Fans feeling pinch of Wembley way

WHILE everyone recalls with nostalgia that Trevor Francis was the first million-pound footballer, there may not be so many recalling with fondness in future the advent of the £10 (€14.60) match programme.

Like the price of professional players, where noughts have been added regularly to Francis’ fee in the last 30 years, the price of the cup final programme has soared similarly. Where fans handed over 3d for little more than a team sheet at the 1923 final, the first at the original Wembley, they would be staggered at the price and size of the programme 84 years later.

With ticket prices ranging from €58 to €140 for a normal supporter, and a burger, chips and a coffee leaving the average four-person family with little change from €80, turning up today is going to be an expensive outing.