‘Our fans are the club’ – Van Dijk nails it with his verdict on Liverpool ticket price increases
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Virgil van Dijk has said that Liverpool fans who’ve protested against the rising cost of ticket prices at Anfield have a ‘fair right’ to do so.In late March, the Merseyside club announced a three-year increase to ticket prices for home fixtures, beginning from next season, with the move being strongly condemned by numerous supporter groups.DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAYDuring the first half of the game against Fulham on Saturday, a banner was displayed in front of the Kop which read ‘No to ticket price increases’, and many in attendance chose not to purchase from point-of-sale locations inside the stadium.Van Dijk: Fans are ‘the heart and soul’ of LiverpoolVan Dijk spoke after the match about the fan protests over the ticket price increases at Anfield, and he emphasised the lasting importance of the club’s supporters to Liverpool.The captain said (via James Pearce on X): “I think the fans are the heart and soul of the club.
Hopefully they come to a solution with the club. “These things are far above my position as captain of the club, but my opinion is that our fans are the club.
They always have been – before my time and will be after my time. Not only has he been an influential leader on the pitch, he also represents the club magnificently with his words and actions away from the field of play.Having played at Anfield since the start of 2018, the skipper knows the power that the team can harness from their supporters inside the stadium, and he gets the importance of the fan base to LFC long after the current group of players, coaches and hierarchy have left.We heard so much rheotic about how much the fans were missed inside the ground when they couldn’t attend during the global pandemic at the start of this decade, yet now that support has been ‘thanked’ with rising ticket prices at a time when living costs are spiralling.As Van Dijk rightly says, the current situation serves only to create a divide between the loyal match-going supporters and those who run the club on a daily basis, rather than the sense of unity that FSG should be attempting to facilitate.Well done to all of those who’ve demonstrated their opposition to the ticket price increases – we can only hope that those in a position of power at Anfield will listen and duly do the right thing.