United's Crocodile Tears!

It`s not often I have sympathy with the opposition support but Manchester United may well, on the surface, have a strong case of victimisation.

There is a degree of unrest amongst those who follow the club that currently leads the Premiership. It appears that they object to paying £45 for a ticket for the forthcoming fixture this weekend.

Considering that they`ll be asked to fork out slightly more for a trip to Stamford Bridge in the very near future, I suppose we could argue that we have valid reasons for charging this amount.

That is until you consider the £45 seems ridiculous compared to the price that Wigan supporters paid for the same seats and that the £45 is £23 more than United supporter`s paid just two seasons ago.

The United support is so enraged they have proposed a boycott. Not of the match but of the associated facilities that go hand in hand with watching football. Their intention is not to put additional revenue into the pockets of Fulham Football Club by paying the extortionate prices wanted for refreshments and are also intending to blockade the betting kiosk etc.

Indeed, there is even talk of pickets being placed in the vicinity of these facilities to impose the blockade.

At a time when attending football is fast becoming a little more than an expensive hobby and more of a financial drain, there are probably people out there who have every sympathy with the United supporters.

Perhaps there are even some amongst us who feel obliged to join in with their appeal for Fulham supporters to join in their protest; thankfully, I`m not one of them.

I belong firmly in the group that suggests we should fleece these visitors of every penny we can. We`re a small humble club with a great tradition but tradition doesn`t pay the bills or provide funds to keep the club competitive in the most competitive league in the world.

The last few years have been a trying time for Fulham Football Club, the move back to Craven Cottage being an emotional time, a move that required additional expenditure to make Craven Cottage a fit habitat for Premiership football.

We`ve never had the funds to compete with any of those clubs at the top of the table on a regular basis and our television appearance fees go now where near approaching the revenue received by the big four.

More importantly, the big four have never seen fit to stand their ground and insist on a fairer distribution of wealth in the top flight, therefore, although it may seem to be almost a mercenary gesture, let`s get every last penny of these sorts of people as possible.

Controversial enough for you United boys?

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.