Arsenal revealed as most expensive day at football as fresh figures show how fans are being priced out at matches

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UPDATED:

09:03 GMT, 18 October 2012

Year-on-year average cheapest ticket price (2011-12)

Premier League: 24.87 – 28.30

Championship: 20.37 – 21.07

League One: 15.52 – 18.54

League Two: 15.29 – 17.06

Overall: 19.01 – 21.24 – an overall rise of 11.7 per cent

Despite the economic gloom gripping
Britain, the cost of attending football matches has risen more than FIVE
times the rate of inflation since last year.

The cheapest adult tickets in the top
four divisions of English football have gone up by 11.7 per cent,
according to the BBC's Price of Football survey, which recorded the most
expensive and cheapest, season and adult matchday tickets across
Britain, as well as the cost of a cup of tea, a pie and a programme.

Arsenal have the most expensive adult
matchday ticket at 126 and season ticket at 1,955, while Scottish
Football League Division Three side Montrose's are the cheapest at 9
and 90 respectively. The cheapest season ticket available to watch the Gunners still costs more than the most expensive season tickets on offer at all but three of their Premier League rivals.

It'll cost you: Watching Arsenal play remains an expensive past-time for most supporters

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation stood at 2.2 per cent last month, down from 2.5 per cent in August, but the BBC's survey found the average cost of the cheapest ticket had gone up 11.7 per cent.

Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the
Football Supporters’ Federation, has called for clubs to cut the price
of tickets, calling Arsenal's pricing 'shocking'.

'Despite the difficult economic times
we live in, prices at some clubs and at some levels of the game are
still exceedingly high,' he told the BBC. 'It is quite shocking that at Arsenal, for example, the cheapest season ticket is only 15 short of 1,000.

Matchday essentials

Tea

Most expensive:

Manchester City, Manchester United – 2.50

Cheapest:

Alloa, Brechin – 50p

Pie

Most expensive:

Kidderminster Harriers – 4

Cheapest:

Alloa, Abion, Forfar – 1

Programme

Most expensive:

Leeds United – 4

Cheapest:

Inverness Caledonian Thistle – 50p

'We would like to see a much greater
effort to reduce ticket prices and in particular give the benefit of the
massive amounts of media income that comes in at the top of the game to
the match-going fan.'

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis
defended his club's ticket-pricing policy, saying the cost rises are
reflective of a wider issue in sport and insisting that the club still
offers good value tickets.

Top-price matchday tickets at the
Emirates Stadium are 126, but the cheapest league ticket is 26, a 9
reduction on last season.

'We’ve seen ticket prices rise across the game,' Gazidis said. 'This isn’t just a football issue.

'If you look at the prices of
entertainment across the board they have gone up significantly in recent
years and clearly we now have an environment where people are
economically challenged.

'What we have done is try to hold
those prices down, for example our Capital One Cup prices have been 10
for adults and 5 for children.

'What we know, because of the
tremendous take up, is that there are people who want to watch top class
football but for whom price is a factor. That is something we have to
be continually conscious of.'

Former FA chairman Lord Triesman has
warned that watching football could soon become the preserve of the
wealthy and blamed spiralling player wages for the price hikes.

Value for money Manchester City offer season tickets at a bargain 275… but a cup of tea costs 2.50

'I think it will prevent the next
generation from really seeing live football other than on very unusual
occasions every so often when clubs will give the tickets away,' he
said.

'Most of the causes of the increases are driven by the salaries paid to players.

'As it is, it will become a sport in
which relatively well-off people will be able to go and watch it live
and nobody else. That seems to me to be a tragic historic reverse.'

The cost of watching Premier League football in 2012

ClubCheapest season ticketMost expensive season ticketCheapest matchday ticketMost expensive matchday ticketCheapest day out (ticket, programme, pie, tea)ProgrammePieTeaArsenal 985.00*
1,955.00* 26.00 126.00 34.30 3.00 3.30 2.00Aston Villa 325.00
595.00 20.00 45.00 28.30 3.00 3.20 2.10Chelsea 595.00
1,250.00 41.00 87.00 49.60 3.00 3.60 2.00Everton 399.00
672.30 31.00 43.00 38.90 3.00 2.80 2.10Fulham 399.00
959.00 20.00 75.00 29.30 3.50 3.90 1.90Liverpool 725.00
802.00 39.00 48.00 47.30 3.00 3.10 2.20Manchester City 275.00
695.00 26.00 58.00 35.00 3.00 3.50 2.50Manchester United 532.00
950.00 30.00 52.00 38.60 3.00 3.10 2.50Newcastle 322.00
909.00 15.00 70.00 23.00 3.00 2.80 2.20Norwich 471.00
790.00 30.00 50.00 38.00 3.50 2.50 2.00QPR 499.00
949.00 25.00 55.00 33.00 3.00 3.00 2.00Reading 350.00
595.00 37.00 50.00 45.00 3.00 3.20 1.80Southampton 495.00
780.00 28.00 48.00 36.20 3.00 3.20 2.00Stoke 344.00
609.00 25.00 50.00 33.10 3.50 2.60 2.00Sunderland 400.00
845.00 25.00 40.00 33.00 3.00 2.90 2.10Swansea 429.00
499.00 35.00 45.00 42.80 3.00 3.00 1.80Tottenham 730.00
1,845.00 32.00 81.00 41.20 3.50 3.70 2.00West Brom 349.00
449.00 25.00 39.00 33.10 3.00 2.90 2.20West Ham 480.00
850.00 36.00 67.00 44.50 3.50 3.00 2.00Wigan 255.00
310.00 20.00 – 27.10 3.00 2.30** 1.80**

* season ticket covers the 19 Premier League home matches plus a further seven cup credits (eligible for FA Cup or European competitions).

** pie & hot drink meal deal 3.90.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COST OF WATCHING YOUR CLUB IN 2012