Anyone for tickets?

Supporters may have won a battle, JONATHAN COWLEY says Liverpool away from winning the war but fans in general are still miles

The fight for fair prices

TICKET prices. A topic that has been a hot source of debate in recent years. It got a whole lot hotter back in February of last year when the Premier League sold television rights for 2016-2019.

The price paid for those rights totalled an eye-watering £5. 136bn, split between longtime broadcaster Sky and relative new kid on the block BT Sport. That figure was a staggering 71 per cent more than the two paid last time around.

It is highly doubtful that the parties involved in this process intended to stoke the fire surrounding tickets, but stoke it they did.

More money for the clubs provides them the ability to offer some of the world's most exciting players mouth-watering contracts that trump rival bidders from abroad. How do they plan to counter this? By charging the fans extra, of course. The BBC's 'Price of Football' study in 2014 revealed that the average ticket price had risen at nearly twice the rate of the cost of living since 2011. Compelling evidence that this problem is in full swing. Rumblings of discontent had grown, becoming ever more deafening, yet they continued to be ignored – until…

Liverpool’s ownership had planned to increase some matchday prices from an already extortionate £59 to £77 for next season.

A brutal kick in the collective stomach of not just Liverpool fans, but football fans everywhere. If one club does it and gets away with it, it would be a safe bet to assume tens of other will try it too.

What came next wasn't the first protest on ticket prices, although it was perhaps the first of its kind.

There had been numerous occasions where banners, chants and various other means had been used to voice displeasure.

Liverpool fans went for something a little different, something that would generate more publicity. Thankfully, it worked.

In the 77th minute of Liverpool's home fixture against Sunderland on February 6, thousands of Reds fans did the talking with their feet. Hoards of supporters, encouraged by supporters' groups Spirit of Shankly and Spion Kop 1906, dashed for the exits, hollering 'enough is enough'.

Before this particular game, Spion Kop 1906 took to the increasingly powerful medium of Twitter to offer their views and announce the plan: "Sunderland at home on Saturday,[is] the first stage of many planned protests against the club in regards to the ticket prices at Anfield for the 2016/17 season. . . . . Every week we get right behind the team, now supporters need to get behind each other. Let’s make sure the owners know this is unacceptable. On 77 minutes, leave your seat and walk out. Tell your mates and family, tell the people around you, tell them why. Walk