After years of exploiting the regular match-going supporter with ever increasing ticket prices, Premier League clubs appear to have finally realised that fans are not simply assets to be taken for granted and fleeced at every opportunity.
The Premier League announced on Wednesday that all 20 clubs had agreed a limit of £30 for all away tickets for the next three seasons, a significant victory for fan pressure groups.
Everton fan group the Blue Union has joined forces with their Liverpool counterparts Spirit of Shankly to campaign for lower ticket prices for several months now.
They, and other supporters groups across the country, also backed the Football Supporters Federation's "Twenty's Plenty" campaign, calling for a £20 limit on away ticket prices.
They didn't quite achieve that aim, but a £30 limit is a significant step when you consider some away ticket prices are currently in excess of £60.
The issue of ever spiralling match ticket prices finally came to a head this year, with mass walkouts, demonstrations and boycotts sending out a powerful message to football executives that fans are no longer going to take such exploitation lying down.
With the bumper new TV deal coming into force next season clubs have no excuse not to keep prices at a reasonable levels.
Liverpool supporters staged a mass walkout during the Sunderland game last month in protest against increased season ticket prices, prompting an embarrassing u-turn by Reds executives.
Everton, to their credit, have been much more sensitive to the issue of ticket prices, striving to keep them as affordable as possible. Only last week they announced season ticket prices for all adults will be reduced next season.
They were also the only club to strongly push for a £30 limit on away tickets at a meeting back in February. It is believed around seven or eight clubs blocked the proposal, though the horrendous pr it has generated since seems to have prompted a u-turn.
Speaking of the ticket price cap, Everton chief executive Robert Elstone said:
"This has been very much top of the Premier League’s agenda, with a long discussion about it at the last meeting, and today’s undertaking is absolutely right for away fans and for the Premier League.
"Most clubs have recognised for some time that we need to do something for the travelling supporter.
"That supporter makes a huge commitment to their club, they are almost all season ticket holders and, as a consequence, they go to support their team for a large proportion of the 38 Premier League games in a season.
"It is absolutely right that football, as a family, looks after that group of fans.
"Our away fans are among the most dedicated and committed throughout the Premier League and that loyalty is deserving of this commitment by the clubs,"