by Suzanne Beishon

SWANSEA CITY boldly backed loyal fans yesterday by becoming the first Premier League club to subsidise the price of away tickets.

The Welsh club announced the plans to remain “True to 22” for the coming season after their attempts to arrange reciprocal deals with other Premier League clubs through their Away Supporters Initiative (ASI) in the 2014-15 season had mixed success.

The radical scheme that puts fans first means that no adult will pay more than £22 for any away fixture this season, while concession prices will be capped at £15 and kids just £10.

And with adult prices at some of the league’s grounds topping £50, the subsidy will save Swansea fans an estimated £300,000 across the season.

“The club was very proactive on its Away Supporters Initiative last season,” explained Swans vice-chairman Leigh Dineen. “But we believe our ‘True to 22’ pledge has taken it to a new level.

“We worked hard on reducing away ticket prices for our supporters last season through reciprocal deals with other clubs. Unfortunately, we were unable to finalise deals with all the clubs for different reasons.

“Therefore, while we introduced other away fan benefits, we felt it would be more beneficial to our supporters if we took the step of guaranteeing them cheaper tickets for all our away games, whether there was a reciprocal deal in place or not.”

The Swans spent £175,000 on last season’s initiative providing ticket reductions, free meals, match programmes or merchandise at 15 of their 19 away trips, with nine clubs signing up to reciprocal deals.

Followers of Garry Monk’s side clocked up 4,129 miles, an average of 217 miles per trip, to watch their stars play away — further than any other team in the Premier League last season.

And the director of the Swans Supporters Trust — who own a 21 per cent stake in the club — Huw Cooze explained that: “As a fan-owned club, we are well aware of how expensive it is to follow the team to away games, especially with the increasing transport costs.

“But this ‘True to 22’ pledge means an adult can now watch every one of our away games in the Premier League for a total price of £418. That’s more than £250 cheaper per adult than the amount we believe it would cost this season without our subsidy.”

An enormous amount of pressure has been building on clubs to do more for travelling fans, with the Football Supporters Federation’s Twenty’s Plenty campaign drawing widespread support.

Federation chief executive Kevin Miles said: “The news that Swansea will cap away ticket prices for their travelling fans is extremely welcome. It’s pleasing to see that they’re recognising the importance of their away support.

“It’s a huge boost for the Twenty’s Plenty campaign and we’d encourage other Premier League clubs to take note.”