Season Ticket Hike Angers United Fans - 30/04/2007

Manchester United fans have been upset by a decision to increase some season ticket prices by 14 per cent after a 12.5 per cent across-the-board rise last summer. The latest increase is much bigger than originally envisaged in a business plan leaked to the press last summer. That anticipated a 2.5 per cent rise this summer (below the rate of inflation) with subsequent 5 per cent rises each year until the summer of 2012 when there would be an across the stadium increase of 9.5 per cent. Mark Longden, chair of the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association commented, 'It's just slightly strange with the new money that is coming in from the TV deal - the club is getting £30 extra per seat across the board for the next three years. For every person that goes through the turnstile they could give them £30 back and not be any worse off, so surely there must be some scope for reducing prices or at least freezing them.'

The Glazers argue that higher prices are already being paid at leading London clubs and that the club's tickets have been undervalued 'in the context of the quality of the Old Trafford experience.' Moreover, United are not having trouble filling their increased 76,000 capacity. Other north-western clubs like Blackburn and Wigan have had to cut ticket prices because of falling attendances. Many football fans in general think with some justification that United fans are relatively affluent and often drawn from southern England, although there is a substantial Manchester support base that does not eat prawn sandwiches. United's success this season has quelled much of the hostility to the Glazers' takeover. Nevertheless, after the victory over AC Milan a car that was thought to be theirs was attacked outside the Lowry Hotel where the Glazers had stayed the previous night.