United's board have made a bad decision.
"We made some mistakes at Lausanne, but we are fast learners," said Sir Jim Ratcliffe when he bought OGC Nice. Ratcliffe has done a lot of good since becoming co-owner of Manchester United, but the mistakes are beginning to add up and his latest has lit a fire among supporters.
United have made the mid-season decision to raise matchday ticket prices to £66 per game, with no concessions for children or pensioners, which has been described as a "kick in the teeth."
The club have said the hike will only affect a small number of fans as 97 per cent of tickets have already been sold but the remainder and resold tickets will be subject to the increase.
The reality is supporters will be forced to walk away from attending games. One fan told the Manchester Evening News the changes were "gutting" and another slammed it as a "disgusting policy", questioning how it has been deemed fair to charge children £66 to watch a game.
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United have not provided comment, although the hike has been privately described as a "difficult decision" and it's been said the "increased revenue" will support first-team investment.
How much United will make from this increase is nominal but it will hit fans' pockets when the price of living has never been so high. To make matters worse, it's been introduced during the season and without consultation, which has contributed to the anger that is simmering among fans.
Carly Lyes is the chair of the MUFC Local Supporters' Club, an official branch for fans who live within a two-mile radius of Old Trafford, and she wants the club to perform a U-turn.
"Our aim is to try and build a sense of community among fans who live in the local area and to provide opportunities to young fans to be able to access games," Lyes told the MEN.
"We also do trips for women's games and youth games, so for us, it's been an absolute smack in the teeth. We're putting in all this work and effort to try generate support among the next generation and club have just shown they have absolute disregard for an entire cohort of fans.
"Both the younger generation and older fans that have been going for many, many years. It's been a kick in the teeth to know fans are putting this effort in to try to generate support for the club and the club are just making it as difficult as possible for young, local fans to access games.
"It feels like an attack on the youngest and oldest, which are the two areas of the fanbase that should be protected and nurtured at all costs. And the way that it's been brought in...
"The decision itself is bad enough and it's been brought in without consultation with fan groups or with any consideration of who it's going to affect and how it's going to affect them.
"There's all sorts of additional issues. We're in contact with a lot of the other branches and there's been huge concern in particular at the cost doubling overnight. What was previously £59 for the branch allocation in North Stand Tier Three for an adult and a child has now become £132."
United have made a terrible decision. (Image: 2024 Getty Images)
Lyes continued: "A lot of the branch secretaries are absolutely terrified because people are going to be unable to pay that amount. If members can't pay for those tickets, they can't run for the busses, which means season ticket holders are going to be stuck without transport.
"I think the club in their narrow-minded approach to this think it's only going to impact 3 per cent of tickets, but it doesn't, it has a much bigger, knock on effect to branches, to season ticket holders who depend on branches to come to games, to season ticket holders who want to forward their tickets on to people, to friends and family of people who get tickets through the membership system.
"There are so many people it will impact. That's why there's been such a massive upswell against it because everybody is affected by this, it doesn't just affect three per cent, it has an impact on everybody.
"It will impact you whether you are a season ticket holder, a member, a young person, an old person, a disabled fan or an able-bodied fan. It affects the whole area and the relationship that we have as a city with the club. It's got such a far-reaching impact and they've been so naïve.
"They haven't thought about the long-term impact. It's just unconscionable the club can actively divorce itself from the area around it. Those people in the local area have always been the bedrock of United's support and the club is becoming further and further this giant inaccessible thing that's in the local area that doesn't bring benefit to the local community.
"The foundation benefits the community, but the club itself is perceived locally as nothing but a drain on transport resources, parking, litter, with none of the benefits of being able to access games that come along with that and they're exploring Trafford Wharfside regeneration at the moment.
"They have claimed it will bring benefit to the whole area, but if the local community can't access the club's chief purpose for existing, which is football matches, what is the point of all this?"
Ratcliffe's cost cutting scheme is behind the ticket price increase. (Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images.)
Last month, the MEN criticised United's decision to scrap European away ticket collections. United decided to scrap the popular system this season as a direct result of the decision by Ratcliffe to axe 250 jobs at the club, but fans were deeply unhappy and challenged the change.
Ratcliffe's cost-cutting scheme began with charging staff to travel to Wembley in May. Mass redundancies followed, MUTV's coverage of the academy was scaled back, European away ticket collections were scrapped and now fans will be asked to pay £66 to watch United.
The British billionaire has been given an inch and has taken a mile. Further changes seem inevitable and a protest against the ticket price increase is planned before Everton on Sunday.
A letter was sent to United CEO Omar Berrada earlier this week and fans want the ticket price to be immediately reverted and consultation to take place. "In the short-term, they need to make a complete U-turn and admit it was really poorly thought through," explained Lyes.
"They should say they didn't consider the impact it was going to have and then have meaningful consultation with the appointed fan groups to talk about a realistic, long-term price structure that isn't going to alienate the key groups who are most vulnerable to price changes.
"Three years ago, it was £13 for an Under-16 to attend Old Trafford and they've proposed now putting that up to £66. They say it's only a small amount of tickets, but this is an indicator of travel and an indication of the direction that the club is going. This is the thin end of the wedge.
"This is why there's been such resistance because people can see the start of an attempt to increase season ticket prices, higher individual prices and pricing people out of the game.
"They have underestimated, just like they did with the European Super League, fan sentiment because so many of them are divorced from the communities that make the club's support."
Ratcliffe said he wanted to put "Manchester back into Manchester United," when he invested in the club in February but he is gradually turning his back on the matchgoing contingent.
He has made a huge mistake with the ticket price increase. Hopefully he is a fast learner.
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