BBC Story on Riverside Stand & Ticket Pricing

[Logicalman]

Some interesting view points on the reasoning for the design and inspiration. The story also includes a section on pricing, for those interested.

'Best stand in the world'?

I will admit, in regards to the pool position, it does remind me of the Jaguars home turf, Everbank Stadium, though the pools there do overlook the playing turf, to a larger degree (if my drunken memories serve me correctly - that was a great weekend - but please correct me)

Anyways, as Everbank boasts, does the Cottage also now similarly boast being the first English footie ground with pools?

Additional in-story links

Fulham supporters' trust 'worried' by price rises

How much do Premier League clubs make from tickets?

Man Utd fans 'disappointed' by season ticket price increase

Football too expensive for working class fans - MP

Man City fans to step up ticket complaint protests

[SP]

Thanks for posting, it's no wonder many fans across the country feel disengaged from football these days.

Man Utd paying £100k a day interest on the debt, someone's doing very nicely out of it.

[Ludlow Richard]

Great article in Sunday Telegraph about the new stand.

[Lighthouse]

Well for those that wanted to stay at our traditional home ground. This is the pay off. A ground for the rich as well as the well off. A ground that already has a 'them and us' feel to it.

I am in a minority. As a fan since the sixties. Whose Dad, as a kid, used to travel from home to the ground to sneak in when the gates opened in the last ten minutes to allow people to leave, so that he could see part of the game for free.

Well let's be honest. Not my ground, not my team, not my game, not my World. We have to adapt and some of us are going to be left behind.

I love Fulham but not enough it seems. Thanks for the memories and I will continue to look from afar. Yes I expect the normal cretins who live abroad and visit for the odd game to throw a cissy fit. But then football has become a class thing now. So the haves will always look down on the rest of us.

[blingo]

Well for those that wanted to stay at our traditional home ground. This is the pay off. A ground for the rich as well as the well off. A ground that already has a 'them and us' feel to it.

I am in a minority. As a fan since the sixties. Whose Dad, as a kid, used to travel from home to the ground to sneak in when the gates opened in the last ten minutes to allow people to leave, so that he could see part of the game for free.

Well let's be honest. Not my ground, not my team, not my game, not my World. We have to adapt and some of us are going to be left behind.

I love Fulham but not enough it seems. Thanks for the memories and I will continue to look from afar. Yes I expect the normal cretins who live abroad and visit for the odd game to throw a cissy fit. But then football has become a class thing now. So the haves will always look down on the rest of us.

What a ridiculous post

[cookieg]

I really can't get worked up about the prices for the new stand. I won't be buying an ST there I might give it a go for an FA cup game. This stand is aimed at those fans who have a few quid and for corporate hospitality and if it brings a few more quid for the club then good. And as for fans being priced out well this happens with everything not just football.

[The Little Dave]

Well for those that wanted to stay at our traditional home ground. This is the pay off. A ground for the rich as well as the well off. A ground that already has a 'them and us' feel to it.

I am in a minority. As a fan since the sixties. Whose Dad, as a kid, used to travel from home to the ground to sneak in when the gates opened in the last ten minutes to allow people to leave, so that he could see part of the game for free.

Well let's be honest. Not my ground, not my team, not my game, not my World. We have to adapt and some of us are going to be left behind.

I love Fulham but not enough it seems. Thanks for the memories and I will continue to look from afar. Yes I expect the normal cretins who live abroad and visit for the odd game to throw a cissy fit. But then football has become a class thing now. So the haves will always look down on the rest of us.

What a ridiculous gatekeeping opinion. Like a music snob, you seem to think you hold the rights to "true" fandom just because you've been around the club for a while. It's a pathetic take—especially from someone who's been so active on this forum.

Your comments about the ground make me seriously question whether you've even attended a match.

Calling it "a ground for the rich" is a poor take. Many of us are still paying around £50 per game with a season ticket commitment.

Your comment reeks of the idea that anyone attending games or supporting the club these days is part of some "different world" that you don't identify with.

The reality is that, yes, there's a stand with an exclusive executive-level entrance to club-level seating. But to suggest that the whole ground has changed just because of a few fancy doors for people in finance or tech? That's laughable.

Honestly, grow up and act your age. Stop looking at anyone who drives a fancy car as your enemy.

[Eton White]

To be honest, if the Riverside stand and its crazy hospitality prices enables the club to keep prices in the rest of the ground at a semi-reasonable level, I'm fine with that.

[Stevieboy]

I suspect many of the people who complain about the Riverside prices would never want to sit in that stand no matter what rhe price anyway.Serial moaners !!
I don't begrudge the club trying to make money and I would never want to sit in the surreal stand on a regular basis, maybe a one off meal deal but regular no.

[WindyCity]

And as for fans being priced out well this happens with everything not just football.

Tend to agree.  I think all this talk about visitors and neutrals is way overblown.  I think, even if true, it would affect all clubs.  Sometimes it will force fans to follow their clubs from afar (tv, print media, internet, etc).  But I still maintain that most of the fans that fill Craven Cottage, or for that matter, any other stadium, are home town fans.  Sure, some with deeper pockets perhaps, but home fans just the same.

[C Block]

Well for those that wanted to stay at our traditional home ground. This is the pay off. A ground for the rich as well as the well off. A ground that already has a 'them and us' feel to it.

I am in a minority. As a fan since the sixties. Whose Dad, as a kid, used to travel from home to the ground to sneak in when the gates opened in the last ten minutes to allow people to leave, so that he could see part of the game for free.

Well let's be honest. Not my ground, not my team, not my game, not my World. We have to adapt and some of us are going to be left behind.

I love Fulham but not enough it seems. Thanks for the memories and I will continue to look from afar. Yes I expect the normal cretins who live abroad and visit for the odd game to throw a cissy fit. But then football has become a class thing now. So the haves will always look down on the rest of us.

I agree with this and to take your "them and us" point further the facilities in the Johnny Haynes Stand (in particular) and the Hammersmith End are barely fit for purpose, that was OK many years ago when it was £3 to get in but not anymore now that it costs a small fortune to get in

[Lighthouse]

Well for those that wanted to stay at our traditional home ground. This is the pay off. A ground for the rich as well as the well off. A ground that already has a 'them and us' feel to it.

I am in a minority. As a fan since the sixties. Whose Dad, as a kid, used to travel from home to the ground to sneak in when the gates opened in the last ten minutes to allow people to leave, so that he could see part of the game for free.

Well let's be honest. Not my ground, not my team, not my game, not my World. We have to adapt and some of us are going to be left behind.

I love Fulham but not enough it seems. Thanks for the memories and I will continue to look from afar. Yes I expect the normal cretins who live abroad and visit for the odd game to throw a cissy fit. But then football has become a class thing now. So the haves will always look down on the rest of us.

What a ridiculous gatekeeping opinion. Like a music snob, you seem to think you hold the rights to "true" fandom just because you've been around the club for a while. It's a pathetic take—especially from someone who's been so active on this forum.

Your comments about the ground make me seriously question whether you've even attended a match.

Calling it "a ground for the rich" is a poor take. Many of us are still paying around £50 per game with a season ticket commitment.

Your comment reeks of the idea that anyone attending games or supporting the club these days is part of some "different world" that you don't identify with.

The reality is that, yes, there's a stand with an exclusive executive-level entrance to club-level seating. But to suggest that the whole ground has changed just because of a few fancy doors for people in finance or tech? That's laughable.

Honestly, grow up and act your age. Stop looking at anyone who drives a fancy car as your enemy.

Good grief this became very aggressive very quickly. Not sure where the fancy car comes in. But in the article it actually states that the new stand was not designed for the football. People using the swimming people will literally look down and not be able to see the football. So why the aggression? I again literally say it is not for the likes of me. I am not in tech or a CEO. I also say that football has moved on. So you again make all my points for me. It is just the way it is. I don't understand the gatekeeping comment. I just personally don't identify with something I used to love. But the idea that you doubt I have ever been to a game etc. Why the hostility? Anyway thanks for your take on things even if I did find them needlessly aggressive.

[bobbo]

I really can't get worked up about the prices for the new stand. I won't be buying an ST there I might give it a go for an FA cup game. This stand is aimed at those fans who have a few quid and for corporate hospitality and if it brings a few more quid for the club then good. And as for fans being priced out well this happens with everything not just football.

yes I know it happens whithmost things but there such a thing a loyalty which the club are zero rated at . There's many been going longer than me 1958 , fewblips when was playing and after refereeing. But personally have have a continuous season ticket for over 45 years and when I asked early this season how much to go back to the riverside where I sat from when the first stand there was built I got quoted £3250 00.
That's astonishing lack of any loyalty.  I need to add I clipped the like on lighthouse in error . But don't necessarily disagree with all of it .

[Logicalman]

Well for those that wanted to stay at our traditional home ground. This is the pay off. A ground for the rich as well as the well off. A ground that already has a 'them and us' feel to it.

I am in a minority. As a fan since the sixties. Whose Dad, as a kid, used to travel from home to the ground to sneak in when the gates opened in the last ten minutes to allow people to leave, so that he could see part of the game for free.

Well let's be honest. Not my ground, not my team, not my game, not my World. We have to adapt and some of us are going to be left behind.

I love Fulham but not enough it seems. Thanks for the memories and I will continue to look from afar. Yes I expect the normal cretins who live abroad and visit for the odd game to throw a cissy fit. But then football has become a class thing now. So the haves will always look down on the rest of us.

I am in the same class as you Mr L, as far as growing up, in that same era, sneaking in when the gates were opened early (or getting in at HT during those midweek matches when even just one stand would easily swallow up the entire fans in attendance), and it is the pay-off, though from my personal perspective, and perhaps my living abroad now has some sway on this, I am still proud that we are at the Cottage.

I won't throw a cissy fit at what you say, I understand your perspective on things, though I would counter that ANY team in the top flight, and a lot in the Fizzy League as well, are pricing the oridnary fan out of the game or, at the very least, causing some careful thought as to how to budget for attending them, because that is the way money affects everything. From entertainment, to transport, holidays, the lot. If anything, footie and it's financial direction has simply followed the culture trend, of wanting the best and paying for it. Smartphones are a great example - you can rarely find a similar phone to that of the old blackberry these days, there is just no room - or service - available for those old things, and try and buy a car that you can service youself thesedays, almost nothing available.

We can all commiserate and weep into our beer galsses for how it used to be, but it just means we are refusing to accept that life just keeps moving on, and hankering for how things used to be is no longer of any use.

As for loving Fulham enough, that's got nothing to do with how many times one can afford to attend now, or buy things from them, it's inside of you, it's how you feel about the club, and for that matter, the ground. And whenever I do get the opportunity to get back and go to the Cottage, that lump still comes up my throat as I catch a glimpse of the floodlights, and then the Stevenage Road facade, and finally the Cottage. It's just plain pride, in the club and for all those fans that do support it.

[Logicalman]

I really can't get worked up about the prices for the new stand. I won't be buying an ST there I might give it a go for an FA cup game. This stand is aimed at those fans who have a few quid and for corporate hospitality and if it brings a few more quid for the club then good. And as for fans being priced out well this happens with everything not just football.

yes I know it happens whithmost things but there such a thing a loyalty which the club are zero rated at . There's many been going longer than me 1958 , fewblips when was playing and after refereeing. But personally have have a continuous season ticket for over 45 years and when I asked early this season how much to go back to the riverside where I sat from when the first stand there was built I got quoted £3250 00.
That's astonishing lack of any loyalty.  I need to add I clipped the like on lighthouse in error . But don't necessarily disagree with all of it .

I agree with you, though to add a little more perspective to this, that cost of a season ticket is not too far ahead of what it costs me and SWMBO to attend one match, when taking into account the cost of travel, hotels and everything else (the actual match ticket price in a very small amount of our overall cost). That's not saying people should pay so much for a season ticket (which I think is truly shocking) but it is what it is, and whilst there are people out there willing to pay silly money, then the clubs (all of them) will look to charge that.

[The Little Dave]

Well for those that wanted to stay at our traditional home ground. This is the pay off. A ground for the rich as well as the well off. A ground that already has a 'them and us' feel to it.

I am in a minority. As a fan since the sixties. Whose Dad, as a kid, used to travel from home to the ground to sneak in when the gates opened in the last ten minutes to allow people to leave, so that he could see part of the game for free.

Well let's be honest. Not my ground, not my team, not my game, not my World. We have to adapt and some of us are going to be left behind.

I love Fulham but not enough it seems. Thanks for the memories and I will continue to look from afar. Yes I expect the normal cretins who live abroad and visit for the odd game to throw a cissy fit. But then football has become a class thing now. So the haves will always look down on the rest of us.

What a ridiculous gatekeeping opinion. Like a music snob, you seem to think you hold the rights to "true" fandom just because you've been around the club for a while. It's a pathetic take—especially from someone who's been so active on this forum.

Your comments about the ground make me seriously question whether you've even attended a match.

Calling it "a ground for the rich" is a poor take. Many of us are still paying around £50 per game with a season ticket commitment.

Your comment reeks of the idea that anyone attending games or supporting the club these days is part of some "different world" that you don't identify with.

The reality is that, yes, there's a stand with an exclusive executive-level entrance to club-level seating. But to suggest that the whole ground has changed just because of a few fancy doors for people in finance or tech? That's laughable.

Honestly, grow up and act your age. Stop looking at anyone who drives a fancy car as your enemy.

Good grief this became very aggressive very quickly. Not sure where the fancy car comes in. But in the article it actually states that the new stand was not designed for the football. People using the swimming people will literally look down and not be able to see the football. So why the aggression? I again literally say it is not for the likes of me. I am not in tech or a CEO. I also say that football has moved on. So you again make all my points for me. It is just the way it is. I don't understand the gatekeeping comment. I just personally don't identify with something I used to love. But the idea that you doubt I have ever been to a game etc. Why the hostility? Anyway thanks for your take on things even if I did find them needlessly aggressive.

Calls people who get offended by what they say cretins then wonders who people get offended. Lol

I'll pass, I enjoy your take more than anything, and am glad folks like you are choosing to follow from afar, you do more to contribute to the "us and them" mentality of football then a swimming pool or a fancy door does. But then again, maybe that's why you dislike the direction, football is far less tribal than it use to be, and you probably need to find someone else to hate.

[bobbo]

A mate of mines son (42 years old ) and avid Newcastle fan has twice this season sat right in the middle of the new stand front of upper part for free , not sure exactly how but it will have a connection with who he works for ( virgin atlantic ) . How does this happen when I can't get that . It's not that I can't afford it, I could but just refuse to pay it . Renewing tomorrow could be my last time though sadly .

[MickTheBeard]

As a fulham fan I can never get by owners who own a franchise happy for their club languishing at the bottom of the league and then buy a club not the same sport waste loads of money build a new stand for what make a loss to me it stinks not paying tax in America money laundering why bother it really smells it really does not add up.

[hovewhite]

Every season for the last 3 I have been saying
That's it now,but I have now got someone to split the cost with .
Thinking about season ticket costs it hasn't got anymore expensive than anything else I don't think.

[Yorkie_FFC]

What it is good for is the supporter like me who due to location and work can usually only make between 4 and 6 home games a season. I could have those games in the hammy end or I can treat myself and for the price of a reasonable season ticket, I can have my 4-6 games in the riverside, split over the months I go. I usually have a time in Aug/Sep then another one in November. Depending on how Christmas/New Years falls I might get one in then. Before a fixture in Feb/March and depending when Easter falls either then and or May. For me with travel, ticket and accommodation it's around £300 for each match but that is split over the year.