TICKET TO CHIDE
One week on, and the unedifying spectacle of the Geopolitics World Cup tombola has faded, overtaken by the club game’s relentless news cycle. Mohamed Salah has taken a blowtorch to his immediate hopes of returning to the Liverpool starting XI; Real Madrid are apparently in crisis; and Celtic are bad again, their fans perhaps the first in history to dread an approaching cup final. There might be more of that next summer though, with the full scale of ticket prices for Gianni’s jamboree offering a sobering “slap in the face” for fans still celebrating qualification. Not our words, but those of the Football Supporters’ Association and its England Fans’ Embassy, which might sound like a Soccer AM bit, but is part of a European network offering “reliable and independent information to fans”.
So while Rio Ferdinand has been busy cross-referencing the draw footage with his script, and Julian Nagelsmann wonders why his Germany side are playing a drink in their opening game, fan groups have been crunching the numbers for travelling supporters – and they make for bleak viewing. On Thursday, it emerged that the cheapest ticket available for the final in – and you’ll like this – the “supporter value tier” will cost $4,185 (£3,120). Fans hoping to watch their team’s entire journey through the draw are looking at a minimum cost of about $7,000 (£5,240) – and that’s just for match tickets. Throw in the price of flights and accommodation, and most supporters are looking at an enormous £10,000 outlay – more than five times the cost of following your team in 2022. The Fifa chief suit appears to have finally got his wish: making us look back at the Human Rights World Cup with the tiniest degree of fondness.
Football Supporters Europe has labelled the ticket pricing “a monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup”, calling on Fifa to pause sales on tickets allocated to participating nations, which – believe it or not – are not subject to dynamic pricing. One Scotland fan told BBC Radio 5 Live that taking his family to the tournament could cost upwards of £15,000. “I would love to take the kids because it may not happen for another 30 years,” he added, writing our jokes for us. Even the very cheapest match tickets are now north of £100 – too rich for our blood, but given that we’ve written this lengthy article slating ticket prices, we’re probably not getting in to the USA USA USA next summer anyway. Let’s just go the whole hog and add that the Village People are a bit dated. Yes, we went there!
Amid the justified outrage and eye-watering totals, we need someone who truly understands the game to remind us what it’s all about. “I know what it means to travel week in, week out, to go and watch your favourite team, because I did this myself.” That’s more like it! “I know what it means to love football and follow a team. Football without the fans is nothing.” Which thrusting egalitarian, which man of the people said this? Oh. It was Gianni Infantino, back in 2016. The game has truly gone.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I would say that the odds of us turning the season around are lower than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?” – Newport County are rock-bottom of the Football League but new manager Christian Fuchs chats to Ben Fisher about how being part of one miracle is keeping his spirits high.
Christian Fuchs in the dugout, earlier. Photograph: Francesca Jones/The Guardian
Going along with the recent theme on awkward match seating (Football Daily letters passim), I attended a Marseille v Liverpool Big Cup match in 2008. The only snag was the tickets that myself and my Liverpool-supporting mate had were in the Marseille section. We agreed on the way in to say nothing and be subtle. The Marseille fan beside us started to make conversation with me before kick-off. Having lived for a while in Paris, my French was pretty good and he assumed I was from somewhere up the north of France. This assumption was blown up when Steven Gerrard scored and my mate jumped up, exclaiming wildly in his broad scouse accent. I got a decidedly unfriendly side-eye from the Marseille fan for the rest of the game. Needless to say, we didn’t hang about for a beer after the match” – Eoin Balfe.
My son and I go to most Brentford games together, so it was a big deal when as a young teenager he was deemed old enough to go to an away match at Villa on his own. His mother, cheerfully un-streetwise, turfed him out of the car as near as she could get to the Holte End. Stood self-consciously in his Brentford shirt, he hastened to pull a hoodie on as a mountainous, bald, heavily tattooed man rumbled in his direction. ‘No need for that mate,’ he said cheerfully with a pat on the back. ‘D’you know where the away turnstiles are? I’ll show ya. So who should we look out for today,’ etc. I’ve always had a soft spot for Villa since then, though admittedly Ollie Watkins has tested it a couple of times” – Simon Skinner.
In yesterday’s Football Daily, you claimed that attending an evening seminar on economic history can be excruciatingly boring for a bunch of young millionaire footballers. As someone with a PhD in history who specialises in the political economy of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 19th century, I can say that this definitely applies to undergrads, the general public, and, maybe, some fellow historians and economists. It might also explain the current state of the world economy” – Dimitris Stergiopoulos (“and probably nobody else – I would be genuinely surprised if other fellow economic historians read the newsletter regularly”).
As an American, I have many, many, many things I am inclined to apologise to the world at large for. So many and of such severity that a comedic list of three such things would not actually be funny. But parsing through the merciless cavalcade of apologetic impulses, I would like to say that I am sorry to your readers, my global and invariably good-looking comrades, for having to consider the opinion of Landon Donovan (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition). There’s really no excuse. As a people, we should have long ago endeavoured to make sure he never actually speaks into a live microphone” – Tyler T.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Dimitris Stergiopoulos. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED PLAYING
The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for? Get stuck in!
WE’RE ALL GOING ON A G.O.A.T TOUR
In the debate about which male player is the greatest of all time, fans give all kinds of reasons as to why their man should be considered No 1. Goals and his beaming smile (Pelé), Instachat followers (Cristiano Ronaldo), the creation of a new religion (Diego Maradona) – and now Lionel Messi groupies can argue that the magician should be top of the tree based on his ridiculously oversized Indian statue. Yes, in Kolkata on Saturday a 70ft iron likeness of the Argentinian will be unveiled as part of the G.O.A.T tour. “It’s a matter of pride to build the sculpture of Messi,” trilled sculptor Monty Paul. “It’s the tallest statue I have made.” No kidding – it’s even bigger than the Angel of the North (65.5ft) and the tallest of any footballer in the world.
The statue, earlier. Photograph: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner will also meet Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan and former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly during his three-day trip in which he will be chaperoned by Inter Miami teammates Luis Suárez and Rodrigo de Paul. The G.O.A.T tour will also visit Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. Unfortunately, Messi won’t be present for the unveiling of his statue for security reasons. He may want to swerve the “Hola Messi” fan zone, too, where there is a lifesize replica of himself sat on a throne in a hall and a recreation of his Miami pad complete with creepy mannequins of the player and his family.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Mohamed Salah’s chances of being involved in Liverpool’s clash with Brighton at Anfield on Saturday hinge on the outcome of a chat he will hold with Arne Slot, the beleaguered Reds manager has revealed. Slot insists he has “no reasons for not wanting [Salah] to stay”.
Enzo Maresca is not going to take a Peter Gabriel-style sledgehammer (a reference for the kids, there) to his Chelsea tactics after a run of bad results. “It’s football. It’s completely normal,” he soothed. “We’re always looking for problems. Leeds was eight-nine days ago. In nine days we’re not going to change our season because we didn’t get the points we expect. I’m completely relaxed.”
“Let’s see,” was the incredibly vague message from Mikel Arteta when quizzed on the stricken Arsenal quartet William Saliba, Jurriën Timber, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard and whether they could feature against Wolves. No respect for FPL managers from Arteta.
The Women’s Super League will hold a review of its broadcast slots after becoming concerned about TV viewing figures in the first half of the season.
Wrexham v Nottingham Forest and Macclesfield v Crystal Palace are among the FA Cup third-round ties that will be beamed to UK TV screens in January.
In Bigger Vase, Aston Villa have continued their red-hot streak by beating Basel, while Forest left it late to sink Utrecht, Rangers lost (again) and Evan Ferguson’s double for Roma made it two defeats from two for Wilfried Nancy in the Celtic hot seat. Come back Martin?
Celtic Manager Wilfried Nancy will need to keep playing with his tactics board to see an upturn in fortunes. Photograph: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock
And in Tin Pot, Crystal Palace are coping just fine without Jean-Philippe Mateta and Daniel Muñoz, having seen off Shelbourne 3-0 in Dublin.
Need a gift for that special football-obsessed person in your life? Well the Big Website Bookshop has loads of great reads available. You can even just treat yourself. Get shopping here!
STILL WANT MORE?
Will David Moyes lead Everton into Europe? Only if they can find a few more goals, reckons Harry Paterson. We’re looking at you, Beto and Thierno Barry.
Across the pond, Trinity Rodman’s contract saga and a growing talent drain to Europe have nudged the NWSL into crisis mode. Bryan Armen Graham explains why it all matters.
Trinity Rodman embodying the kind of enthusiasm Football Daily lost some years ago. Photograph: Carmen Mandato/NWSL/Getty Images
Football Weekly Extra takes a deep dive into Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid travails and more.
And here are your 10 things to look out for across another big weekend in top flight.
MEMORY LANE
25 October 2015: Steven Fletcher slides in to score Sunderland’s third goal in a 3-0 win against Newcastle in the last Premier League derby played at the Stadium of Light. With both sides appearing evenly matched, it’s not likely we’ll see such a one-sided match on Sunday. And, in what’s not a bad quiz question: can you guess who the managers were? Sam Allardyce (Sunderland) and Steve McClaren!
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KOLO! KOLO! KOLO!