Tottenham Hotspur chairman, Daniel Levy, has never appeared to be the most popular person in that part of North London, and a recent decision has exposed his attempts to fleece away supporters attending European games in N17.
Although Spurs missed out on the Champions League in large part due to an awful end to the 2023/24 campaign, they still managed to earn themselves a Europa League berth.
Qarabag are the first opponents in European competition for the Lilywhites this season, and if Levy had had his way, their supporters would’ve been paying through the nose for the privilege.
Daniel Levy’s attempts to fleece fans has come back to bite the Tottenham chairman
According to The Telegraph (subscription required), the North Londoners were, apparently, one of just three clubs to object to prices for away fans in Europe to be capped.
That has meant of course that Tottenham will be losing potential revenue, given that it’s highly likely the club would’ve charged more for tickets than they are being allowed to.
Football Insider note that there is an upper price limit of £33.70 for away supporters attending Europa League games, and the host club are therefore prohibited to charge more.
Football finance expert, Stefan Borson, doesn’t believe the cap is such a bad thing either.
“The away schemes are good schemes,” he told Football Insider.
“People are spending a fortune just to get to the location, they work well in the Premier League as well, but clearly you’re losing a revenue by having a cap.
“If you go to Spurs and you’re in the away end you will be 10 seats away from people who are paying maybe three times what you’re paying as an away fan.
“So as an away fan, you’re paying £30 or 50 Euros in Europe but just down the road there are people who are paying multiples of those ticket prices and so Spurs are saying they want to maximise.
“It seems to me to make sense for there to at least be some schemes that cap prices.
“Away fans are a perfect group to support because you’ve got very generally hardcore fans who go home and away and have got additional costs in getting to those games.
“If they can be subsidised for the price to get into the ground then that seems to make sense to me.
“An average away fan spends more than an average home fan in terms of refreshment and drink and everything else, so I don’t think it’s a disastrous idea.”