AST writes to Arsenal on possible Christmas Eve game v Liverpool

Dear Ivan

The AST is writing to you about the prospect of the Arsenal v Liverpool home game being moved to Christmas Eve for TV scheduling purposes.

There has been widespread protest against the concept of Christmas Eve games across the football family with the overwhelming view of most supporters being that this is not the right day for either staff to work or supporters to attend a game.

At our most recent members event a vote from those present demonstrated 100% opposition to this scheduling proposal. About 40% felt that it was a day in which they would just not be able to attend due to other family and Christmas commitments.

The AST therefore requests that you do all you can to secure alternative options to the game being played on Christmas Eve.

Should the widespread request of fans sadly not prevail and the effect of tv money take precedence then we would like to see Arsenal recognise the issue and mitigate the impact through pricing and distribution of tickets for this game.

Our proposal would be that a game scheduled at such an inconvenient and unpopular time is reclassified as a category B game for pricing reasons. This would lessen the impact on supporters from a pricing range of £65.50 to £128; to £37.50 to £95.

The advantages of this change are that it would secure the following benefits for Arsenal supporters:

1.       A fairer price for those buying tickets for the game

2.       Season Ticket holders would benefit at the end of the season when the games attended and credits are tallied up and it would give them a small but welcome saving

3.       A fairer price will assist those who cannot attend to resell tickets to friends or via the ticket exchange

We would also ask that the club ensures that it offers to refund anyone who makes the ticket available for resale in the exchange but is unable to sell it.

The AST would request a response from you covering both the club's position on the possibility of playing the game on Christmas eve and also on our proposals for making it a fairer pricing category.

We understand you may not be able to respond until the final decision is made but then believe it is important that the club provide commentary on this issue both for AST members and the wider supporter base.

We look forward to your response

Steve Cooper, AST secretary