FANS of Tottenham Hotspurs and West Ham United will put aside their rivalries this weekend and unite in protest against their clubs’ concessionary tickets policies.
Two independent fan-led campaign groups — West Ham’s Save Our Concessions and Spurs’ Save Our Seniors — plan to meet in solidarity on Saturday morning to begin the protest.
As the players walk out onto the pitch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before kick off at 12.30pm, the home and away fans plan on releasing hundreds of black balloons, signalling their displeasure at the club’s reduction in the number of concessionary season tickets.
Spurs announced in March that the club would scrap new senior season tickets from the start of next season — which is now two months in.
Spurs owner Daniel Levy (301st on The Sunday Times Rich List 2024) said in September that if the club doesn’t “curtail the number of concession seats in our stadium, our whole financing model will come into question.”
Save Our Seniors accused Levy of making the cuts because “loyal fans are not dying off quickly enough to enable it to make even more money.”
The campaign group said in a statement yesterday that it estimates the club makes close to £6 million at the stadium every home game.
“The attack on concessions,” it said, “will save £3m a year. That is 3 per cent of the money the club received in broadcast income in 2022/23, and 100 per cent of the bonus chairman Daniel Levy paid himself in the same year.”
A study commission by Uefa in February found Tottenham made the highest gate revenue in the Premier League last year, and the third-highest in Europe — behind Paris St Germain and Barcelona.
The Uefa study put West Ham in seventh place in England and 15th in Europe. Its owners (chairman David Sullivan is the 150th richest person in the country, according to The Sunday Times) withdrew concessions for new season ticket holders to most seats at the London Stadium at the end of last season.
Save Our Concessions said West Ham’s under 21 and over 66 fans saw the prices of their season tickets double in bands 1-4 at the London Stadium – the seats closest to the pitch.
The club did offer concessionary tickets for new season ticket holders, including small children and the elderly, in bands 5-6 — right at the top of the stadium.
The campaign group said it fears the move is the first step to complete abolition of concessions, making family football completely impossible for the vast majority of fans.
In response to fan discontent, West Ham vice-chair Baroness Brady said in July that the club’s “commitment to affordable family football remains a priority.”
Liverpool University football finance expert Kieran Maguire has estimated that season ticket concession withdrawal at West Ham would raise just £600,000 per year – 0.25 per cent of turnover.
“They are telling pensioners and kids ‘you’re not welcome’ at West Ham,” said Paul Colborne, who chairs Hammers United, one of the fan groups involved in the protest.
“That’s not the West Ham way. It makes a mockery of the club’s commitment to ‘affordable family football.’ It will rip the heart and soul out of the club.”
A spokesperson for Tottenham Hotspur told the Star: "The Club should like to reiterate that it is not removing or cancelling senior concessions.
"We have, however, reluctantly taken the decision not to make new senior concession Season Tickets available, starting from Season 2025/26 – matchday senior concession tickets will remain available.
"Season Ticket Holders who are eligible for a senior concession Season Ticket for the 2024/25 season will still qualify at a discounted rate of 50 per cent. Senior concession Season Tickets will then be phased to a 25 per cent discount over six years (by 2029/30) in 5 per cent increments every year, bringing the discount in line with match day senior concessions and Young Adults. Junior concession Season Tickets will remain at 50 per cent.
"We have shared in our discussions with supporters’ groups that Season Ticket income is a fundamental source of security for stadium borrowings and cannot decrease.
"While our stadium capacity has increased two-fold since moving to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the number of senior concession Season Tickets has increased four fold from the number at our old White Hart Lane stadium - not taking matchday concessions into account.
"This increase is clearly not sustainable and will start to limit ticket choice for others year on year."
The Star has reached out to West Ham United for comment.