Frank Lee
In the Highbury days, I recall that at certain times of year – specifically, August and the Christmas period – it was noticeable that there were empty seats in the stadium. Not masses, but more than normal. These days, things have changed. There are always empty seats at Arsenal home games. Naturally, when the club upped sticks, an extra 22,000 people were able to attend matches, including a significant number paying the kind of prices only touts would dare to charge at Highbury (aside from the Clock End boxes and a limited number of ‘VIP packages’ that involved some food and drink before taking a seat in the ordinary stands).
Even when it is Barcelona or Manchester United in opposition, there are always some seats not taken. It is interesting to note that in club level – where many of the seats are sold to businesses – there are often more spaces at weekend matches than in midweeks. Such is the nature of hospitality. It is easier to get people along after a day at work than it is to get them to interrupt their weekends for a match they might not care greatly about. So if they are only here for the beer (and wine and prawn sandwiches) fed to them to butter them up, it’s little wonder that the atmosphere in the middle tier is rather on the polite side – even when it is close to full.
I was intrigued to hear a couple of months back that there are something like 400 season ticket holders in both club level and the ordinary seats that use their tickets only once or never each season. For those in club level, this means paying between £2,500 and £5,000 (not the exact figures, but around this) for one match, or if they never use it, the option of attending a match.
And although there are season ticket holders less guilty, there are still a large number that treat their places in the same way. It is an option to attend, a choice, and they often choose not to. It’s a mentality I associate with people with more money than they sensibly know what to do with, although I am sure this is not always the case. Either way, what they have bought may be a season ticket, but what they regard it as is an option. Something they might do if they feel like it. If that is their attitude, then if they at least bother to sell their ticket on the club’s ticket exchange or sort someone else to use their seat, then that is better than just leaving their place empty, but I suspect many do not bother to do this. The money is spent, the seat paid for. They don’t see it as throwing money away in their minds.
And although financially, the club only suffer from the add-ons the non-attendees do not spend their money on – drinks, food, club shop spending – ultimately, the seat is sold and the cash banked. It is not a priority for Arsenal, it just doesn’t look good.
The club took the decision to stop announcing official attendances – i.e. seats sold – at the end of last season. Partly because the use of the word ‘attendance’ when making the announcement was making a mockery of the word, partly because of what happened at the poorly-attended Aston Villa game last season. The crowd figure on the PA provided the catalyst for some abusive chanting from a large number of those that bothered to turn up to a home defeat that ended in an ignominious ‘lap of appreciation’ that was very awkward for everybody involved.
I suspect that if the club were to be more successful on the pitch, the problem of the no-shows would lessen a little, but I am convinced it is not going to go away. The culture of attending football matches has changed for many of those that now hold season tickets, and I don’t see it being turned around easily by anything the club attempt. It’s a damned shame, but something we will have to get used to.
