East Lancashire’s two biggest football clubs have collectively paid more than £2 million to Lancashire Police over the past eight years for matchday policing services.

A Freedom of Information request by the Lancashire Telegraph showed that it cost Burnley Football Club, £1,046,050 and Blackburn Rovers £1,009,453 to cover policing.

Both clubs have shown a steady rise in the cost of managing football crowds in recent seasons, especially as attendance numbers returned to normal after the pandemic.

Clubs currently only must pay for the costs incurred inside their ground or on their property, with the police footing the rest of the bill.

The issue remains a sore spot for police and in 2019, Lancashire’s police and crime commissioner Clive Grunshaw stated that clubs should fork out more for keeping order at their fixtures.

Speaking at the time Mr Grunshaw said: “Fans expect to feel safe on their way in and out of grounds and this is often where trouble can flare up.

“Football clubs last year generated record amounts with Premier League clubs enjoying over £5bn in revenue. Some of these record profits should be directed towards making sure fans and the wider public are safe in and around football grounds.

“For clubs to experience record profits whilst Lancashire Constabulary picks up the tab isn’t fair to the hardworking taxpayers of Lancashire.”

Burnley played predominantly in the Premier League during this period and saw significant variations in their payments to Lancashire Police.

The club was revealed as one of the worst in England for football-related arrests, with 110 arrests made between 2019 and 2023.

In the season of their promotion to the Premier League, 2022-23, the club paid £198,605 for matchday policing, a sharp increase on the previous year when they paid £69,203, but this figure is wharfed slightly by the impacts of the pandemic.

A notable spike in payments came in 2017-18 when the club paid £152,943 – an increase of 50% compared to the previous years.

Blackburn spent 0.2% less than their East Lancashire rival, despite spending all this period in the English second tier.

Having over half the amounts of arrests than their noisy neighbours with fans arrested 60 times, with 24 of those for public disorder.

Their payments peaked in 2023-24 when they paid £186, 762 which was a significant rise from previous years.