SAINTS fans have been hit with several large increases in terms of season ticket prices in recent years.

Though those increases have angered some sections of the fanbase, they are also understandable to a degree.

After all, the club rose quickly from the depths of League 1 back to the promised land of the Premier League.

With an improvement in the quality of players arriving at the club, as well as the standard of opposition, it was hardly unfair that supporters were being asked to pay more.

You couldn’t argue you should pay the same ticket price to watch Wycombe and Hartlepool at St Mary’s as you would some of the biggest names in world football.

As a result of staying in the Premier League, fans probably thought their season ticket prices would be hiked again for 2013/14.

In that respect, they probably had a nice surprise on seeing the actual increases were only around five per cent.

The club have rewarded those who bought a season ticket last time round, and should be applauded for that.

As ever, you could look at these things in one of two ways.

The glass half-full supporters will say that a five per cent increase in order to still watch one of the most exciting leagues in world football next season is a fair price to pay.

Those of a glass half-empty nature might think Saints are being greedy putting the prices up at all, given that the club have just received almost £44m in Premier League television and prize money, with the prospect of many more millions next season once the new tv contracts kick in.

With all that money swimming around St Mary’s, why charge the fans any extra in 2013/14?

Better to reward them all by freezing their season ticket prices?

Worthwhile questions they might be, but let’s be realistic here and assume season ticket prices at football clubs go up most years.

In that respect, Saints have got it just about right for 2013/14.

There is a slight increase – they are running a business, lest we forget – but only a fairly small one.

And the bottom line has to be this ...

Surely it’s better for fans to pay £35 (on average) to watch Manchester United in the Premier League than (roughly) £22 to watch Saints play Stockport County in the third division (as they did only four seasons ago, lest we forget ...)?

Sometimes it’s good to remember just how far Saints have come, in a short period of time.

And when we do, we need to realise that increased season ticket prices are a necessary end result of that.