6 months ago
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FORMER Fulham defender Paul Parker launched a scathing attack on the “obscene” ticket prices at Craven Cottage this season.
The 59-year-old watched another of his old teams Manchester United win 1-0 in West London on Saturday, but blasted: “It’s insulting to Fulham and football fans that they are expected to pay anything up to £140-£160 to watch games at the ground.
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PA:Empics Sport“I cut my teeth as a player at the club in the early 80s. They are not a ‘Big Six’ club in the Premier League, but the die-hard fans are among the best I played for during my career.
“I am angry because I feel they deserve to be treated better. I’m delighted they held up yellow cards in protest during the game against the price hikes – and I was pleased to see the Manchester United fans joined in too.
“The game itself was so drab and heading for one of the worst goalless draws you could ever watch until Bruno Fernandes’ late winner for United.
“You watch 0-0 or 1-0 games and they can be end to end and lift you out of your seat. This one was awful.
“It just annoys me that fans are expected to pay the rate however high clubs set the prices – and then have to witness a bore fest like Saturday.
“If I paid £140-£160 to go to a show or concert at the Royal Albert Hall, I know I’d be royally entertained.
“I just don’t feel it’s fair for the football fan to have to cough up these extreme prices to watch a second rate game of football for what should be an elite sporting event.
“How can they justify increasing the price of tickets by 18 per cent – with the way the cost of living is today in this country?
“Of course it would be the perfect protest by boycotting games, but I know that will never happen. Football fans – and the Fulham supporters in particular – are incredibly loyal.”
Parker, who won 19 England caps including playing in six of the Three Lions’ games in the World Cup finals in Italia all the way to the third-place play-off, also took a swipe at footballers ‘downing tools’ and ‘not playing for the manager’.
He added: “It’s become a worrying trend in the modern game where I keep hearing players decide they don’t like the manager anymore.
“They play below par in the hope that results are poor and when the manager gets booted out they go back to playing their proper game again.
“As a former player I’m just appalled that anyone can play the game and think like that.
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“Football is not golf, darts or snooker where the majority of the time you play as an individual. It is a team sport.
“Surely you have to understand that by not doing what you should be doing you are just letting down your team-mates and the fans who have paid to watch you give 100 per cent.
“I played for 15 years – over 400 league games – and I gave everything each time I went out on the pitch.”
*PAUL joins former Fulham team-mate Tony Gale in a new fishing TV series which is being filmed at The Ebro river in the Iberian Peninsula in Spain next week.
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