Chelsea push to keep fans onside by freezing price of cheapest season tickets

Chelsea’s owners have moved to build relations with disgruntled supporters by freezing the price of general admission season tickets for a 12th successive year.

The announcement came after a warning from the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust that raising prices would risk creating “irreversible toxicity” between the club and supporters. Chelsea’s owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, who have spent almost £600m on signings since last summer, have taken those concerns on board.

Chelsea, who remain in talks with Mauricio Pochettino about appointing him as their head coach, acknowledged in a statement that their first season under the current ownership had not gone to plan. The controlling co-owners, Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, are under pressure to raise funds after their transfer outlay but have decided that making tickets more expensive is not the way forward during the cost of living crisis.

The move, which was welcomed by the CST, means that Chelsea fans in general admission areas will continue to pay less than supporters at Arsenal and Tottenham. The cost for Chelsea’s cheapest adult general admission season ticket will remain £750. Spurs, who have also frozen their prices, charge £807 for seats in similar areas at their stadium. Arsenal have announced an average general admission rise of 5%. Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa have announced increases.

One of Boehly’s and Eghbali’s first moves after buying the club was to freeze prices and scrap the booking fee for tickets. There had been discussions over whether to raise prices this summer but it was decided the majority of fans should not pay more after disappointing performances.

Chelsea are set to miss out on European qualification, went out of both domestic