure it does not keep happening, we have to at least point things out and have the discussion.

Dan Smith

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