I read with interest the comments of Mark and East Stan on the subject of the increase of tickets for next season. 

They have my sympathy, especially Mark who has the hard task of telling his son he may not be able to have a season ticket for next season.  I have never been able to take my kids as much as I would like, as have probably many many other dads. The one thing you must always remember is your love for everything lilywhite will never fade. 

We have lost generations of football supporters in this country due to over priced tickets, but they still love their clubs because their dads tell them it's the best in the world.

All the best

Richard Cook

COYS

P.S.  My son is working now so the first thing he wants is a spurs season ticket ... aahh, the innocence of youth. 

Many clubs are aggrieved at mid-range season tickets going up to £680.  And these are clubs that have had a lot of success over the last twenty years.

So, consider the surprise (although we should never be surprised) when we were informed that Spurs would be putting up the price of season tickets by about £3 per game.  And this coming on the back of a large increase in season ticket prices last season, when many clubs put a freeze on the rises.

While I appreciate the club want to invest in the best and push Tottenham Hotspur into the mega-money making bracket of clubs by breaking into the Champions League on a regular basis, something needs to be done to put the brakes on the money sloshing around within the game.

To compete with the other clubs who are in the same boat, we have to pay inflated transfer fees and inflated wages.  So, why can't FIFA put a cap on how much players can earn.  This might make it a bit more of a level playing field for all the clubs concerned if they are all only able to pay top whack for any particular player.  Yes, some clubs will always have a greater attraction for the more talented players, but some might take the opportunity to join other clubs outside the top four if they are on the same money with the same prospects.

Everyone has raised expectation because of the high prices we pay and following the winning of the League Cup, not many of us would have paid to watch the games through to the end of the season, when we expected more and just got less.

One of the beauties of football is that you don't know the outcome, but you do expect to see something special for your money, albeit one flash of brilliance in a game.

But because of your love for the club, you don't want to miss out.
However, the pricing policy is forcing people to miss out if they can't pay out.

Wyart Lane

Dear MEHSTG,

Having just received my sons' and my own renewals through the post, I was amazed that they had gone up as follows:

Mine had gone up from £675 to £750 and my sons' from £265 to £305.

The enclosed letter stated that this amounted to a £3 a match increase to be used to strengthen the squad and to improve the facilities the club needs to 'push on' and challenge the top four clubs, but forgive me if I'm wrong, but haven't we had price increases for as long as I can remember and with the performances after the Carling Cup win, perhaps we should've been given a rebate, as we weren't given 'value for money'.
After going to WHL for nearly forty years, I cannot now afford to go, and yet I feel guilty for depriving my son of going after persuading him (when he was born) that THFC was the only club he would ever be allowed to support.
In the current financial climate, I'm sure that the club doesn't give a jot about the fans, as there're always fans waiting to be Season Ticket Holders, so the club always get the money, so why bother that the fans that have supported the club through 'thick and thin' are discarded after being 'priced out.

So from this season, I'll be an 'armchair supporter' due to the continue greed of the club I love, and have supported since 1968, when you could turn up and pay at the turnstile ... aah the good old days !

Regards
Mark (formerly know as Paxton Mark)

What the club seem to forget is that once fans stop coming to football, it is easy for them to stay away.

The waiting list for tickets, which is the prime motivation for the price hikes, as they know there will always be someone to pay what they are asking, means that they will have to wait for years to get back - even if they can afford it.

And there are other things to do with the money and other things to do with the time that not going to football frees up.  Everyone talks about kids not playing football like they did 20 years ago, because of the other distractions that are available to them.  Well, the same will probably apply to adults who stop going to watch their favourite teams.

And where will the next generation of fans come from if the current one is disposable ... even if their income isn't ?

With plans for a bigger ground on hold, I wonder if this is the means of screwing a few (or a lot of) extra pounds out of the existing fan base until they can be sure of charging the same price at an enlarged venue to rake in more profit.

Cynical ?  Maybe, but then I have been exploited for too many years to be anything but cynical.

East Stan