Maupay has a dig & fans being priced out

8th Jan 2025

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When you want to leave a club there is a classy way of doing so. We know that no player is more important than the club but we also know that some players are so well remembered that they even get statues outside the stadium. Fans well up years later talking of them, how they scored in an important derby, the bicycle kick goal that triggered 40,000 souls to open their mouths and eyes in admiration or the superb hat trick at home. Then one day your hero leaves and it's not nice news but once the dust settles you once again understand just how important the player was for the club. By this point and when they enter retirement their first name is replaced by legend. So on the point of players wanting to leave and never set foot anywhere near your club again we come to the case of Neal Maupay.

Maupay has the distinction of scoring 1 goal for Everton in his two seasons at the club and currently has netted 10 league goals in almost four seasons. Maupay was unsurprisingly loaned out to French Ligue 1 club Marseille. Maupay who was paid £50,000 a week at Everton left a very suggestive message on X for the club. It read 'Whenever I'm having a bad day I just look at the Everton score'. It seemed unprovoked. It has enraged fans of the club but it's obvious where Maupay is coming from. He doesn't want to return to Everton when his loan deal ends. But perhaps Maupay did not get the memo; with new club owners and 1 goal in two seasons one would presume the chances of Maupay playing with the Toffees again were as remote as Marseille winning the French league title this season.
Meanwhile Everton have their own problems and the possibility of a huge relegation fight for the third season in a row is a reality. So far Everton have just 17 points. We are at the halfway stage of the season so one could suggest Everton may end up with 34. The problem though is 3 points were won by unexpected draws against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City. It's very possible that when Everton meet those clubs again they could end up with zero points putting their expected points total at 31. That smells of relegation. Southampton already look down and Leicester look poor under Ruud Van Nistelrooy. But there is a genuine battle not to finish in 18th place and Everton could be up against Ipswich and Wolves who both look like quality teams on their day. A damning fact is that if you don't score goals you go down. So far Everton have just 15 goals only Southampton in rock bottom have fewer. The finger is going to be pointed at the clubs main forward Dominic Calvert Lewin. But the overall quality of service into him hasn't been great and yet he has missed chances too. This season especially Everton have felt like a side playing with 10 men because Calvert Lewin has looked like the invisible man. One has to wonder if it makes sense that he finally leaves the club and tries to flourish elsewhere. January is here with the winter transfer window and Everton need to bring in 2-3 players. Manager Sean Dyche has done little wrong. But Dyche could be set to go this is the norm when new owners takeover. But who will he go for? Or could it be that he will be kept on with new players at his disposal? Something has to change for Everton and it has to change in the next three weeks. No club would want to unveil a brand new stadium in the Championship after all.
 
Greed is good so promoted the 1988 film Wall Street. And that phrase is good for club owners it seems. It is becoming impossible for genuine long standing football fans to get to games now. A report has come out that has confirmed that tickets to watch Liverpool have increased by 800% since 1990. Of course entertainment as a whole has gone through the roof. A stadium concert in the 1990s would cost on average £22 now you are looking at £150. Of course prices are going to go up in 30 years but the rate compared to inflation and wages has become obscene. While concerts are expensive the big shows come around 2-3 times per year but football is every other week. Fans are having to fork out upwards of £70 to go to one match. Increasingly you don't go on your own and a family of four are now looking at £300 for tickets alone. Once you factor in travel, food and drink one game can cost £500. It's not sustainable. Manchester United have increased their tickets to £66 per game and taken away kids prices and concessions. Meaning a father taking his son to the game has jumped from £60 for both to £132. All this in mid season and all this during a time when United are not even winning games and are nowhere near the height of their powers. Fans are protesting and it was refreshing even before Liverpool played Manchester United this past weekend to see rival fans stand as one and protest the prices. It's a worrying fact that even up north prices have jumped so high. Corporate greed seems to be getting worse year on year in the Premier League and in a sense this is puzzling. Such is the money involved with TV raising prices at a club like Manchester United will only account for extra revenue of about £3 million. That is a drop in the ocean for a club like them, or two months of Marcus Rashford's wages. So what do clubs like United want? Why do they want to alienate their most die hard fans? The worry is that Jim Ratcliffe doesn't care. Why care about the fan who knows the club inside out when you can sell tickets to millionaire passing fans who will be watching your bitter rivals the week after and pay £500 for a glass box and a lunch. These are indeed worrying times for the football fan. Perhaps Brentford who have been punching above their weight for a good few seasons should be seen as a role model with the club freezing prices for next season. Now that doesn't feel like being stung for a side whose nickname is the bees.


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