Looking around the UK football scene at the moment - it is clear to see that ticket prices are now at an all-time high. Many supporters are being priced out of regular live football, these days if 2 of you want to go and watch the Gills you are looking at £50 before you have even arrived at the ground - if 2 of you want to go and watch a London Premiership side fairly cheap seats at Spurs will cost between £35 and £40 per seat. In this day and age with the so-called credit-crunch hitting all us normal earning people hard, I feel that football needs to be now a bit realistic with its prices.
In a couple more years I hope to be no-longer exiled and back at Priestfield as a season-ticket holder with my little boy tagging along (now 20 months old). To really justify the expense this will bring to my annual household bills, tickets, replica kit, programmes and food on matchday etc etc, the costs need to be lowered to align itself with other activities that families can enjoy.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not really having a pop at the Gills ticket costs, they have just jumped on the bandwagon as football boomed in the late 90's with all the money that was floating around then through sponsorship and TV - and now they are in a position similar to all other business where they need to generate money not lose it, but if something is not done, football will price itself out of the majority and become a posh sport like Golf - a sport which if you like it or not can only be played regularly if you have a bit of cash in the bank.
I don't even really have an alternative to this problem, it's a catch 22 situation, certainly for all football clubs below the Championship and even for the smaller clubs in that league.
You only need to watch a game in Italy to see the many thousands of empty seats in the stadiums to see what could happen here if nothing is done.
On a separate note some of you may be aware that I ever so slightly (due to family loyalties) follow Spurs as well as the Gills. Blimey you think we have problems at Priestfield - at least now we have 11 players who want to play for the shirt - watching them against Pompey yesterday was awful - more side-ways passes then Smudger did in his whole career! It's silly really as it is proven that stable clubs have success, but Ramos is probably on the brink - the squad is strong enough with many excellent players but his team selections are baffling to say the least.
Despite many almost laughable comments on this site's message board about the performance, we picked up a good 3 points on Saturday - and we look good for top 8 this year. We have a very good spine through the team with Royce, Richards, King, Crofts and Jackson, and although I really think Stimson needs to get hold of Crofts and tell him to start dominating the opposition midfielders in this league like a player of his class should, I am generally happy with our position at the moment. Finances and a change of career mean that I won't get to many home games this year - but am hoping to attend my 1st game this season against Morecambe a week on Saturday. Again despite the comments, I feel Stimson is doing an OK job, and see a lot of potential with some of the players he has signed. I am sure we will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.
A Bit about Scatman...
Scatman went to his first Gills game in late 1995. He decided to go because he couldn't afford tickets to see Spurs every week, and he felt (living near Ashford) that he would like to watch regular league football, and support his local league side. He caught the bug, helped by fairly good results, cup runs and Wembley appearances, but has kept the faith (despite his misgivings and financial constraints) He has managed to regularly attend through his job and a kind supplier who had hospitality seats in the Medway Stand - this season he will still be attending as and when he can.