Sport
High “Tense” Protest At Wolves Molineux Stadium, Reason For The Protest Revealed
Protests staged at Molineux as part of nationwide campaign against rising costs for football fans
Led by the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA), fans of both clubs gathered outside the stadium before Wolves’ Premier League clash with Crystal Palace, holding up a banner highlighting the campaign’s name ‘Stop Exploiting Loyalty’.
The campaign is highlighting the rising costs for fans in modern football and calling for change before more supporters are priced out.
More than 15,000 Wolves fans signed a petition against season ticket price hikes in the summer.
After consultation with club chairman Jeff Shi, Wolves eventually agreed to freeze adult season tickets for the 2025/26 season and rowed back on price rises for under-14 season tickets this season.
In association with the FSA, the Wolves 1877 Supporters’ Trust supported the campaign before kick-off.
“This is a Premier League-wide FSA campaign and is not a direct protest at the club,” Trust vice chair and FSA national council member Ciaran Barker said.
“But fans across the Premier League are fed up of increasing ticket prices and concessions being reduced.
“Loyal fans have essentially taken a back seat because they just want the grounds filled.
“This is a campaign to put fans first and especially fans that are season ticket holders or attend games regularly.
“Of course over time there will be price increases, that’s part of life, but we think ticket prices at Wolves and other grounds are unreasonable and unfair. It’s against the spirit of the game and it needs to be affordable.
“This was never about having thousands of fans outside the ground and the FSA didn’t want to be seen as trying to disrupt clubs or the Premier League.
“This campaign was to start visibility against such ticket price increases and against fans not being front and centre.
“This is the start of something and is a message to clubs and the Premier League that fans across the board have had enough.
“Lets start engagement and make a difference now, before it becomes more than this. We don’t want it to be more than this and we don’t want to cause disruption in grounds.
“This is stage one, coming from the FSA, saying that loyal fans need to be put first.”
Wolves and Brighton fans also gathered before last week’s fixture at the Amex, as fans from across the Premier League take part in the campaign.
Barker added: “We’ve had a few Palace fans here and to have them involved is really important.
“Wolves fans down at Brighton were involved in front of their main pub, which was fantastic and they welcomed us in.
“We’ve welcomed Palace fans to be involved in this and it’s all about sticking together.
“The important thing is that supporter groups of all 20 clubs are together on this. We need to come together and put an end to this.
“This isn’t a protest against Wolves, Fosun or Jeff Shi, this is a Premier League issue.
“If people want to get involved you can do through the Trust or through the FSA.”
