Sir - When I was a teenager in the 1970s, football and cinema ticket prices were comparable. Indeed I recall reading that in the middle of that decade one could watch Derby County, the then League Champions, for less than it would have cost to see The Towering Inferno which was then the big movie blockbuster.

Now it costs me more than twice the cost of a cinema ticket to watch Oxford United, who of course are not only not League Champions, but are not even in the League!

This isn't a criticism of OUFC, who froze their ticket prices for this season, as they have to compete with the clubs around them, but it does illustrate the inflationary madness of what once was a working-class sport.

It is a distant dream at present, but should Oxford ever reach the Premiership the economic reality, given the limited capacity of even their new stadium, is that ticket prices would have to go far higher to be able to match wages. The inevitable consequence of this would be that many of those fans who have stood by the club during its dark days would be priced out of watching them every week.

Given that the football industry continues to consume in wages whatever television and sponsors throw at it and the tribal loyalty of the fans to the clubs, I do not see this situation changing soon.

It is natural to want the best for one's football team, but perhaps the old moral for those Oxford fans on modest incomes is to be careful what they wish for, eh?

Alan J. Fisher, Finstock