A FOOTBALL presenter has slammed ticket prices for the National League final which will “shamefully” charge travelling fans over £40 per seat.
Jeff Stelling who has presented Soccer Saturday for over 20 years has hit out at the league arguing that fans are forking out too much.
The final is set to see Grimbsy Town, from North East Lincolnshire and Solihull Moors, from the West Midlands, travel to London this Sunday.
The 67-year-old has highlighted that supporters already have to splash out on travel costs to watch their team and that high ticket costs may deter some fans from attending.
The fan favourite has always been vocal in his defence of fairer pricing, reiterating that high ticket prices may discourage fans from supporting their local team.
The football host slammed the pricing on Twitter this morning, writing: “40 quid plus for National League play off final tickets.
“£20 for kids, don’t we want people to support their local teams?
“They already have to pay for travel from Solihull and Grimsby to East London.
“These fans are the bedrock of football and yet are treated shamefully.”
The post has now collected over 16,000 likes with thousands of retweets and hundreds of comments.
Many fans were quick to thank the well-known sports anchor for using his platform to talk about the pricing structure.
Doug Jefferson wrote: “Thanks for speaking out, I have been shocked by the Vanarama National League and their attitude.”
Garry wrote: “1000% agree, Jeff.”
James Gibson wrote: “That’s pretty shocking.
“As a comparison, this is the same price as the England v Scotland Wembley game at the Euro finals – an elite competition with reduced crowds and massive demand.”
Lee Littlefair wrote: “Similar situation for us price wise last year Jeff but we didn’t even get to Wembley just an extra travel to Bristol instead.
“At least we got into the Football League.”
The Wicketkeeper wrote: “I was going to try and get a ticket as a neutral but not at £40. Travel to the game would be about £50 so it would be £90 plus for a non league game, it’s a non-starter.”
Dan Harrison wrote: “I was quite surprised at this. I know quite a few people who support other West Midlands clubs that might have gone to show Solihull some support but not at £40 a ticket.”
The match will take place at West Ham United’s London Stadium in East London as Wembley will be getting used by the England men’s national team for the Nations League games.
Stelling, who has hosted Soccer Saturday for 28 years, announced that he was set to retire from the show at the end of this year but later performed a U-turn and decided to stay.
