It is a figure comparable to Harry Arter’s wages for this season — or half of Divock Origi’s, for that matter. It is also roughly equivalent to the difference in prize money for finishing one place higher in the Premier League table.
It is estimated that Nottingham Forest stand to generate in the region of £2million-2.5m ($2.5m-$3.1m) of additional income after deciding to increase season ticket prices by an average of 24 per cent.
In football terms, it is not a significant amount of money. Forest’s revenue last season — their first back in the Premier League — was £154.8million. So for the club, it feels like a big gamble for very little reward. And at stake is Forest’s most precious commodity: their relationship with the fans.
For the best part of three seasons, Forest’s biggest asset has been the fierce sense of togetherness and unity at the City Ground. The wall of noise at the famous old stadium helped to push Steve Cooper’s side over the line to promotion and then helped keep them in the Premier League last season.
Cooper talked of a club and a city with ‘football soul’. But with their current course of action, is the club’s hierarchy in danger of selling that soul?
Several factors explain why the decision to raise prices makes sense from a business point of view. The main one is the simple logic of generating the highest possible revenue from your product. (Forest are far from alone on this front, they are not the first and will not be the last club to raise prices.)
Forest fans showing their support earlier this season (Stephen White – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Forest will point out that their tickets remain among the more affordable in the league. They will observe that Premier League clubs voted unanimously to bring in a new set of spending rules, which will kick in at the start of the 2025-26 campaign.
Squad-cost measures will supersede the current profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) that Forest have recently fallen foul of — leading to their four-point deduction, which is being appealed — with spending limits shaped by a club’s turnover and player sales. A soft salary cap, in effect, replaces the traditional hard backstop of acceptable losses.
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For Forest, it will effectively mean they will need to cut costs further, unless they can increase their revenue.
As chairman Tom Cartledge put it in the statement announcing the start of ticket renewals: “We aspire to keep our season cards amongst the most affordable in the league. At the same time, it is imperative that the club continues to grow financially in order to remain competitive, particularly in light of the forthcoming Squad Cost Ratio rules, which will cap spending as a percentage of club revenues.”
All of this is true. Although the very real threat of Forest not being in the top flight next season has seemingly been overlooked. The deadline for renewals comes at a time when there will still be two games left — and Forest’s fate could be undecided.
Supporters are therefore being asked to commit, without knowing whether they are paying to watch Premier League football or Championship football.
The fact that Cartledge’s Twitter account appears to have been deleted or suspended temporarily might tell a story of the reaction of some fans, even if he was not personally responsible for this decision. He was merely the public face of it.
The pricing structure was put together by chief operating officer Paul Bell, who had previously worked in a similar role at Leeds United, before joining Forest in early March, and was signed off by the club’s ownership group.
Running a football club is about more than just operating as a normal business. You are not just an owner: you are a custodian of something more. It is a community asset, a part of the city’s fabric. Forest had previously appeared to have not only acknowledged this but actively embraced it.
Something that does paint a clear picture of the mood among fans is the decision by fan group Forza Garibaldi to withdraw their cooperation when it comes to a planned display of flags/banners at the forthcoming home game against Manchester City.
“While this is far from ideal timing, we feel we have no choice but to take a stand,” said Forza in a statement. “We understand that this may disappoint some of you and also the team who need our support, but it is important to us as a group that we are not allowing this decision by the club to go without action.
“While we realise such a step may ultimately be futile, we feel it is appropriate to demonstrate our frustration at this time and will highlight how vital supporters are to the club. We remain eager to maintain these visual displays but only at a point when the club are willing to listen and acknowledge these real concerns from supporters.”
A statement on the recent announcement of season card pricing for the 2024-25 season:https://t.co/jMvR3DwwtO pic.twitter.com/hk2jw7gmbM
— Forza Garibaldi (@Forza_Garibaldi) April 17, 2024
While many will be rightly grateful to Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis for his continued generous financial backing — in March, he transformed another £41million of loans into share capital — Forest does not belong to one man alone. It belongs to the fans.
As the Forza statement also points out “Some may now face the difficult problem of explaining to their children that they cannot afford to take them to Forest. Is that truly what the club wants?”
These fans supported Forest through the Covid pandemic when many paid for their season tickets even when they could not attend matches. While the backing from the stands was outstanding during the promotion season, there were still half-season tickets on sale. The club’s remarkable rise since that point has generated a huge amount of interest. It has sparked something in the entire city, well beyond the boundaries of the stadium. But that is something to champion, rather than exploit.
On top of this, the people of Nottingham — like many others in the United Kingdom — are struggling financially due to the cost of living crisis and inflation.
Forest can point to the fact that they have 11,000 people who have paid £10 for a place on a waiting list for season tickets now — a message that, whether it was intentional or not, had the distinct undertone of a warning to it when it was delivered: if you do not renew, there are plenty of others who will take your place.
All of which ended up with a rapid flurry of renewals, which the club point out are at record levels despite the rise in costs. But that is simply a reflection of the unwavering loyalty of Forest fans.
Former Bayern Munich club president Uli Hoeness was once asked why his club chose to cap season ticket prices at €104. “Let’s say we charged €300,” he said. “We would get €2m to us? In a transfer discussion, you can argue about that sum for five minutes. But the difference between €104 and €300 is huge for the fan. We do not think the fans are like cows, who you milk.”
Forest’s most expensive adult season ticket has gone on sale for £850 — up from £660 for 2023-24, while the cheapest ticket has gone up from £465 to £550.
Forest owner Marinakis (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The club also announced an adjustment to the age brackets for ticket bandings. Last season, supporters between the ages of 12 and 19 were eligible to purchase a youth season ticket. But those bandings have been changed, reducing the age bracket to 14 to 17. The cost of child season tickets, meanwhile, has gone from as cheap as £90 to a blanket £190 price — representing a 111 per cent rise on last season.
The reduction of the youth category from 19 to 17 has created a situation where somebody just turning 18 could see their price rise from £190 to £850 in the premium areas of the Brian Clough or the Peter Taylor Stands.
The Forest Supporters Trust (NFST) also issued a statement, the last paragraph of which summed up their mood.
“NFST strongly opposes these price increases which will have a negative impact on all match-going fans. We believe that our fans’ incredible support has been a key factor in the remarkable success over recent seasons. This is no way to reward that contribution,” it said.
This is the first time the trust, formed in 2017, has been properly critical of the club. It is a sign of how significant their intervention is.
Both Forza and NFST have raised concerns over how the views they expressed at a recent meeting of the fans’ advisory board have seemingly not been listened to. As a result, Forza have requested an emergency meeting of that board to express their concerns.
In the remaining two home games, against Manchester City and Chelsea, the City Ground will be packed to the rafters — thousands of fans will take their seats in the hopes of roaring Nuno Espirito Santo’s side to safety.
The truth is that, even if they are relegated, the City Ground will doubtless be packed to the rafters again next season. But it would be an incredible shame if some of those who have been on this remarkable journey with the club, and who have played their own part in it, find that their experience with Forest must come to an end because they can no longer afford to carry on.
(Top photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
