Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust published updated news for fans at the end of last week. The link to the full news piece on the THST is here. The following article looks at some of the key points raised in the update.
Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust News Updates
Season Ticket Price Increase
Tottenham Hotspur have decided to raise season ticket prices by 1.5%. THST have fought against these rises and feel that the increases are unnecessary. The latest update refers to the key point of their statement regarding the pricing increase: “Tottenham Hotspur is the eighth biggest club in world football by revenues and gate receipts are dwarfed by TV income and commercial deals. The simple fact is that the club is not forced to raise ticket prices. It is choosing to do so, just as it chooses to make its other business decisions.”
Whilst the club has the right to increase prices, it seems disappointing that with increased revenue the decision has been taken at this stage. The football club need to be careful that they don’t start to price fans out of watching their favourite team. The actual price hike equates to between £12 and £33 but in today’s world that can be a huge difference to many.
Standing
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has safety bars fitted in certain areas to potentially allow safe standing in the future. The THST will be involved in discussions on this issue. The new Conservative government are interested in allowing fans to have a choice over safe standing. THST are asking for a “common-sense approach” to the talks.
Many fans stand at games regardless of safe standing but there does also need to be that common-sense approach to which the trust refers. Not everyone who attends games can stand for long periods of time and the trust rightly states that the “diversity” of the football supporting community is fully considered.
Atmosphere
The latest updates from THST advise of a meeting being convened to discuss how to improve the atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The trust want initiatives to be driven by fans, which makes perfect sense rather than the trust driving them.
The ‘wall of sound’ at the new stadium started off well but the atmosphere has somewhat dissipated since. Some of this is down to results and less than impressive performances under both Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho this season. It will be interesting to see future updates and how this all pans out. Ultimately, though, the players on the pitch have a large responsibility in getting the fans to sing. If the players perform then the fans will surely do likewise.
The One Show Complaint
The following is an extract from the THST update;
“Following the footage of Harry Kane, the piece cuts to an aerial shot of the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium before sweeping into the empty stands with the audio of a radio commentary from the Spurs v Chelsea match on 22 December 2019. This commentary says: ‘So there we are then. There is an announcement on the loudspeaker to warn the crowd that there must be no further racist behaviour.’
“An investigation led by the Club and the Metropolitan Police found no evidence of any such chanting and the case was closed on 6 January 2020.
The editing of The One Show item clearly showed the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the location that was being referred to in the accompanying commentary that mentioned instances of racist abuse from a crowd. This in itself presented a picture that is at best inaccurate, at worst misleading.”
The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust have asked that the BBC broadcast an apology and if it fails to do so will report the issue to OFCOM.
The issue of the ‘Y’ word refuses to go away but the club have continually consulted with fans over the issue. The way that the BBC portrayed the club and its fans was offensive and without any foundation. Prejudice is an issue in football across the world and needs to be dealt with in a sensible way.
Other Items
Other items in the updates focus on the treatment of match-day stewards, catering at the new stadium and all of the Trust’s updates can be found in the link at the start of this article.
For more information on the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust or to find out how you can join, click on the following link.
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