Price of football row Linesman axed after speaking out

Linesman John brooks who was assistant during Man City's emphatic 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday has been dropped from tonight's FA cup replay between West Brom and QPR.

The assistant was captured on camera and heard during the post-match handshakes telling Joleon Lescott to go see the City fans who had paid £62 at the cheapest to see their team play. This all comes during a heated uproar at the moment about the price of football in England as some Man City fans decided to boycott the game.

Brooks told Lescott "They've payed 62 quid over there go and see them."

Image taken from Twitter

The Professional game match officials said that the decision had been taken to give brooks the night off as they felt the publicity and attention could unsettle him.

The decision to drop the official from his role in tonight's game at The Hawthorns will only add fuel to the fire as the absence of Brooks will only lead to more publicity. Brooks did nothing wrong he just wanted the multi-million pound players on the pitch to go and acknowledge the fans who support them for whom it is a huge expense these days to continue to support them. 

Not only did the City fans have to pay £62 for a ticket they would also have had to make the long and expensive journey down from Manchester and then consider food and match day memorabilia the day would of cost in excess of £100 per person. This extortionate price is absolutely ridiculous to watch 22 professional footballers who are paid thousands or pounds a week for just 90 minutes.  

This is what has got fans so wound up about the price of going to watch live football in England these days as not only are they watching their clubs in many cases lose their traditions to multi million pound takeovers as well as stadium moves in the case of Arsenal, they are also having to bear the brunt of a huge increase in ticket prices which is making watching live football impossible for many. Working class fans of football are literally being priced out of supporting their teams and it appears it wont be long until something has got to give as fans become more and more frustrated.

Brooks will have been adopted as a hero for standing up for fans in the fight against rising ticket prices in football and now dropping him from tonight's fixture appears as if they are trying to silence any protests against the prices. This will only bring more reaction and outcry and I don't think that football fans will appreciate this decision being made.