Comparing Premier League Value for Money: 2021/22 Season Review

Dan Tracey Data Scientist and Football Editor

Writer, analyst, podcaster, Spurs fan. Three out of four is not bad. If there is a data angle, I will find it.

The Best Value Premier League Clubs for Fans to Support

Last season, we looked into which Premier League teams provide the most value for money when home fans come to watch their team throughout the season. This time, we’ve taken the same approach in ranking how much value for money each club provides for its fans, by taking the cheapest season ticket cost and dividing it by the number of home goals scored. This allowed us to work out the exact amount fans paid per goal during the 2022/23 campaign.

The Real Cost of Following Your Favourite Premier League Club

⚽Ever wondered which #PremierLeague club gives the best value for your money?💰 Last season we crunched the numbers 📊, this season we're at it again! From tickets to beer🍺, pies to shirts👕, find out what fans really pay per goal in the 2022/23 campaign!

We then separately looked at each club and their other matchday expenses - such as the cost of a beer, a pie, an official programme, and the price of an adult-sized replica home shirt. Then we added these four costs together and ranked the clubs from cheapest to most expensive.

Here’s how every Premier League club fared in terms of their fans getting value for money…

The Loyal Fans

Stadium	Club	Capacity	Season Tickets Sold	Percentage Of Season Ticket Holders
Goodison Park	Everton	39,414	31,500	79.92%
The Etihad	Manchester City	53,400	40,000	74.91%
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	Tottenham	62,850	45,000	71.60%
Selhurst Park	Crystal Palace	25,486	18,000	70.63%
Villa Park	Aston Villa	42,657	30,000	70.33%
Old Trafford	Manchester United	74,310	52,000	69.98%
Stamford Bridge	Chelsea	40,343	28,000	69.40%
Molineux	Wolves	31,750	22,000	69.29%
Falmer Stadium	Brighton	31,800	22,000	69.18%
Turf Moor	Burnley	21,944	15,000	68.36%
Kenilworth Road	Luton	10,356	7,000	67.59%
The Emirates	Arsenal	60,704	40,000	65.89%
London Stadium	West Ham	62,500	40,000	64.00%
Bramall Lane	Sheffield United	32,050	20,000	62.40%
Vitality Stadium	Bournemouth	11,307	7,000	61.91%
Brentford Community Stadium	Brentford	17,250	10,000	57.97%
St James' Park	Newcastle	52,305	30,000	57.36%
The City Ground	Nottingham Forest	30,332	16,000	52.75%
Anfield	Liverpool	53,394	27,000	50.57%
Craven Cottage	Fulham	29,600	12,000	40.54%

If we first look at the club’s that sell the highest proportion of season tickets, that accolade goes to Everton. Although they have struggled in recent years, the Toffees’ fanbase has stayed incredibly loyal.

With a capacity of just over 39,000, their Goodison Park ground is taken up nearly 80% worth of season ticket allocated seats. Considering the allocation that also has to go away fans, there are not a lot of spare tickets being left over for general sale.

While for all the talk that Manchester City struggles to get supporters through the doors, their current 53,400 capacity is nearly 75% taken up by season ticket holders. However, with plans to increase the size of the ground in the works, that figure could soon see a sharp decrease.

A Look at Premier League Season Ticket Sales: Everton and Man City's Loyal Fanbase

Everton🔵 lead the league in season ticket sales, filling nearly 80% of Goodison Park🏟️! Despite tough times, Toffee loyalty is remarkable💙. Man City🟠🔵, too, has strong season ticket sales, packing out 75% of seats. Rising capacities may soon change that, though!

The Club Shop

With a new Premier League season soon getting underway, the 20 respective club shops are soon to be rather busy and we have kept busy by keeping track of new shirt costs. In addition to this, we have also looked at the three matchday staples. The pint, the pie and the programme.

Stadium	Club	Cost Of Shirt	Programme	Beer	Pie	Total
Turf Moor	Burnley	£55	£3.50	£3.20	£3.00	£64.70
Bramall Lane	Sheffield United	£60	£3.50	£3.00	£3.40	£69.90
Kenilworth Road	Luton	£59	£3.50	£4.00	£3.90	£70.40
Falmer Stadium	Brighton	£60	£3.50	£4.00	£4.10	£71.60
Molineux	Wolves	£60	£4.00	£4.00	£3.60	£71.60
Brentford Community Stadium	Brentford	£60	£5.00	£4.00	£4.00	£73.00
Vitality Stadium	Bournemouth	£65	£3.50	£4.00	£4.00	£76.50
Goodison Park	Everton	£65	£4.00	£4.55	£3.90	£77.45
St James' Park	Newcastle	£70	£3.00	£4.90	£3.90	£81.80
Villa Park	Aston Villa	£70	£4.00	£5.20	£3.60	£82.80
Selhurst Park	Crystal Palace	£70	£5.00	£5.00	£4.50	£84.50
The City Ground	Nottingham Forest	£75	£3.00	£5.20	£3.30	£86.50
Anfield	Liverpool	£75	£4.00	£4.40	£3.40	£86.80
The Etihad	Manchester City	£75	£4.00	£4.60	£4.70	£88.30
London Stadium	West Ham	£75	£4.00	£6.30	£5.00	£90.30
Old Trafford	Manchester United	£80	£4.00	£3.00	£4.20	£91.20
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	Tottenham	£80	£4.00	£5.10	£4.00	£93.10
Craven Cottage	Fulham	£80	£3.50	£5.50	£4.50	£93.50
Stamford Bridge	Chelsea	£80	£3.50	£5.70	£4.50	£93.70
The Emirates	Arsenal	£80	£5.00	£6.30	£4.80	£96.10

It is good news if you are a Burnley supporter and especially for those not looking to put a dent in their wallet. If you were to buy a home match shirt and the three matchday staples of a pie, pint and program, it would cost you just £64.70 more than 30 quid cheaper than the most expensive club in the division.

Burnley: The Premier League's Budget-Friendly Fan Experience

Thrifty Burnley fans rejoice! 🥳 A home shirt, pie, pint, and program at a Burnley game will only set you back £64.70, saving you over £30 compared to the priciest club. Who said being a fan had to burn a hole in your pocket? 💰🔥

Sitting next in the table are fellow promoted side Sheffield United. A trip to Bramall Lane in the first few weeks of the season would see you £69.90 lighter if you were to buy all the times above.

Somewhat unsurprisingly it is the third and final promoted club which finds itself third in the table and with Luton now reaching the promised land of the Premier League, their supporters will soon be asked to spend £70 and some additional pennies to go with it.

Of the more established top-tier outfits, it is Brighton and Wolves who are commended for the cost-cutting, as a trip to either The Amex or Molineux would see you forking out £71.60 in total.

At the other end of the scale, it is London where things start to get mightily expensive. The four most costly clubs are all found in the capital. Each of this quartet is going to cost at least £93 to buy the items in question.

While it is certainly not helped by having to spend £5 on a matchday programme at the Emirates and that is before you have just spent £6.30 on a pint. Add a pie and a shirt into the mix and the support of Arsenal is going to set you back £96.10 - the highest in the league.

The Cost of Backing the Gunners: Arsenal's High Matchday Expenses

Being an Arsenal fan is a pricey affair 💷💔. A program, pint🍺, pie🥧, and shirt👕 at the Emirates will cost you a steep £96.10 - the highest in the league! Brace your wallets, Gunners supporters.

Best Value Cost Per Goal

Stadium	Club	Capacity	Season Tickets Sold	Percentage of season ticket holders	Cheapest Season Ticket 23/24	2022/23 Home Goals	Price Per Goal
The Etihad	Manchester City	53,400	40,000	74.91%	£385	60	£6.42
Turf Moor	Burnley	21,944	15,000	68.36%	£335	49	£6.84
Bramall Lane	Sheffield United	32,050	20,000	62.40%	£404	47	£8.60
London Stadium	West Ham	62,500	40,000	64.00%	£310	26	£11.92
Brentford Community Stadium	Brentford	17,250	10,000	57.97%	£419	35	£11.97
St James' Park	Newcastle	52,305	30,000	57.36%	£438	36	£12.17
Craven Cottage	Fulham	29,600	12,000	40.54%	£455	31	£14.68
Anfield	Liverpool	53,394	27,000	50.57%	£699	46	£15.20
Old Trafford	Manchester United	74,310	52,000	69.98%	£559	36	£15.53
Kenilworth Road	Luton	10,356	7,000	67.59%	£510	31	£16.45
The City Ground	Nottingham Forest	30,332	16,000	52.75%	£465	27	£17.22
The Emirates	Arsenal	60,704	40,000	65.89%	£974	53	£18.37
Villa Park	Aston Villa	42,657	30,000	70.33%	£610	33	£18.48
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	Tottenham	62,850	45,000	71.60%	£807	37	£21.81
Falmer Stadium	Brighton	31,800	22,000	69.18%	£860	37	£23.24
Selhurst Park	Crystal Palace	25,486	18,000	70.63%	£545	21	£25.95
Molineux	Wolves	31,750	22,000	69.29%	£525	19	£27.63
Vitality Stadium	Bournemouth	11,307	7,000	61.91%	£594	20	£29.70
Stamford Bridge	Chelsea	40,343	28,000	69.40%	£595	20	£29.75
Goodison Park	Everton	39,414	31,500	79.92%	£515	16	£32.19

With 2023/24 season ticket costs being announced, we can now work out what the price per goal would be if they were scored at the same rate as the previous campaign.

The biggest value can be found at the Etihad. The cheapest Manchester City season ticket is £385 going into the new season and with 60 home goals scored in the previous campaign, that works out at just £6.42 a goal.

A phenomenal figure for a phenomenal squad and after winning the treble last time around, Pep Guardiola’s men know they will have a target on their back. However, they do say the fans are the 12th man and at that value, they will be ready to cheer their team on.

Once again, a trip to Burnley looks like it is in order. The Clarets scored 49 goals last season and with their cheapest season ticket being £335 for the new campaign, that equates to £6.84 per goal.

However, we do need to offer something of a disclaimer and with Vincent Kompany’s men earning promotion from the EFL Championship in May, they now have to ply their trade at the top level, and scoring 49 home goals in the process may be something of a struggle.

Sheffield United find themselves third, but once again the same promotion caveats as Burnely apply. This means we will look at West Ham in fourth place instead and their price per goal of £11.92.

The Hammers delivered European silverware at the tail end of 2002/23 and they also delivered rather decent value when it comes to the price per goal. A season ticket is as little as £310 and if they repeat their tally of 26 goals, there would be change from £12 per goal.

Of course, for all the winners there are losers as well and the biggest is Everton. They may have the highest percentage of season ticket holders but they also have the highest price per goal.

Sean Dyche’s men scored just 16 home goals last season and this would work out at £32.19 per goal if based on the cheapest season ticket for the upcoming campaign. Not what you need in the current financial climate.

With that being said, things were not a great deal better at Stamford Bridge. The cheapest season ticket is £595 at Chelsea, only 20 goals were scored last season. Each of the goals equates to just under £30.

The Blues often squabble with both Arsenal and Tottenham in the Premier League. By comparison, the Gunners’ goals cost £18.37 each and Spurs were in excess of three pounds more at £21.81. Once again showing that the value is not to be found in London.

Methodology and data sources

https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12148807/Premier-League-season-ticket-prices-2023-24-majority-clubs-jack-costs.html

https://theathletic.com/4625027/2023/06/22/premier-league-season-tickets-price-increase-2023-24/

Club Shirt Data taken from visiting each club shop website and pricing men’s home shirt for 2023/24.

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