A university student who follows the Premier League champions home and away has shared his top tips for doing so without getting into debt.
Alex Birch travelled 22,000 miles across eight countries last season as he attended 54 out of 57 Manchester City matches.
Many guessed that it must have cost him well over £10,000 for tickets, accommodation, flights and trains.
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But when the economics student did the maths, it turned out he spent far less, £3,605, following one of the greatest teams the Premier League has ever seen.
(Image: Alex Birch)
With this in mind, we asked Alex, 20, how he did it without breaking the bank and what his biggest tip was for other football fans hoping to travel to games.
Alex, whose season ticket in the family end of the Etihad Stadium costs £430, told us that planning in advance and being creative were crucial.
He explained: “I generally book all the flights and trains when the fixtures are announced and I find weird routes to get to places so in the end it (£3,605) was a little under what I was expecting.
“If you are confident you can get a ticket then book your travel as soon as possible as you can always get cheaper the earlier you book it.
“Also do different routes so from Manchester to London there is always an option to go through Crewe and that will halve your price and for the City match against Red Star Belgrade in Serbia I went through Barcelona because it was cheaper.”
(Image: Alex Birch)
Alex studies economics in Manchester and he said his student schedule was why he can be so flexible with going to most matches.
He also vlogs his experiences on his TikTok page called mcfc.matchdays where he breaks down his spending.
Speaking to us about how social media users reacted, he said: “People were quite impressed because City fans don’t have the best rep online so I think people were impressed that I was a City fan who goes to all the games rather than just sat at home watching on the TV. People were impressed with the price.”
Liran Froind, co-founder at Ticket-Compare.com, added: “It may surprise a lot of people, but Premier League teams like Manchester City look after their most loyal members. City have raised their season ticket price this season, but only in line with inflation. Their matchday tickets are also still cheap-ish compared to other clubs in the competition.
“Regular match-going fans have a lot of ways to save money. Firstly, season tickets always work out cheaper than the price of an equivalent home match ticket.
(Image: Alex Birch)
“For away games, Premier League tickets are never more than £30 thanks to a price cap for the entire competition. These tickets are hard to get hold of and are sold according to how many matches you have attended before. Here, Alex has a big advantage over other Manchester City members, as he has attended away matches for years.”
Alex chose City after being influenced by his father who has followed the sky blues since the late 1970s.
He went to his first game himself in 2008 which ended in a 1-0 defeat to Everton and he has been a season ticket holder ever since.
He hopes to go even better this season by going to every single Manchester City game and below he broke down the cost of his adventures last campaign.
Premier League
Season ticket: £430 (got £45.26 back for two games he sold tickets for)
Transport for home games: £47.60
Transport for away games: £473
Away game tickets: £453.50
Domestic Cups
Travel: £205.80
Tickets: £233.50
European Games
Flights: £596
Travel: £236.80
Accommodation: £627
Tickets: £346