'Will impact around 3,000' - Portsmouth fans warned ahead of south-coast derby v Southampton
Pompey welcome Southampton to Fratton Park in January, with the cost of away tickets something Blues supporters remain keen on
Pompey are yet to decide what price they’ll place on an away ticket for this season’s south-coast derby at Fratton Park.
The Blues are still deliberating on that costing, with the club aware that whatever figure they put on the 2,700 tickets Southampton will be allocated in the Milton End for the game on Sunday, January 25, will impact a similar number of home supporters.
Rules stipulate that whatever price a host club charges away fans must be reciprocated for those supporters sitting in like-for-like seats in the home end. That means non-season-ticket fans sitting in the Fratton End or wings of both the North and South Stands could see the price of their match-day ticket increase if Pompey decide to follow Southampton’s lead for the derby at St Mary’s on September 14.
That day, the Blues’ fierce rivals decided to increase the price of their away tickets by £10 for any Pompey fan aged 18 or above - a move that members of the Fratton faithful considered disgusting. According to the Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust, Saints also ‘turned down’ a reciprocal pricing arrangement proposed by the Blues that would have seen away fans pay less for their match-day tickets at both of this season’s derbies.
Since then, Pompey fans have been hoping the extra costs they were forced to pay will be requited for January’s reverse fixture.
However, speaking at the recent Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference, chief commercial officer Mark Judges said there would be implications for certain home fans if they were to do that.
Pompey v Southampton - important away tickets price consideration
In response to a question about ticket prices and the cost of food and drink inside the ground for the south-coast derby in the new year, Judges said: ‘For ticket prices, league regulations require all clubs to submit their prices to the EFL before the fixtures come out. In recent history, we have not categorised matches, although most clubs do.
‘This season, we submitted various price sets before the season began – that gives us flexibility for conversations such as this.
‘It’s important to remember that whatever we charge away supporters, we have to charge home supporters in like-for-like seating. So, whatever their fans are charged in the Milton End, we’ll need to charge to Portsmouth supporters in the Fratton End and wings of the North and South.
‘Whatever decision we make will have a material impact on individual match-day supporters in the home end. It will impact around 3,000 Portsmouth supporters, many of those will be big fans who are on the season ticket waiting list, or perhaps can’t afford a season ticket, but will be keen to go.
‘We endeavour to set what we believe to be fair prices across the stadium in our food and beverage kiosks – we have no intention of raising food and drink prices for this fixture.’
According to Pompey fans who made the trip to Southampton in September, the price of food and drink inside St Mary’s was ‘extortionate’.
Reminder for Pompey’s Milton End season-ticket holders
In his response to ticket prices for the Southampton game, Cullen said higher operating costs for the fixture would be taken into consideration ahead of any decision.
He also reminded season-ticket holders in the Milton End that they would have to be allocated a seat elsewhere inside Fratton Park to accommodate the 2,700 Southampton fans who will be in attendance.
‘Southampton had the ability to restrict us to 2,000 away tickets for this fixture – we wanted to maximise the number of Portsmouth supporters who could back the team at St. Mary’s,’ said Cullen.
‘Season ticket holders in the Milton End will need to move elsewhere for the Fratton Park fixture. They were aware when purchasing their season tickets that they would be required to move for certain games – historically that’s been for cup games, but it’s now this one as well.
‘They will be written to soon to give them the full range of available seats so they can enjoy the game elsewhere. On ticket prices, our operating costs will be considerably higher for this fixture than for other games, which will factor into our thinking.’
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