West Midlands football clubs spend £10m on matchday policing
Almost £10 million has been paid out by Premier League and Football League clubs in the West Midlands for policing over the past eight seasons – including £2.05m by Wolves, £1.72m by West Brom and £327,000 by Walsall.
Other clubs on the list include Villa who have shelled out £2.72m, Birmingham City who paid out £2.37m and Coventry who parted with just £781,600, partly because of their season away from the Ricoh in 2013/14.
The 2008/09 season was the most expensive for the West Midland clubs with £1.71m shelled out. But this figure has decreased year on year with just £1.07m paid out last year and so far only £420,700 paid out in the current season.
This year, West Brom have paid out £76,000, Wolves £63,700 and Walsall £24,400.
The cheapest season was 2013/14, the season where Coventry weren't playing at the Ricoh Arena, as the bill came in at £1.06m.
Wolves' most expensive season was 2009/10, their second stint in the Premiership after promotion the previous year, as they shelled out £384,400.
Albion's most expensive was 2008/09 with £308,200 being paid out while Walsall's was 2013/14 with £77,300 paid out, something the club put down to more local derbies with both Wolves and Shrewsbury joining Walsall in League 1 that particular season.
The cost of policing for football matches, otherwise known as the annual charging agreement, is agreed between West Midlands Police and clubs to cover the costs of match day policing, and is led by the Association of Chief Police Officers' guidance for football deployment and cost recovery.
An 'agreed footprint' determines the areas of policing the clubs pay for, which usually includes inside club grounds and land in the vicinity of the stadium under the control of the club.
Costs vary according to fixture, with extra officers drafted in to police certain games, such as local derby matches including those between bitter rivals Wolves and Albion.
The last time West Bromwich Albion and Wolves were in the same division was 2011/12, when both clubs were in the Premiership.
Lee Page, a spokesman for West Midlands Police, said: "
The vast majority of people attending matches are there to enjoy the opportunity of supporting their team. There may be a few who wish to display their 'support' through anti-social or criminal activity but it's important we don't allow the approach that we would use for the anti-social group to cause us to treat the overwhelming majority in any way other than we would do in our everyday policing."
