Premiership: no guarantee of good football

I was in Liverpool last weekend to see Echo & the Bunnymen twice (my fifth Bunnymen gig in two months :o) and meanwhile attended Everton-Bolton.

What a disgrace. For years I was watching Premiership football every week as a kid. Now I finally see a first Premiership game (I did see a League Cup and Championship game already) and it was one of the worst games I ever attended.

How the heck did Everton manage to end 4th last season? What I saw was a disgrace. Everton as they played this game would have been beaten by Kildare County or Limerick FC with ease. Bolton played one of their crappiest games of the year and still won 0-4, says enough about the "strength" of Everton.

The game was a total disappointment. One single ball on goal in the first half, only the last 20 minutes were worth watching (Bolton scored 3x in this part of the game) and Jaaskelainen had his first ball to save with less than 10 minutes to go. 31 GBP entrance ticket, the game wasn't worth 10 pence however. Luckily that Goodison Park is really nice (an authentic non-modernised ground !!) or the afternoon was a total waste.

The Bolton fans sang "You should have gone christmas shopping" (on the same tones as the ROI or NI fans sometimes sing "there's only one team in Ireland") and they gave a good hint: if Everton does buy a few extra players, relegation is a fact I'm afraid. This Everton is nowhere near Premiership standards.

My first Premiership game was a disappointment, somewhat saved by Stelios' second goal (one single nice moment in an entire game !) and by the beauty of Goodison Park. But all in all, I would probably have been better off seeing Tranmere's game 30 miles further down the road.

ya but look at the two teams ya went to see..bolton are the most defensive team in it and everton well ther jst everton:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Redtop

ya but look at the two teams ya went to see..bolton are the most defensive team in it and everton well ther jst everton:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

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I agree- Bolton play like last seasons Everton. Everton play like a team that will be fighting a relegation battle for the rest of the season.

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

I was in Liverpool last weekend to see Echo & the Bunnymen twice (my fifth Bunnymen gig in two months :o) and meanwhile attended Everton-Bolton.

What a disgrace. For years I was watching Premiership football every week as a kid. Now I finally see a first Premiership game (I did see a League Cup and Championship game already) and it was one of the worst games I ever attended.

How the heck did Everton manage to end 4th last season? What I saw was a disgrace. Everton as they played this game would have been beaten by Kildare County or Limerick FC with ease. Bolton played one of their crappiest games of the year and still won 0-4, says enough about the "strength" of Everton.

The game was a total disappointment. One single ball on goal in the first half, only the last 20 minutes were worth watching (Bolton scored 3x in this part of the game) and Jaaskelainen had his first ball to save with less than 10 minutes to go. 31 GBP entrance ticket, the game wasn't worth 10 pence however. Luckily that Goodison Park is really nice (an authentic non-modernised ground !!) or the afternoon was a total waste.

The Bolton fans sang "You should have gone christmas shopping" (on the same tones as the ROI or NI fans sometimes sing "there's only one team in Ireland") and they gave a good hint: if Everton does buy a few extra players, relegation is a fact I'm afraid. This Everton is nowhere near Premiership standards.

My first Premiership game was a disappointment, somewhat saved by Stelios' second goal (one single nice moment in an entire game !) and by the beauty of Goodison Park. But all in all, I would probably have been better off seeing Tranmere's game 30 miles further down the road.

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And the surprise is? Of course it's sterile, has been for years. Championship is where it's at normally, but this season seems to be different - maybe it's the Doyler factor.

Gerrit, every league has poor games. You obviously believed too much sky hype - their contract has to play up every game, no matter how bad the fair is.

Slating the premiership over one game is just as pathetic as the barstoolers who slate the eL on one game.

Slate it instead on the cost of tickets, the gentrification of the crowd, the lack of standing, the million players that don't give a shít and are so removed from the fans, the owners only out to rip off fans and make as much as possible etc etc. Never mind the lower divisions, you should've gone non-league. ;)

Everton v Bolton was probably the worst game you could have choosen as both teams very difficult to watch.

Don't get me wrong, I am not slagging off the Premiership in total, I just say it doesn't guarantee good football. I mean, most EL and IL games I saw had more exciting moments than this Premiership game. (Read this, barstoolers :D )

I may expected too much of it, but both Everton and Bolton were in Europe (and Bolton even still are) so I did expect some good football.

The ticket prices were a scandal, but luckily Goodison Park was worth the visit and compensated the lack of beauty on the pitch.



Next time I'm over the Irish Sea though, I'll just pick a First Division game and do my wallet a favor ;)

I went to Villarreal vs. Man U in Spain. 50euro to get in and it was just as good as watching Sligo Rovers Vs. Monaghan United. Boring 0-0 draw in the end and a boring match in total. I know this was the Champion's league but it was still one of the top teams in the Premiership in action so I thought it would be a bit better than it was. 50euro was a rip-off for the quality of footie on display:mad:.

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Next time I'm over the Irish Sea though, I'll just pick a First Division game and do my wallet a favor ;)

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Not by that much though.... I'd recomend FC United in the North West Counties myself. Best £7 you'd spend, and the Manchester Road End is louder than bombs.... :D

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Originally Posted by Macy

Not by that much though

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I'm going to see darlington in january and its 15 pound sterling in :eek: - ffs like thats 25 euro in?? Defo great value in the EL compared to that!!

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Originally Posted by Cosmo

I'm going to see darlington in january and its 15 pound sterling in :eek: - ffs like thats 25 euro in?? Defo great value in the EL compared to that!!

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A few of the FCUM bods went to Bury and were genuinely shocked by the prices for that level. I used to go the odd lower/non-league game when I lived in Manch (Bury and Alty mainly) and their prices have risen as sharply as the premiership. Like you say, puts into perspective the value for money of the eL compared to english football (although it wouldn't stand up too well against German and Spanish).

I heard Chelsea sometimes charges 60 pound (= 90 euro) :eek: If that is true (I want it confirmed first) it's quite a scandal given the fact they're not exactly poor as it is :o

IL and EL are quite good value indeed. :ball:

In my native Belgium prices are rising sky-high, even in non-premier division it's sometimes 25 euros in. A few clubs got very bad comments because they charged supporters of the visiting more than their own fans, while the seats were not better than those of the home fans.

i saw ajax and thun in champ league for only €19 at face value. it was excellent value. great stadium no much atmosphere. and was then charged €15 into the RSC for waterford and pats.better value at champ league.prices seen fairly cheap for matches in germany.

I know Valencia charge 5 euro for their UEFA cup games and the odd Champ league one too:eek:.

60 euro for my tickets in West Lower for last Ireland Qualifying Campaign hurt the pocket a fair bit - was made even worse you then have to pay 48 euro to watch China just so you can keep your tickets!! :eek:

Not sure about Chelsea but dearest ticket at highbury is 54 pounds but they are never on sale as they are held by season ticket holders/bond holders/club executives in the West Upper Centre block - i.e. where Sven is always seen sitting. Dearest I've paid was for a North London Derby Vs Spurs (i.e Catagory A game) last year - 48 pound North Bank upper. On average my Arsenal tickets cost between 20 and 30 pounds. Prices this year are slightly higher than normal as a result of last ever season at Highbury.

saying that I have got some cheap tickets too in the past - 16 pound to see Arsenal go the whole season unbeaten against Leicster in 2004 was great value. My nephew get's his tickets for 9 pound regardless of the opposition as a junior gunner - not bad at all.

The most expensive away game i went to was against Birmingham on the last day of the season last year - 49 pound to sit behind the goal with only a half decent view - scandalous!!

Echo and the Bunnymen? Lord, are they still going?

Premiership: no guarantee of good football

of course its not but i could go to see barca and they could have an off day .

why you were expecting a good game from bolton everton ive no idea , bolton are the worse team to watch and everton are about the 2nd worse at the moment .

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Originally Posted by anto1208

Premiership: no guarantee of good football

of course its not but i could go to see barca and they could have an off day .

why you were expecting a good game from bolton everton ive no idea , bolton are the worse team to watch and everton are about the 2nd worse at the moment .

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I saw Barca lose 3-0 at home to Majorca a few years back, it was stil great fun, but you hit the nail on the head there.

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Originally Posted by Clifford

I saw Barca lose 3-0 at home to Majorca a few years back, it was stil great fun, but you hit the nail on the head there.

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You mean Mallorca;).

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

I heard Chelsea sometimes charges 60 pound (= 90 euro) :eek: If that is true (I want it confirmed first) it's quite a scandal given the fact they're not exactly poor as it is :o

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I would say that is one of their lowest ticket prices Gerrit, Chelsea have always charged a lot to get in and I think the average season ticket price is now approx £2,500.:eek:

I know a Liverpool supporter who went to Stamford Bridge in '86 to see Liverpool secure the league and he swears it cost him about £20 to get in even then. I always doubted him on that one as it was nearly 20 years ago now but he swears it's true.

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Originally Posted by sligoman

You mean Mallorca;).

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If your fcukin Spanish yeah....posh git..:D :D

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Originally Posted by Marked Man

Echo and the Bunnymen? Lord, are they still going?

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:mad:

Of course! The new album, Siberia, is their best release since the magical Ocean Rain, and the concerts were once again amazing. Ian was in superb shape, his voice was better than ever! Pure magic :cool:



As for why I expected a good game: both Everton and Bolton qualified for Europe, and it's a bit of a local derby so I had expected both to perform at their best...

Spain is a cheap place to live which would explain cheap ticket prices. Sure you can get a 3 course meal & bottle of wine for €2 ;)

was in bilbao 2 months ago and the cheapest tickets, 6 rows from the front of the goal line, were E25. good seats.great football stadium (not a spectacular fancy arena,just great footballstadium).
poor game.sevilla beat Athletic 1-0.

Barcelona's cheapeast league tickets are from E19, ie against alavés in a couple of weeks.you'l be in the clouds for the game.tickets against Athletic and atletico in january are from E29.the king's cup game against Zamora on 11th january will cost from E9, or only E5 if you're a member of FCB.cant wait to see what type of crowd turn up for that.(dont know why it's not at the mini-stadium....)
saw Barcelona v Espanyol 6 years ago, and had cheapest tickets in the back of the 3rd tier E42.

napoli in serie B 2 years ago, E12.

tranmere v colchester last february STG£14 (E21)
going to cardiff v southampton on saturday, cheapest tickets from STG£8.50 concession, and unsually for english league, students count as concessions.so thats handy for me. otherwise the cheapest ticket for cardiff works out at E19 adult.
probably go to see everton v arsenal in 3 weeks.tickets are from STG£28. or else i could go to see tranmere v southend....

italy and germany are great value.juve tickets are from E20, Roma E15, or E10 for cup games.german clubs give members tickets for as little as E10 as well.
football tickets shouldnt be an expense,i hate seeing high prices for football games.

as for EL prices, i think E12 top price is fair for premier division. 1st division should be no more than E10 for adults. though Rovers charge E6 for students.thats too cheap.should be E8 students, E12 adults.and a load of competively priced family tickets should be available too

Glentoran-Linfield cost me 6£ in, and that's the biggest game in the country... Everton-Bolton cost me 5 times that price, and let's say Linfield would easily have beaten them. Says enough about Everton I guess (given their current European results I'll just guess that Bolton had an off day)

In Belgium, my team Ostend is now in second division (or First Division as it'd be called here) and the average ticket in would be between 12 EUR and 15 EUR. A few teams ask more, and if it's a derby game prices may rise slightly.

My best value so far was seeing Ajax 3x(including 2 Champions League games) on the VIP stand for 0 EUR. :cool: Handy when your dad has connections in the Amsterdam business world, especially when they hand out tickets to their business connections :o