With COVID-19 preventing fans from attending matches in the future, fans are in line for a cheaper time in 2020-21. Here, Peter Watton, from matched betting experts OddsMonkey, crunches the numbers to reveal how much Newcastle supporters will be spending compared to last season.
The beginning of this season has been rather disappointing for fans of Newcastle United. With the team performing inconsistently in the league, it would certainly be helpful if there were 52,000 screaming Geordies at home matches to roar the players on, plus a dedicated few fans at away games to provide some vocal support. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is depriving the club of its most passionate fans when they’re needed most.
However, in a year of negativity in football, there has been one positive to emerge from fans being told to stay clear of matches: huge savings for Newcastle supporters. With no-one able to attend games for the foreseeable future, the only option has been to watch along on TV or online, which is proving to be significantly cheaper than paying for a season ticket and away travel.
To find exactly how much fans could be in line to save on Premier League matches, I’ve compared the costs of last season to those this season, and the results are pretty surprising!
- Based on last season’s cheapest season ticket prices (GOAL.com) and away match ticket and travel costs (by car)*, Newcastle supporters would have been paying £2,247.60 to attend all matches, home and away — this is the most of any Premier League club.
- This year, the cost of all TV and online subscriptions (Sky Sports, ITV, and Amazon Prime) needed to watch every minute of the team’s Premier League matches comes to £535.84.
- This means Newcastle fans will be saving up to £1,711.76 this year, which is a reduction of 76%.
If you’re surprised by these huge savings, then you may not have realised that the Magpies are the most expensive Premier League club to follow home and away. While they certainly don’t have one of the most expensive season tickets (£417) compared to other sides, Newcastle fans that go to every match have to travel the furthest to away games because the city is so far north. They clock up a massive 4,202 miles in a season — further than the length of the Nile, the world’s longest river! Because of this huge distance, fans spend more following the team through thick and thin, which also means they’re set to save the most cash this season.
Here’s how the Magpies are top of the league when it comes to fan savings:
- Newcastle United: £1,711.76 (-76.16%)
- Arsenal: £1,641.26 (-75.39%)
- Tottenham Hotspur: £1,600.76 (-74.92%)
- Brighton & Hove Albion: £1,582.26 (-74.70%)
- Liverpool: £1,525.86 (-74.01%)
- Southampton: £1,385.06 (-72.10%)
- Chelsea: £1,372.56 (-71.92%)
- Crystal Palace: £1,354.06 (-71.65%)
- Manchester United: £1,300.56 (-70.82%)
- Burnley: £1,299.86 (-70.81%)
- Everton: £1,261.76 (-70.19%)
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: £1,182.66 (-68.82%)
- West Ham United: £1,170.46 (-68.60%)
- Sheffield United: £1,107.46 (-67.39%)
- Leeds United: £1,097.16 (-67.19%)
- Manchester City: £1,089.66 (-67.04%)
- Fulham: £1,060.26 (-66.43%)
- Leicester City: £1,029.16 (-65.76%)
- West Bromwich Albion: £1,023.46 (-65.64%)
- Aston Villa: £1,017.06 (-65.49%)
It’s important to note that these calculations are based on the worst-case scenario that fans can’t go back to watch football at all this season — if this situation changes, and fans spend money on tickets and travel, the savings will be less.
With attending football matches currently on pause up and down the country, the Premier League is definitely not quite the same this season. However, for Newcastle supporters, the one silver lining is that they’ll be saving more cash than any other club’s fans while they’re staying at home.
*Methodology: We took the cheapest season ticket prices from last season and combined them with the cost of travelling by car to each away game. The route was measured from stadium to stadium using Google Maps, and the fuel costs were calculated using the Government’s advisory fuel rates.
Statutory accounts are the financial records for an annual report that every limited company in the United Kingdom is required to prepare, by law or otherwise (for example, if they have publicly available shares). These reports provide information on how much money was made for one year and what happened after being handed off between shareholders/owners.
Jerry(Quote)