NEWS:MANCHESTER UNITED are considering charging fans for the right to apply for away tickets in a move that could make the club €1.15 million and has led one supporters' group to question whether it is a "cynical" move by the Glazer family to recoup the lost revenue from freezing season-ticket prices.
The club are discussing establishing a Premier League travel club in which supporters might have to pay a “nominal” joining fee, the initial figure under consideration being £20 (€23), if they want to follow Alex Ferguson’s team on the road.
The Independent Manchester United Supporters’ Association estimate that more than 50,000 people would join such a scheme. If, as mooted, a charge is introduced, that would potentially make the club a seven-figure sum.
“Supporters would be paying £20 for a one-in-50,000 chance of getting a ticket,” the IMUSA spokesman, Mark Longden, said. “You have to be cynical when the Glazer family are concerned and this seems to be a nice way of getting their money back from the season tickets.”
United say that nothing has been finalised and they will listen to the club’s official fans’ forum before making any decision at a meeting today.
England’s best-supported club operate a loyalty-pot scheme for away games but are considering abandoning that policy. The fans’ forum has always opposed any change but some supporters, as well as club officials, have raised concerns that the loyalty pot is a “closed shop”, with younger fans unable to break into it.
- Guardian Service
