As Premier League prices rise, growing numbers of supporters are seeking out something closer, cheaper and more human in non-league football
It is just after three o’clock on a hot bank holiday Monday in Spalding, Lincolnshire, and the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field is rammed with more than 2,700 supporters squeezing into the ground. Nearly 500 of them have travelled from Bedford to watch Real Bedford, a club that did not exist in its current form until a few years ago, try to take one more unlikely step up the football pyramid.
In 2021, local entrepreneur and podcaster Peter McCormack bought Bedford FC, then playing in the 10th tier, renamed it Real Bedford and began talking about taking his hometown club all the way. Since then, Real Bedford have won three successive promotions, attracted significant investment, and made Bedford, one of England’s largest towns without a professional football club, feel as if it might finally have a team with proper momentum behind it.
“Bedford has always had the people, the pride and the appetite for football, but it never had a club that matched the size of the town,” says McCormack. “The ambition is huge, but it has to feel local first. If people in Bedford don’t feel this belongs to them, then it doesn’t work.”
For supporters such as Andy Chinneck, who also follows Manchester United, the appeal is not only the football but the feeling around it. “At United, unless you’re lucky, wealthy or very organised, you can feel like a customer at a global entertainment business,” he says. “At Real Bedford, I can turn up with mates, have a pint, stand near the pitch and feel like I’m actually part of the club. Having lived in Bedford most of my life it feels like it’s brought a much needed sense of local community back to the town.”
The frustration with Premier League football has been building for years. The Football Supporters’ Association says the cost of attending top-flight football rose well above inflation in the late-1990s and early-2000s, and its recent work on ticket prices found that 19 of 20 Premier League clubs increased prices in 2024/25, with 13 doing so again in 2025/26. Its research also found that Premier League ticket prices have risen 20% since Covid, according to the league’s own data, and that 71% of fans believe traditional supporters are being priced out.
Ownership has sharpened that feeling with American billionaires, Middle East investment funds and international consortiums owning most of the Premier League teams. The clubs themselves are now enormous assets, with recent estimates putting Manchester United worth more than £4bn, Manchester City and Liverpool close behind, and Arsenal above £3bn.
Real Bedford’s Ledger Stadium, where crowds of up to 1,000 turn out for the seventh-tier side
The backlash to this model led to the creation of FC United of Manchester in 2005. Founded by Manchester United supporters who believed that “football had lost its way”, and were angry at American billionaire businessman Malcolm Glazer taking over their club, they decided to set up their own.
FC United is member-owned, built around a one-member, one-vote model. It has 2,475 co-owners, including 2,137 adult members and 338 junior members.
“We are making football affordable for ordinary football supporters,” says FC United spokesman Jules Spencer. “Many of us can no longer afford to go to Premier League games with our families, but we can afford to go and watch FC United where the quality of entertainment on offer in non-league football is real value for money.”
It feels like it’s brought a much needed sense of local community back to the town
The club has since risen to the seventh tier of the football pyramid, and regularly sees gates of well over 3,000 – making it one of the highest-attended teams in non-league.
Across the country, the same pull is showing up in the numbers. Attendances in National League South hit a 10-year high in 2024/25, with an average crowd of 1,221, up 134% on 2014/15, while the Isthmian Premier Division averaged 764, a 94% rise over the same period.
“People want to watch non-league football because they are discovering that it’s a lot better than they think,” says James Doe, founder of Non-League Day, a day set aside in English football where supporters of clubs playing at the highest levels of the game are encouraged to experience football at non-league level. “It’s very accessible – clubs are nearby, admission, food and drink are affordable, it’s far more child friendly and you can get really close to the action. You can even change ends at half time,” he says.
‘Bedford has always had the people, the pride and the appetite for football, but it never had a club that matched the size of the town,’ said Peter McCormack
“For many people, football has been something they’ve only ever enjoyed on television and it’s often been marketed in a way that teaches them there is nothing else. When you go to a local club you realise that’s not the case and can quickly get hooked. Why stay at home when you can be out with your friends being part of something?” says Doe.
Back in Spalding, Real Bedford look as if they are about to add another chapter to that argument. They are 2-1 up with minutes to go, close enough to see the sixth tier opening in front of them, before a controversial late penalty drags Spalding level and extra time does the rest. Real lose 4-2, their fourth straight promotion postponed for at least another year, but the noise from the away end suggests something important has already happened.
Photography by Curt Taylor