Fans of Liverpool protest rising ticket prices with posters that read 'Caution, Anfield's soul at risk' during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield
Reports had suggested it was a minority or small section of fans protesting, but this was a visual that utterly debunked such suggestions
It’s a cliche, but never has the phrase what a difference a year makes been evidenced by the mood among Liverpool fans before their home game against Crystal Palace at the weekend, vs. the mood a year ago as the Reds confirmed their 20th league title against Tottenham.
For a generation of supporters, that sunny day last April was a day they’d dreamt about, waited and had denied for over three decades; finally getting to see, in person, their club named champions.
And they celebrated with an atmosphere that will be difficult to ever recreate; all those years of frustration, false dawns, missed opportunities, slip-ups and then to be denied ever seeing Jurgen Klopp waltzing around the Anfield pitch with the Premier League trophy by a pandemic.
“We don’t want to be doing this"
A year on, such scenes of delirium seemed like a different lifetime as fans instead spent their pre-match handing out yellow cards to raise in protest at a three-year ticket price rise. “We don’t want to be doing this,” explained one of the organisers, Gareth Roberts.
The Reds’ 3-1 win over Palace was a wholly different occasion to a year ago. On the pitch, Arne Slot’s side were looking to secure a top-five finish, something captain Virgil van Dijk has remarked as not being good enough for Liverpool.
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Get VIP Liverpool tickets HERE with Seat Unique!
While in the stands, instead of a sea of red and banners and flags, it was a flag-less Kop pre-match and thousands holding aloft yellow cards reading ‘Caution: Anfield’s Soul At Risk’ in the 13th minute. Certain reports had suggested it was a minority or small section of fans, but this was a visual that utterly debunked such suggestions.
At the last home game, against Fulham, a banner reading ‘No to ticket price rises’ was paraded along the front of The Kop and applauded by the entire stadium. Perhaps those who misread the room and thought it was a small section of fans unhappy with the rises didn’t see that.
They certainly couldn’t have missed it when almost the entire stadium held aloft yellow cards that had been distributed by supporters groups Spirit of Shankly and Spion Kop 1906, with chants of ‘Enough is enough’ and a huge banner telling principal owner John W. Henry to “Listen to the fans” and “Don’t Kill The Kop.”
Fans don’t want to be protesting. But they also understand the dangers of such increases, pricing out the very support that make Liverpool FC who they are. The product that is broadcast and sold around the world is evaporating as local, working-class supporters can no longer afford to go to the match. What happens for the next generation is the argument put forward now.
Liverpool fans hold aloft leaflets and banners critical of Liverpool's owners during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield
Thousands of yellow cards reading ‘Caution: Anfield’s Soul At Risk’ were raised in the 13th minute
This is Anfield, but it won’t be the Anfield people think they are going to if, as supporters groups argue, the direction of travel continues.
To put it in business terms, which may be what’s required for owners Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool Football Club has a very unique selling point; Anfield, The Kop and its atmosphere.
Liverpool and its supporters are emotional, committed, connected. As former midfielder Thiago Alcantara recently explained: “The South American behaviour of football, it’s pretty like a religion here in Liverpool.”
There are hundreds of examples of opposition players and managers explaining the power of Anfield. The recent story of PSG manager Luis Enrique wanting to experience it shortly after he retired as a player and attending a Merseyside derby on The Kop as a fan back in 2005 is just another example of this ‘USP’.
When Luis Enrique watched Liverpool on The Kop -
When Luis Enrique watched Liverpool on The Kop -
Critics of those opposing the price rises will say that up to £1.75 extra per ticket next season is not something to be fighting against, and that inflation is rising.
However, that completely misses the bigger picture.
Firstly, ticket prices were already high for a sport that was created by and made for the working class.
Secondly, income from general admission tickets is now a vastly smaller percentage of Liverpool (and other Premier League clubs’) revenue. TV broadcast revenue has increased from £9.7m in 1992 to £263m in 2025. Commercial revenue has grown from £3.2m to £323m in the same timeframe, since the Premier League’s inception.
Supporters groups argue that there is simply no need to increase ticket prices when other areas of the club make such numbers.
Liverpool cites an 85% rise in matchday costs since 2016, but that’s slightly disingenuous, as 2016 is exactly when the new Main Stand was opened. Since then, with the expanded Anfield Road Stand, Anfield’s capacity has increased by over 15,000, with a significant increase in hospitality areas that require more staffing, utilities and overheads. Of course, costs have increased.
The cost-for-cost increase can be estimated to be nearer 30%.
However, the club’s matchday revenue in 2016 was £62.4m, while in 2015 it was £116m. A £52m increase - largely due to the increase in capacity and expanded hospitality offerings. So costs have increased, but revenue has increased by a greater percentage.
Why, then, are general admission tickets needed to be increased? If anything, they should be reduced and capped, just as away tickets are - something that can be argued is a football-wide problem, not just specific to Liverpool.
The estimated income from the increase, for a club that had a revenue of £703m last season, is £1.2m. That’s 0.17% of revenue. Is it worth it?
Is it worth further eroding the uniqueness of Anfield, the uniqueness of Liverpool’s support? For 0.17% of revenue? Fans were already concerned about the future generations of fans being priced out before the three-year rise was announced.
It doesn’t work this way, but supporters will see it as a few weeks’ wages for a player. Or an annual wage for a player who doesn’t even play for the club.
The whole situation needs to be looked out in the bigger picture, not cost-for-cost within its own revenue stream. Some areas of a business can be a loss-leader; general admission tickets should be that. Fans pay it back in other ways by helping the team on the pitch, by inspiring the next generation of supporters, by producing a product that Liverpool FC benefit from commercially around the world.
The question needs to be asked, is it really worth eroding your USP for 0.17% revenue?