Comment: West Brom ticket prices help fans to flock back

The home end has been full for five of the last six games, as fans flock back to the ground after the stultifying years of the Premier League.

The exciting brand of football being played under a bona fide club legend and Albion’s subsequent promotion chase is no doubt the main reason for the upsurge in interest.

But Albion also boast some of the cheapest match-day tickets in the Championship, it has been revealed.

Adults can buy seats for £20 behind either goal in the Birmingham Road and Smethwick Ends and £23 on the sides in the East Stand and Halford’s Lane.

When compared to the rest of the division, that is incredibly affordable.

The highest-priced ticket of £23 is the cheapest in the league with Birmingham City next on the list with a highest-price ticket of £25.

The £20 cheapest ticket behind the goals is also reasonable.

There are five clubs who offer cheaper cheapest tickets than Albion – Norwich (£18), Blues (£15), QPR (£14), Wigan (£15), and Blackburn (£19).

But it’s more expensive for the majority of the division, and significantly so at Swansea (£30) and Leeds (£31).

How much ticket prices encourage supporters to come to games depends on each individual’s own circumstance, but low prices should not be sniffed at.

Seniors are also getting a comparatively good deal.

The £17 highest price is the second-cheapest in the division behind Wigan (£15), and just five clubs offer lower priced tickets than Albion’s £15 lowest price.

Prices for young adults, under-18s and under-11s are all fairly middling compared to the rest of the division.

But season ticket prices for adults are also some of the lowest in the division.

Only four clubs – QPR, Wigan, Hull, and Blues – offer cheaper season tickets than the £329 price for adults behind the goals. Albion’s £429 seat on the sides is the second-cheapest highest priced ticket behind Wigan’s £289 seat.

The Baggies have parachute payments, of course – that’s £41.5million more this season than the majority of the league.

Other clubs rely more heavily than Albion on ticket sales to boost their revenue.

It still irritates supporters when they have to pay significantly more for tickets away from home.

Baggies fans threatened to boycott Monday’s trip to Bolton when it was revealed the ticket was £32 for an adult, and Wanderers eventually agreed to offer a buy one get one free deal for season ticket holders.

And you get the same amount of money for selling 20,000 tickets at £25 as you do for selling 25,000 tickets at £20.

Moore and his coaching staff deserve the greatest credit for restoring the atmosphere to The Hawthorns.

But the decision made by chief executive Mark Jenkins last May to slash ticket prices has also helped.