HAVE A CLUB WHICH BEFORE ANY PROFIT’
Put it this way – in a Stoke City context – if it was Saido Berahino offering to bail out Pottermus being made redundant, social media would be ablaze with derision.
And rightly so.
Then there’s the fee that Premier League fans will now have to fork out to access their team’s games that are not on pay TV. It’s almost a fiver more than we are spending.
Our very own Malcolm Clarke happens to be the chair of the Football Supporters’ Federation and he was vocal on national radio calling for all fans to be given back their season ticket money for the 2020/21 campaign now there is no immediate prospect of supporters being allowed back in to stadia to enjoy the ‘product’ they actually paid for.
It’s the least the moneygrabbers should do as it will then give fans an opportunity to spend some of it on those £14.95 per match fees.
So, the chances are they’ll get a decent proportion of the cash back fairly quickly.
You can see how anger about football has built so much in recent weeks as the Premier League continues to behave in a way that grabs fistfuls of cash while clubs lower down the pyramid go bust or teeter on the precipice.
But here’s the rub for us Stokies: none of this applies to us.
Our club completed the full season-ticket refund process weeks ago. And I believe, had we still been members of the Premier League, we would have voted alongside Leicester as the lone voices to stand against the £14.95 pay per view proposal.
Even when the landscape looked as if supporters would be allowed back into grounds at the start of September, Stoke’s proposal to split the games in half and allow fans in on ‘red’ and ‘white’ season tickets hit the nail on the head.
Totally the opposite to Arsenal. The club has also been active in
the community throughout the entire duration of the pandemic, from making calls to vulnerable supporters to helping with food distribution.
And that of course includes examples of players getting directly involved themselves, such as Dany Batth, rather than just offering to chuck a few quid the way of a redundant staff member, well-meaning though Ozil’s gesture was.
Again, totally the opposite to Arsenal.
So, I’m grateful that we have a club who have a sensitivity to its support base and an appreciation of the difficulties its city and people are going through at the moment.
We are very, very fortunate to be blessed with a club that puts its community before profit, even at such a time as this.
Plus players who, unlike those of the last three to four years, who understand the area rather more and have a connection with us supporters.
And for once I have massive sympathy with Arsenal fans, currently railing against their club; which is a very odd feeling indeed.
Solidarity brothers and sisters; I’d suggest a boycott, but then you’re already ahead of me there.
Meanwhile, on the actual pitch, this weekend Stoke City face the prospect of a first reunion with former manager Nathan Jones, approximately a year after his over-delayed departure.
Not that I miss having those tightly-packed seat backs digging into my shins in the Kenilworth Road away end, but it’s a game I really do wish I could be there for.
Instead, I’ll gladly pay my £10 for the live stream safe in the knowledge that my club isn’t extracting the Michael out of me or my fellow fans.
Then I’ll pop down to watch my local non-league club where I can get in, a programme, a drink and a pie for less than the cost of a Premier League game.
Maybe see you there.