Fans feel aggrieved that Manchester United are pushing away season ticket holders with new rules that have rightly sparked anger among the fanbase.
Football clubs told fans they learned that the sport is nothing without fans during the COVID pandemic, but now we’ve been suddenly hit in the race by the reality of living in an age where we only deemed customers.
The Glazer family have been strangling the financial life out of Manchester United for the past 18-years, and they have been flogging tickets to tourists for astronomical prices despite the club ‘stepping up’ its attempts to prevent ticket touting.
Some fans feel they are the worst touts of all.
For next season onwards, fans will access their digital tickets via United’s official app, but the tickets will be locked to the device they are using. The QR codes that are scanned when entering the ground will be hidden until three hours before kick-off.
An email sent to a selected number of season ticket holders stated: “This means you, and more importantly other people won’t be able to access your tickets on another device.”
This is being trialed by a number of season ticket holders for the remaining home games (4) this term.
Another new ticketing rule has seen United come under increasing pressure from fans, after being told they must attend 17 of the 19 home games in the 2024-25 campaign or risk losing their seat at Old Trafford.
The number of games that needed to be attended in 2023-24 for season ticket renewal was 14.
According to the Daily Mail, the new ticket rule was one of the main topics discussed during the latest meeting of the Fans’ Forum on Thursday.
Senior executives attended the meeting and listened to the concerns of supporter representatives. They were reportedly open to reducing the minimum attendance requirement from 17.
It remains to be seen if United will change the rule ahead of next season but they really should.
I have been vocally critical of United’s membership system for a long time, I can’t stand it and the way it’s priced/modelled
But I’d stomach it, somewhat, if us ST holders were given a “friends and family” membership exempt list (say 5 named people) before start of the season.
— The Life Of Brian (@DaytrippingRed) April 22, 2024
What happens if a season ticket holder has an emergency, or falls ill, and can’t make a game when it’s too late to transfer a ticket to an existing member or donate to the foundation?
The club forget that fans their hard-earned money to purchase a season ticket each season. If United continue to ignore the importance of their loyal support, they will only continue to lose the core of our match-going fans.
Subscribe to the Stretty News podcast Strettycast for weekly episodes on Manchester United. You can also sign up to the ad-free Stretty Newsletter. Get the Stretty News verdict on all matters Manchester United.
