Sheffield United supporters urged to join boycott of £14.95 charge for Liverpool game - and support foodbank cause instead

The Blades travel to the home of the reigning Premier League champions for an 8pm kick-off on Saturday evening, which will be shown live on Sky Sports Box Office - for a fee of £14.95.

The plan to charge fans to watch games, at a time when they are prevented from attending them live due to the coronavirus crisis, attracted widespread derision when it was announced recently.

United's clash with Fulham on Sunday was the first of their games to be screened on pay-per-view - it has not yet been revealed how many more of their games this season will be shown on the Box Office platform - and a group of Blades fans recently came together to create the 'Fifteen's Obscene' movement aimed at protesting the £14.95 cost.

Their stance is echoed by Spirit of Shankly, who described the plans as "blatant exploitation" and "unacceptable" as they called for fans to boycott paying - and donate the cash to a foodbank instead.

"We recognise supporters will be torn about following their team, but this is blatant exploitation," a SoS statement read.

"We are in the middle of the biggest pandemic and economic crisis for a generation, yet the Premier League and their clubs, except for Leicester City, Sky and BT Sport have no trouble asking fans to pay £14.95 per game.

"It is unacceptable. They have to re-think a much-reduced, affordable cost, if there has to be a charge at all. Ideally these games should be free to air."

Clubs signed up to the plan as a way of recouping some much-needed matchday revenue - after the broadcaster's expenses are paid for screening the game, the money is then shared amongst the clubs.

"We recognise clubs need revenue and at a meeting with the PL in August, SOS supported the 150 non-broadcast games being shown at a “reasonable and affordable” price," the statement added.

"We, as many fan groups, argue £14.95 is neither reasonable nor affordable.

"Don’t sign up to the profiteering. Boycott. There is a humanitarian crisis in our country, which is only going to worsen.

"We are asking that those fans who support our boycott of PPV, make a donation, whatever is affordable, to Fans Supporting Foodbanks.

"The Box Office platform is significant. It does not take much foresight to see, after the Christmas period, a shift of the ‘bigger’, fixtures moving from subscription to Box Office. If this does happen, there will be no going back.

"Meanwhile, significant closures and job losses have already happened. The national furlough scheme finishes at the end of October leaving tens of thousands facing uncertainty and millions of jobs at risk.

"This is not the time to exploit people. This calls for a boycott."

To donate to Fans Supporting Foodbanks, click HERE or text FOODBANKFC to 70460 to donate £5.

Thank you for reading this article, one of dozens we publish every single day to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative coverage of YOUR club. This depth of Blades coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to from the football team at The Star, please consider taking out a subscription to our new discounted sports-only package. You'll find all the details HERE. Your support is much appreciated. Chris Holt, Football Editor