English football club Norwich City has offered fans free coach travel for the FA Cup replay at Southampton as an apology for overpricing tickets in the original tie.
The club – which has an average attendance of more than 26,000 – acted after just 12,479 fans turned up to watch the 2-2 draw at Carrow Road on Saturday. At £25 ($30.5/€29.0), those who did attend were forced to pay the third highest price in the country, with only Premier League giants Manchester United and Chelsea charging more for their ties.
Norwich’s below-average crowd came as the FA Cup third round attract its lowest total attendance in three years.
“The club is proud to stand on its own two feet financially but this does require that we maintain a delicate balance between generating revenue to support the strongest squad possible and also providing the fairest prices for our loyal supporters,” Norwich said in a statement.
“Based on supporter feedback and the low attendance, we got that balance wrong with the prices we set for our FA Cup game against Southampton on Saturday and we apologise for that.
“The board have taken the decision to offer free coach travel to St Mary’s for our important replay against the Saints and we hope as many City fans as possible will make the journey to cheer on the team.”
Southampton have set their adult prices at £12 for next Wednesday’s game at St Mary’s.
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