English fans pay 10x more than counterparts in Europe for season tickets

The Football Supporters' Federation have compiled a comparison of season ticket prices across the Premier League and related them to what fans on the continent are paying.

And Premier League fans will not be surprised to find out that they are being gouged for every last penny.

Worst offenders of the lot are Arsenal, whose cheapest season ticket comes in at £1,014 next year.

You read that right: that's for the cheapest season ticket at a club that hasn't won a title for more than a decade. (The top-tier season tickets cost £2,013.)

Yet newly-crowned European champions (and treble winners) Barcelona ask just £103 for their cheapest season ticket, an amount which would barely get you a seat for a couple of matches at The Emirates.

Watching the 2013 European champions Bayern Munich is even cheaper than Barcelona: season tickets cost from just £99 at the Allianz Arena.

"People tell us they have given up their season ticket because it cost too much," Michael Brunskill of the Football Supporters' Federation told the Daily Mirror.

"The cost of some in Europe is really low. In Germany ticket prices are cheap but they are also very competitive teams. The Premier League in England just signed a mammoth TV deal and we would like to see them bring ticket prices down."

Not all of the Premier League's clubs milk fans as badly as Arsenal: Manchester City season tickets start at just £299, which seems pretty solid value for a team that has won two titles in the last four seasons. Only Stoke City offer a cheaper top flight option.

Manchester United charge £532 for their cheapest season ticket - but that hides the true cost, since as their website explains, "Season Ticket holders are automatically allocated and required to buy tickets for home games in FA and League Cup competitions."

Many fans have fallen foul of that rule - even when it forces them to spend £50 or more for terrible mid-week matches such as the FA Cup replay against Cambridge United earlier this season.