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Everton players donate £30,050 to subsidise tickets against West Ham

Everton's players have paid out £30,050 between them to subsidise away fan tickets for their trip to West Ham on May 16.

Roberto Martinez's squad have donated the money to reduce the cost of each visiting supporter's seat at Upton Park by £10.

The Toffees have received 3,005 tickets for the Premier League match, with West Ham charging £55 for adults and £32 for under-16s and over-65s.

But the subsidy from Everton's players means that those prices will be reduced to £45 and £22 respectively.

Everton captain Phil Jagielka told the club website: "Everton fans' support is always magnificent -- our away fans especially -- and this gesture is to show our gratitude to them for their support throughout the season."

It is not the first gesture made by the playing staff this season to try to help fans struggling to afford to get to games.

Everton forward Steven Naismith has, for each Everton home match this season, bought tickets to be given away free to unemployed fans in Liverpool.

The cost of tickets for Premier League matches is a contentious issue, with a Liverpool supporters' group organising a boycott of Tuesday's match at Hull in protest about being charged £50 per seat.

According to the Spirit of Shankly group, there were around 1,500 empty seats in the away end at the KC Stadium as a result of the boycott.

The Football Supporters Federation, which represents fans in England and Wales, has appealed to the Premier League to cap the cost of tickets for away supporters at £20.

Clubs can use some of the income from television contracts to keep down the cost of tickets, the FSF has argued.

The new UK television contracts for the Premier League, to take effect from the start of the 2016-17 season, will be the largest ever, with Sky Sports and BT Sport paying a total of £5.136 billion between them over three years.