Say what you like about Manchester City – and lots of people do – you have to give the club credit for one thing: they don’t rip off their fans.

Despite having a squad that was assembled for a sum that wouldn’t look out of place on an international list of GDPs, they still have the cheapest season ticket in the entire Premier League. In fact, according to a report released last week, their £299 (€377) ticket is actually cheaper than 15 clubs in the Championship, 10 in League One, four in League Two and even one in the Conference.

You could argue, of course, that it is easier for them to be generous with their pricing considering the immense wealth of their owners. But thanks to the financial fair play rules, City are just as keen to balance the books as any other club. Yet they don’t pass on that burden to the fans, they deal with it in other ways, and that is definitely commendable.

At the other end of the scale you have Arsenal, whose cheapest season ticket costs £1,014 (€1,279). I understand the financial differences between the north and south of England, but more than triple the price of Manchester City? Really? That’s a lot to pay to watch a team whose trophy winning appears to be in sync with Haley’s Comet.

Moving away from specific clubs, the report also pointed out that the average price of a ticket in English league football is now £21.49 (€27.10), a 13 per cent increase since 2011. Year-on-year it is up 4.4 per cent, which is more than treble the rate of inflation.

So, despite more money than ever before being pumped into the game by television companies, the clubs are still trying to squeeze more blood out of their supporter stone.

They argue that it is just a case of supply and demand, and that in the Premier League, for example, grounds have been 95 per cent full this season, so the price must obviously be right. But I would suggest that many (if not most) clubs are simply taking advantage of the fans’ passion and commitment to the teams they love, knowing full well that most won’t stay away for an extra few pounds a week.

One final statistic to come out of this report is regarding last season’s attendances in Europe’s leagues.

As you would imagine, the English Premier is top with 13.9 million, followed by the Bundesliga with 13.1 million and then La Liga with 10 million. But in fourth place? The Championship, with 9.1 million fans filing through the turnstiles. I find it staggering that English football’s second tier attracts more people than the top flights in Italy, France, Portugal and Holland, and not that many less than Spain.

English football might not be the best in Europe, but you can’t take anything away from the fans when it comes to sheer unadulterated dedication. Which makes it all the more depressing that clubs – for the most part – don’t treat them with the respect they deserve.

No staying power

On the one hand you have to give Raheem Sterling credit for having the sense to admit he was tired before England’s game with Estonia.

It was far better than saying nothing and putting in a below par performance which could have been detrimental to the team as a whole.

On the other hand, however, is he serious about being tired? At the tender age of 19?

Most kids that age would gladly play a game of football every day. After work. And without access to physios, ice-baths and professional masseurs to aid in their recovery.

At Sterling’s age, players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney were playing 40 or 50 games a season and I don’t once remember any of them complaining of being tired.

To make this whole situation even more bizarre, Sterling hadn’t even played the full 90 minutes against San Marino on the Thursday, with Roy Hodgson pulling him off after 45 minutes, presumably so he could go have a nap.

Of course, you could argue that it is unfair to compare Sterling to other players as every one has a different physical make-up. And maybe this lad is more prone to exhaustion than others. But I suspect it is far more to do with the pampered culture and pandering managers that surround modern players.

Many (if not most) clubs are simply taking advantage of the fans’ passion and commitment to the teams they love

Can you imagine a young player going to Brian Clough’s office and telling him he is too tired to play? He would have had them scrubbing down every seat in the ground before kick-off.

And still made them play.

England’s future is bright

Most of the time, writing about the English national team is a depressing and gloomy affair. If it’s not abject failure at major tournaments it’s lacklustre performances in the run-up to them. Seeing England struggle to beat Estonia last Sunday was, for example, marginally less entertaining than watching your toenails grow.

But there is a brighter side to the Three Lions, something that gives you a glimmer of hope for the future – the performances of the younger teams.

This summer, the under-17s won the European Championships, which were played here on our very own Maltese soil. And now the under-21s have qualified in emphatic fashion for their own version of that tournament which is being held next summer.

Not only did Gareth Southgate’s team book their place in Prague on the back of 10 straight qualifying wins, they did so in a style and manner that was exceptionally pleasing on the eye.

The young lads were confident, enterprising, fluid in their approach play and, most of all, entertaining. They didn’t look overawed by any opponents, nor overwhelmed by the occasion. A stark contrast to the performances put in by the senior team.

We read all the time about how English football is in crisis, about how the influx of foreigners has reduced the number of players who qualify for the national team to dangerously low levels.

But the performance of the under-17s, 19s, 20s and 21s suggests otherwise. Talented young English players are out there and, if they truly are as good as they seem, they will rise to the surface of the domestic game.

There are already some great young players in the senior squad – Sterling, Ross Barkley and Jack Wilshere, for example. When you combine those with this new crop of youngsters, England’s future is very bright whatever the pessimists may have you believe.

Vote for change

The FA is going to change the way fans vote for their man of the match during international games after goalkeeper Joe Hart won the award in their last two outings despite barely touching the ball.

He picked up 63 per cent of the vote for the San Marino game even though he could probably have stayed back in his hotel room watching TV without affecting the result. And he followed that up with 82 per cent for the game in Estonia, another game in which he was little more than a spectator.

Of course, the whole thing is nothing more than the fans having a bit of ironic fun. But the sponsors aren’t happy so the rules are now going to be changed to stop this happening in the future.

Considering England’s qualifying group, that pretty much rules Hart out of the winning the award for another two years…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade