Well we Deserve being slated dont we!!
AN off-peak return rail ticket from Derby to London: £59.
A seat in the visitors’ enclosure at Loftus Road (if QPR had their way): £40.
Seeing your team win their first away game for 18 months: Absolutely blooming priceless!
Derby boss Paul Jewell was feeling just the ticket after guiding his club to their first victory on the road in the League since they won 2-1 at Barnsley on March 31, 2007.
It was the Rams’ second victory over Rangers in a week after they got the FA to block the billionaire Londoners from raising ticket prices for travelling fans from £30 to £40.
It didn’t stop the price-hike Hoops from charging some of their own fans £50 to watch this sub-standard Championship fayre.
And even though his own side provided some value for money, Jewell warned his mega-rich rivals of the perils of bleeding supporters dry.
He said: “I’d have paid whatever price they wanted to see a win like that! Just to get a win, certainly away from home with a clean sheet, makes it worthwhile.
“But 50 quid is a lot of money. I think football in general is too expensive for the man in the street — it’s a lot of money.
“Hopefully, people will be sensible. We want to see full grounds. Our ground is full or almost full most weeks.
“I don’t know what the pricing is at our ground, but certainly in this day and age when people are struggling for cash, it would be nice if people could make football a bit more affordable for the normal guy in the street.”
Rangers fans are also up in arms over their club’s ticket prices. Before the game, protesters handed out leaflets calling for QPR’s wealthy owners Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal to “withdraw all price increases and match banding”.
Jewell added: “We have American owners so I’m not going to slate foreign owners, but what I would say is we have to be careful. Whoever owns the club has to be in contact with the people who come through the turnstiles. Supporters are the lifeblood of a club and sometimes they get a raw deal.
“Likewise, managers sometimes get a raw deal off supporters, but Derby fans have been brilliant with me and, hopefully, a few more wins like this will make the money that they pay worthwhile.
“But you can’t put passion into football clubs if it’s not there. You come to QPR and you know there’s going to be a good atmosphere.
“But we can’t just keep on bleeding fans dry — we’ve got to give them something back otherwise we’ll drive them into the pubs and they’ll watch on TV.”
There was more atmosphere on the moon after late strikes from Martin Albrechtsen and sub Emanuel Villa gave Derby a shock, but deserved win.
Rangers crashed back down to earth after knocking Aston Villa out of the Carling Cup in midweek.
Winger Lee Cook said: “Everyone in the dressing room is disappointed with the whole performance.
“It seemed everyone was too close, getting in each other’s way and the ball was bouncing about. We had an off day, that’s how it goes sometimes.
“We’ve set the standard so high. We were undefeated here and all the fans are expecting us to go on a run.We’ve got to keep on the leaders’ tails.”
