As the Premier League kicks off this weekend, analysis from An Post Money of the six teams with the most support from Irish travelling fans, shows Irish supporters will spend up to €7,408 to cheer on their team at home games during the forthcoming season.
The six Premier League teams reviewed by An Post Money were:
Arsenal
Chelsea
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Tottenham Hotspur
In addition to the Premier League sides, An Post Money, looked at season ticket prices for Celtic supporters. Of the six Premier League season ticket prices reviewed, Manchester City has the cheapest option to see all home games at £325 while the most expensive is at the new 62,062 capacity Tottenham Hotspur stadium at White Hart Lane costing £1,995.
With 30 official supporters clubs Liverpool has the most active network for its fans in the Republic of Ireland followed by Arsenal and Manchester United with 21 and 17 respectively. Spurs fans have a choice of seven official supporters clubs while Chelsea and Manchester City have six each. Beyond the Premier League Celtic Football Club has 34 official supporters clubs nationwide.
The cost of season tickets range from £325 to £1,995 and while this will be single biggest one-off cost when the estimated costs of flights, transfers, food & drink and merchandise is added supporters will need to spend an additional €5,186, bringing the total cost to over €7,400.
The majority of this expenditure will be in sterling and with 19 trips over a ten month period will mean that supporters will need regular access to sterling over an extended period.
An Post is encouraging its customers who will be travelling regularly to sign up to the commission-free An Post Money Currency Card as a safer option than cash and a cheaper option than a credit card which will also avoid the worry of transaction charges on point of sale transactions while traveling.
Commenting on the analysis, Financial Services Director at An Post Money, John Rice said, "There has been a long tradition of Irish-based fans making a fortnightly trip to England to cheer on their favourite Premier League side and to Glasgow to see Celtic. As Ireland’s biggest provider of Foreign Exchange through our network of over 900 post offices nationwide we always see increased demand for sterling later in the week with many fans sourcing sterling for their trips. For those traveling regularly we’re recommending they apply for our commission-free An Post Money Currency Card which is a safer alternative to carrying cash and with no charges for point-of-sale purchases will avoid transaction charges."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
