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London - Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard sympathises with fans' fears over the rising cost of watching football in England and believes clubs should offer more cut-price tickets.
A BBC report published on Wednesday revealed a 13 percent increase in the cost of the cheapest match-day tickets for England's top four divisions since 2011, almost double the rise in the cost of living.
It also claimed England's 20 top-flight clubs are spending a huge proportion of the money they are raking in from a record-breaking TV deal on players' salaries -- 71 pence for every pound of income, according to the Price of Football survey.
Lampard, on loan at Manchester City, said football needed to be wary of pricing out the game's traditional supporters.
"If there aren't fans in the stadiums creating those atmospheres, which we get the best in the world of in England, then you're not going to get that generation of TV money as well," Lampard told the BBC.
"I love when they reduce the prices for away games, for certain cup games.
"They need to do more of that. If they can kick-start this then that is great.
"Because without the fans, then the football doesn't happen."
The 36-year-old Lampard, who joined New York City in the summer after 13 trophy-laden years at Chelsea, questioned whether young players should be paid huge salaries, although he also cast doubt on the idea of a salary cap
"We are giving very big wages to young players who are maybe not quite ready for it," he said.
"We were really made to work for it. We were cleaning boots and doing work at the training ground. You could see the big step needed to make it and you respected that."
"I don't know if there is a legal minefield on that one," he added on salary caps. "It might be something they look at but I don't know whether it is possible."
