Yahoo Sport 
Michael Owen exclusive: Fans hold the power and clubs must act now to end ticket price row
Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has urged the game’s top clubs to “find middle ground” in the bid to end the increasingly vocal protests against rising ticket prices in an exclusive interview with Yahoo Sport
Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has urged the game’s top clubs to “find middle ground” in the bid to end the increasingly vocal protests against rising ticket prices.
Liverpool supporters left Anfield 77 minutes in last Saturday’s Premier League game against Sunderland to make a stand against the club’s decision to charge £77 for some seats in the club’s redeveloped main stand, with Owen suggesting some top English clubs need to be wary of cutting their ties with the fans ahead of a new £8billion TV deal starring next summer.
“Football fans make the game. They create the atmosphere, they give the game its soul,” BT Sport pundit Owen told Yahoo in an exclusive interview. “They also want to come and watch great players and they cost a lot of money, so it is an awkward situation for clubs to find themselves in.
“However, what we have seen in the last few days is a change in the way this story has developed. It has been rumbling along under the surface with fans expressing frustration at ticket prices, but now protests are starting to become visible.
“What we saw at Anfield last weekend was a powerful stand by Liverpool fans and you would think that clubs will not want this to escalate and become a big problem. With that in mind, you would hope middle ground can be found.”
Owen added: “We are all fully aware of the sums of cash that is flowing into Premier League clubs with the new TV deal that starts next summer and the huge sponsorship money that the game is attracting these days.
“So when clubs decide this is the right time to squeeze for extra money the supporters who attend games each week, it doesn’t look good.
“Clubs are running businesses and might argue that if fans don’t want to pay the prices for tickets, there will always be someone else waiting to take that seat when it is vacated. However, I don’t think that is an attitude Premier League owners should have.
You have to look after your supporters.
“This is not a problem across every Premier League club because some do good deals for supporters, but they all need to remember that this is a game that might see a supporter attend 50 games a season if their team has a decent cup run.
[UNITED, CITY, ARSENAL, WEST HAM AND SPURS ARE ALL GUILTY OF INFLATING PRICES]
[THREE WAYS LIVERPOOL MIGHT RESOLVE THE TICKET PRICES ROW]
“So you cannot compare it to going to the theatre or attending a big concert. They are one-off events and while the ticket price might be the same as a football match these days, you don’t find too many people going to 50 rock concerts a year.
“You would hope that something can now be resolved. Middle ground can be found in this situation and it would be nice to think there could be a freeze on ticket prices at the very least at a time when the game has so much money coming in from outside sources other than the supporters.”
Follow Kevin Palmer on Twitter @kpsundayworld
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