ROY KEANE will never be  counted among my favourite  players of all time, but I had  to agree with him when he  railed against the type of  fans who were watching  top-flight football.

It is a fair few years since Keane  ranted about the ‘prawn sandwich’  brigade who frequented Old  Trafford – in the meantime he has  managed at Sunderland and  Ipswich Town – but his warnings  about the ordinary punter being  turned away from the game have  certainly come to fruition this  week.

Never mind the prawn sandwich  munchers of Manchester, now  Arsenal have taken a huge step to  turning the Emirates into a no-go  zone for partakers of pies and  pitched their future firmly with the  lobster thermidore echelon.

A season-ticket price hike of 6.5%  means that from next season the  cheapest price to watch the Gunners  is a mere £951.

Even more worrying is that the  club are seemingly  unapologetic  about the change.

Arsenal chief executive Ivan  Gazidis said: “Ordinary fans are  increasingly being priced out of  football.”

While he admitted this could be  bad for football in the long term,  there were  no signs of the Gunners  back-tracking on their decision.

And one can only assume that,  for the time being, they are quite  happy to price the great unwashed  out of their stadium, filling it  instead with yuppies in suits who  probably don’t have a clue who  Charlie George was let alone such  marvellous Gunners’ legends as  Peters Simpson and Storey.

For Gunners fans who have faithfully battled through the move from  Highbury and the increasing costs  of following their team, they must  almost be wishing that the club  would at least just take them for  granted for once, and freeze  season-ticket prices rather than  essentially working on the premise  that supporters are there just to be  fleeced for every penny they have  got.

WHEN it comes to the passion of  supporters, I have to say  fanaticism is alive and well in  Huddersfield.

This week I was guest speaker  at the Senior Giants meeting and,  unaccustomed as I am to public  speaking (and this is an instance  where the cliche is also  frighteningly true), it seemed to  be an enjoyable afternoon for  everyone – although I am  prepared  to be corrected on that  one.

The experienced followers of  rugby league in Huddersfield  certainly didn’t pull any punches  when it came to expressing just  what coverage they expect of  their club, not only in the papers  but over media as a whole.

The message that came across  loud and clear was that they want  more rugby league coverage,  especially on the Giants, and I  was left in no doubt that they  expect that specifically on their  own doorstep – certainly their  passion for the club has not  dwindled over the years.

And congratulations to the  Town supporters who took part  in  the charity bike ride to the  game at Brighton – a quite  stunning effort by all involved.