Former England and Chelsea captain John Terry is charging fans £100 per autograph and £500-a-head to eat with him on his one-man tour.
Terry, who works with Chelsea’s academy, held the first of his four nights in Basingstoke last Friday night and is appearing in Birmingham, at the NEC, this Friday, before moving on to Bournemouth in October and London in November.
Prices start at £25 for a general admission ticket for Terry’s Birmingham date, but fans who want to be sure of getting an autograph must pay £100 for one signature, on top of their ticket price, or pay £500-a-head for the ‘sponsorship package’.
The ‘sponsorship package’ costs £5,000 for a table of 10 people who get a private two-course dinner with Terry and can have up to one item signed each, along with a photograph with the former central defender, who also played for and captained Aston Villa.
According to the website promoting the event, the £5,000 table remains available for the Birmingham event, but is sold-out for the nights in Bournemouth and London.
Fans who have bought the £150 ‘platinum package’, which is sold out in Birmingham, get a photo with Terry and front row seating, but do not get an autograph guaranteed in the ticket price, while the so-called ‘gold package’ also includes a photo but no autograph.
A notice on the price list for tickets to ‘an evening with John Terry’, says: “SIGNATURES CAN BE PURCHASED ON THE LINK WHERE YOU BUY THE TICKETS – YOU MUST BRING YOUR OWN ITEM – you will be required to come before the show to have your item signed.”
Fans in London must pay £30 for a general admission ticket and £110 for the ‘gold package’ which is £10 more expensive than in Birmingham and Bournemouth.
There is also a £55 silver package in Bournemouth, which includes a photo with Terry and balcony seating.
The ‘evening with John Terry’ tour is being hosted by Knock Out memorabilia and events, and makes no mention of where the proceeds from the events will be going.
Announcing the tour on the company’s website, Knock Out said: “This will be the first time ever John Terry has taken part in any events like this so we are bringing him to four amazing venues across the country. He will be in Basingstoke, Birmingham, Bournemouth and London. We are positive that all four of these events will sell out in a very short space of time.”
On Monday, none of the three remaining dates were sold out, with a range of different priced tickets and £100 autographs still available at each venue.
At his first date in Basingstoke last Friday, Terry was asked about the possibility of him managing Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia and he said: “I’m not going to be manager over there. It’s for a different role and I’ll be based in the UK. It’s very early doors.”
It is believed talks have centred around Terry speaking to players to help try to convince them to move to Al-Shabab in the future.
Terry’s night in Basingstoke meant he could not attend a dinner ahead of Chelsea’s ‘Legends of Europe’ match in tribute to Gianluca Vialli, but the 42-year-old played in the game the next evening, scoring a goal, and attended the after-party at Stamford Bridge.
