Portsmouth reveal how much Southampton fans will have to pay for south-coast derby tickets at Fratton Park
Pompey have confirmed how much Southampton fans will have to fork out for a south-coast derby ticket at Fratton Park
Pompey have announced how much they’ll be charging Southampton fans wanting to attend January’s south-coast derby at Fratton Park.
Following an approach taken by their fierce rivals for September’s fixture at St Mary’s, the Blues have taken the decision to increase the price of a match-day ticket for those 2,700 Saints supporters expected to be in attendance.
However, the inflated figure is only half of the extra cost Southampton imposed on the 2,700 travelling Pompey supporters who were granted access to goalless draw on September 14, after giving the game a ‘Category A’ status.
Back then, Southampton - after rejecting a reciprocal pricing agreement proposed by the Blues - took the decision to increase ticket prices in the away end by £10 for anyone aged 18 or above, forcing those Blues supporters to pay £40 for their match-day entry.
With the reverse fixture to be played at Fratton Park on Sunday, January 25 (12pm kick-off), Pompey have increased their cost of entry by £5, meaning any adult Southampton fan will have to fork out £35 for their first PO4 league meeting against their neighbours since December 2011.
A similar £5 additional charge will also be applied to tickets for those over the age of 64 (£29), under-23s (£26), under-18s (£18) and under-14s (£13).
The entire Milton End has been reserved for Southampton’s travelling support, with Pompey season-ticket holders who normally sit in that part of the ground having to sit elsewhere for this particular fixture, which will have extra security measures in place.
Pompey ticket decision to impact home supporters
Pompey’s response to Southampton’s ticketing policy for the first south-coast derby of the season will be well-received - but it’s fair to say not all Blues fans will welcome the increase.
That’s because the price hike will impact around 3,000 members of the Fratton faithful.
Indeed, 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 will see the price of their match-day ticket for the derby increase by the same amount.
Ahead of Pompey’s forthcoming Championship games against Millwall, Bristol City and Blackburn Rovers at Fratton Park, adult home supporters in the above sections and Milton End are being asked to pay £30 for their match ticket.
Speaking at the recent Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference, chief commercial officer Mark Judges warned that there would be implications for certain home fans if they were to charge Southampton fans extra.
He 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.’
Home tickets for the game v Southampton go on sale on Thursday, November 27.