Football clubs, like any business, need to make money to survive, and hopefully thrive.

But there is a thin line between making an honest profit and plain greed.

Many football fans will make their own minds up when they study the BBC’s survey on the cost of going to matches, and in most cases they will argue they are not getting value for money.

Readers of this newspaper – even non-football following ones – want Swindon Town to do well, and success goes hand in hand with making money. The more money the club makes the better the players it can afford to buy, thus improving the chances of promotion and progress in cup competitions.

The astronomical figures charged by the footballing millionaires in the Premier Leage are to be expected, but down in League One, where Town play their football, prices should be more reasonable.

Fans will be happy that Town are in third place in the table at this moment. They will be less pleased at the fact that Town’s most expensive matchday ticket, at £27, is £2.50 up on the League One average.

But it’s the income from tickets – in other words, your hard-earned money – that keeps the club in business, and many would argue that £27 isn’t an extortionate amount compared to what other clubs charge.

But also included in the survey is the cost of replica shirts, which no discerning fan would be without on matchday.

If you want a Town one, it will set you back £45, the joint highest amount in the division.

That is unfair and unrealistic. And greedy.

Fans will buy the shirts whatever, but the club needs to treat them with more respect.