West Brom fans snub Manchester City trip over £56 ticket cost

West Bromwich Albion fans have handed a major snub to Manchester City's £56 ticket prices with just 300 supporters buying seats for their Easter Monday visit to the Etihad Stadium.

Baggies fans, who have sold out their allocations for recent away games, have refused en masse to fork out a top price of £56 to watch Pepe Mel's team take on the Premier League title challengers.

Albion took 2,500 to Norwich for their last away game with 2,300 travelling to Hull and 2,000 to Swansea – all three the maximum number of tickets available.

But fans have delivered an emphatic thumbs-down to City's pricing with just around one sixth of their allocation for Monday's game sold at the time of going to press and Hawthorns officials only expecting a handful of extra sales ahead of the match, which is being screened live by Sky Sports. Over 65s' tickets are £47 and U16s £34.

John Homer, chairman of West Bromwich Albion supporters' club, said: "These numbers don't reflect our general away following this season, so you have to conclude it is down to the cost.

"It is £56 for a ticket and £18 to travel on the coach, so all of a sudden you're talking £74 before you've even wiped your nose. It becomes a very expensive Bank Holiday Monday.

"I think it's what they call 'a rum do'. A lot of people are looking to go to our other away games at Arsenal and Sunderland and have looked at the prices for Manchester City and decided to save their money.

"The fact they can watch this one on the TV and the date and kick-off time have changed has added to it."

City have moved to justify their pricing by classing the game as a potential title decider with Manuel Pellegrini's men locked in a three-way race for top spot with Liverpool and Chelsea.

City say the charge is fair because the game comes towards the climax of the club's title challenge which pushes it into the club's top-range Category A fixtures. A spokesman said: "It is normal policy."