Reading aim to drive new away ticket price scheme but only three clubs respond

Reading are trying to get an agreement in place that would see all Championship clubs charge a maximum of £20 for visiting away fans.

But the Royals ' pleas have largely fallen on deaf ears so far with only three of their 23 peers agreeing to implement the strategy.

The club wrote a letter to every side in the second tier, which read: "For the 2022-23 season there will a marginal price rise to our ticket prices. We are very proud, however, that our matchday ticket prices remain amongst the most competitive across the Championship. Since 2016, we have championed Twenty's Plenty and although we have now raised our prices above £20, your club will be given the opportunity to offer your fans £20 tickets when your team visits Reading next season…but only if you commit in advance to a reciprocal arrangement for our away fans not to pay more than £20 in the reverse fixture.

"Please note, the reciprocal arrangement prices will only apply to tickets purchased in advance. We are actively trying to help football remain affordable to fans and I am writing to you to see if you would like to reciprocate on an advanced £20 adult ticket price. Please let me know if you think this will be possible or if you would like to discuss this further. Many thanks, Reading Football Club."

The club have since announced that despite the good reception the initiative garnered on social media, only three sides have confirmed they will be adopting a similar stance so far.

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They posted on Twitter, saying: "We wrote to the other 23 Championship clubs to offer a reciprocal ticketing arrangement: their fans can have away ticket prices capped at £20 at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, if our supporters can have the same at their ground. We've already had three teams take it up... Blackburn, Cardiff and Huddersfield."

It means fixtures between those clubs and Reading will see away fans pay no more than £20 provided tickets are bought in advance.

The 20 clubs yet to respond to Reading are: Birmingham City, Blackpool, Bristol City, Burnley, Coventry City, Hull City, Luton Town, Middlesbrough, Millwall, Norwich City, Preston, QPR, Rotherham, Sheffield United, Swansea City, Watford, Sunderland, West Brom, Wigan and Stoke City.

A Reading club statement added: "We are hopeful that more clubs will make a similar commitment in the coming weeks."

The idea of capping tickets at £20 was launched some years ago, although not every club has joined in. It is not uncommon for some clubs in the Championship and even League One to charge visiting supporters upwards of £40 to attend games.

Last month Mirror Football undertook a study into the price of season tickets in the EFL, with QPR offering the cheapest prices in the second tier at just £235 - equating to just £10.20 per league game. Other notable Championship clubs offering savvy deals are Birmingham City (£250) and Cardiff City (£249). The only other second-tier sides to offer an adult ticket for under £300 are Reading and Hull City, with the latter running a membership scheme encouraging fans to pay a monthly charge rather than one lump sum.