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Earlier today it was announced that Manchester United have made the decision to increase ticket prices for the coming season.
This marks the third consecutive year that the club have increased the price of season tickets, each time by five per cent.
Earlier this season, the club announced the scrapping of concessions for children and Over-65s, making all tickets £66.
However, this move appears to be being reverted for the coming season, with the club reinstating concessions, however, tickets will now vary in price depending on the opponent.
Also, the seating around the dugout is set to become a hospitality zone with a premium price attached due to the proximity to the benches, a move already adopted by Chelsea and Barcelona.
In response to these changes, the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) have made their thoughts clear and invited the fans to take part in a survey to express their feelings.
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Manchester United Supporters Trust have opposed the ticket price hike
On their blog, MUST explained that United had been in consultation with the Fan Advisory Board (FAB) for feedback on the possible changes, however the FAB’s advise that now isn’t the right time for another price hike have been ignored.
Explaining their involvement in the consultation, MUST explained: “As MUST stated publicly prior to our FAB meetings, we have been and remain opposed to price increases.”
The continued: “In fact, ‘we’ in this case means you, our members. For it is not the Board or the Committee’s views we are representing, but yours, views that we gather through regular consultations online and in person.
“Though we have always been vigilant on matters related to ticketing, current circumstances make a price rise even harder to stomach. The team languishes in 13th place. United face financial problems arising from neglected investment, ruinous debt, and gross mismanagement—all of which we predicted prior to the takeover.
“Many called us scaremongers at the time, but how many would argue with that view now? All of this can be laid at the Glazers’ feet.
“There will be people who read these statements and think ‘you fans are never happy, stop complaining and trust in the process.’ They will condescendingly ‘fansplain’ as if we knuckle-dragging fans don’t understand finance.
“Inherent in their words is a blind belief in billionaires, as if making money in one sector makes them experts in football. Nonsense.
“United fans know the truth, namely that our club has been financially pillaged by the Glazer family for two decades. We acknowledge that Jim Ratcliffe has, as a major shareholder, for the first time in a generation, put money into the club, while also meeting with fan representatives and speaking publicly to supporters.
“But while he is right that the Club is in terrible shape on and off the pitch, the idea that United must get its financial house in order essentially overnight is a choice. The Club’s finances are a matter of public record.
“Moreover, our views are informed by two advisors who are some of the most knowledgeable people in the world of football finance and happen to both be United fans, one of whom sits on the MUST Board.
“Our owners—and here we are looking squarely at the Glazers—put us in this position, and it is they who should be putting their hands in their pockets to help get us out of it.”
The blog article goes on to label this strategy of making the fans pay for the errors made under The Glazers’ ownership as “offensive” and has acknowledged options being considered now that wouldn’t have been made prior to INEOS taking control.
The Manchester United Supporters Trust highlighted how the change of senior management means that the club’s associated groups need to once more build a rapport with the United hierarchy, however concerns have already been raised with this due to the mid-season price hike that all groups were opposing.
MUST also challenged the new categorisation of ticket tiers for matches depending on the opponent, pushing for “the numbers of games in the higher categories should be limited” asking for most games to fall into the Category C base price so non-season-ticket holders aren’t hit too hard.
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Source: Centred Devils
