EVERY season the cost of watching your favourite football team becomes more and more expensive, especially in the Premiership.

I assumed that the same was happening all over Europe.

However, I have a friend who is a Hamburg season ticket holder and in September, they are moving into a new 55,000-seat stadium.

Hamburg play in the Bundesliga which, in my opinion, is about the same standard as the English Premiership.

I was astounded to learn that Hamburg fans can buy a season ticket for the terraces for £70 and seats start at £110 rising to £280 for the dearest.

Are football supporters in England being ripped off by the very clubs they support? It would seem so.

DAVE PEARSON, Rawstorne Street, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.