Stoke force fans to show their commitment

Stoke City have taken the unprecedented step of forcing fans who want to watch the Potters take on Chelsea to also buy a ticket for the game against Sunderland.

Chelsea (on 27th September) is guaranteed to be a sell-out, but by linking that to the less attractive match against Sunderland a month later (which is on a Tuesday night and live on Sky TV), the club obviously hope to encourage a large turn-out from pay-per-game fans for the Black Cats, whilst also discouraging Chelsea's local fan-base from buying tickets in the home areas.

With nearly 20,000 season ticket holders, most home fans will not be affected, but with tickets for both games going to set people back a total of £68 for an adult in the Lower West stand there is bound to be grumbles from those fans who like to pick and choose their games according to their circumstances and wallets.

If the club concludes that this "Multi-Game system" works, we'd expect another likely candidate would be Manchester United's visit to the Brit on Boxing Day, traditionally attracting a large crowd eager to escape the Christmas festivities.

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