Matchday ticket for you and your child – £70-130

Snack and drink x2 – £30

Jersey from The Armoury – £70

Total cost of a matchday experience at The Emirates – Between £150-£230

Of course, it’s not standard to buy a jersey on every visit, but the formative moments between parent and child and the first couple of visits to the home of their new allegiance will result in something bought from the club shop.

And I want to highlight the ludicrous price of the shirt as well as the entire matchday cost.

This total sum could be put down for a weekend deposit at Center Parcs. It could pay a large chunk from a holiday.

And when every penny counts for the majority of families, going to the ground with their child is no longer a feasible activity for supporters. Which is a crying shame.

Arsenal ground and fans filled with flags

The cost of everything from a drink to a hotdog at The Emirates – we’re not even going to touch the cost of a ticket right now – is the biggest obstacle to getting fans inside the ground.

This doesn’t appear to be a hurdle right now, as the stands are filled every matchday and the waiting list and demand for tickets remain at an all time high.

But the club prides itself on the links with the community. The club is for the fans, or purports to be. But how can that be the case when prices continue to soar and make a motorway service stations prices look like good value in contrast?

In the summer, the club gathered together fans to have their say on the issues that are important to them. Prices of merchandise, food and beverages and of course, the highest matchday prices in Europe, would have been front and centre, or at least on the front page in the itinerary.

If Arsenal want to be closer to the fans and ensure that bond between us and them remains strong, then prices need to be reviewed hastily.

There are measures that can be taken. There are Champions League clubs that have matchday tickets at a third of the price of ours. There are extenuating circumstances, but by and large, our tickets, or the way they are grouped into categories, could be put under the microscope.

It costs around £17-20 to go and watch Dortmund play at Signal Iduna Park. Around £22 to see Real Madrid play at the Bernabeu for a La Liga game.

For an average PL game at The Emirates, it’s anywhere from £40-£100. There are exceptions – a lower tier Category C game can start at £27, but these are the exceptions.

The cost of the supply chain will have risen, so it is understandable there will be price rises – but it is inconceivable that there can’t be price reductions somewhere in the match experience.

Even if the club left the ticket prices as they are – couldn’t merchandise be lowered a tad? Why do we have to fork out more than £15 for a sub-standard burger and a smattering of fries?

Somewhere, Arsenal could make changes to make things a little more affordable, so a wider spread of fans can make the games. And with price reductions come a benefit to the club, with positive PR and quite possibly more sales as more fans would be open to opening their wallets.

If Arsenal Football Club had a suggestion box outside the ground – dropping prices for the average matchday experience would form the majority of contents.

We’re kind of used to the expensive tickets – but to have exorbitant costs when we eat and buy something from the club shop is too much.

Can anyone be blamed if they find their jerseys for a reasonable price elsewhere?

What say you? Do you agree with the pricing? Have you been forced to cut down on your pilgrimages to the ground?

Let us know in the comments below.

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