Football Fans 'May Seek Debt Advice' After This Season's Live Game

In the ‘old days’ dads would take their kids to see the local football team at their local ground and the children would dream of becoming a famous footballer and scoring the winning goal in the final at the World Cup.

It is called the beautiful game across the world but recently football has been more like the expensive game with the rise of ticket prices. Those days of visiting your team are sadly slipping into the past. Around the UK, football fans are ready to give up going to see a live game in reaction to increasing ticket prices.

New research from Virgin Money has claimed that around one in every ten of enthusiasts will give up the beautiful game for a more pleasing cash balance. This may mean that those who simply cannot give up going end up in bad credit and seeking debt advice.

The poll showed fans of Premiership clubs are least likely to go to games as often as they did. Middlesbrough and Chelsea fans were found to be the most apathetic by the firm, with close to a quarter admitting they will not be attending as many matches, while Blackburn Rovers' frozen ticket prices have had a positive result on fans.

The firm has reported that the average price of a ticket has risen by over 20 per cent in recent years. An increase in the cost of replica shirts – particularly children’s sizes – is the main reason behind the increase as clubs introduce new strips at the start of the season.

“The ordinary football fan is up against it this year. While it’s true that some clubs have frozen or even reduced ticket prices, our analysis shows that the overall cost of following your team continues to rise." said a Virgin Money spokesman.

It seems we should be cutting back on unnecessary expense as money charity Credit Action has stated that the UK has a personal debt mountain of over £1.3 trillion.

If you would like to know more about debt why not ask AnswerBank Business and Finance.