A group of Manchester City FC fans have set up a trade union-aligned group to fight for better treatment of football supporters and workers.
The Trade Union Blues (TUB) are calling for a range of measures from the club’s management to make tickets more affordable for fans and more accessible for the next generation while promoting the historic ethos of trade union activism.
Group members must be MCFC fans who also belong to a trade union, with over 15 different unions currently represented including Unite and RMT.
Chris Neville, secretary and founding member of TUB, said: “The key thing is you can’t choose your club.
“It’s not like ‘Oh, well I can’t afford to go to City so I’ll just go somewhere else’. Loyalty to your football club is ingrained in you, you don’t just change your team.
“You know, if you can’t afford to watch your team that’s a big issue.
“As City becomes a massive club it’s making football – which I believe is the sport of the working class – inaccessible to working class people.”
But according to Neville, who is also president of Manchester Trades Council, this isn’t a problem unique to MCFC – they see almost every major club as focusing on making profit as a business over everything else.
So TUB is joining forces with the 1894 group and MCFC Foodbank to call for changes to the way Manchester City prices and sells tickets to reward fan loyalty rather than chase revenues.
They also want long-term local fans to stop being pushed out to cater to tourists, which they say disrupts the home block and contributes to price-gouging ticket resales.
They have initiated a number of protests on match days since the start of April, including one on 2 April 2025 that was followed by ticket price freezes, but TUB say that this is not enough.
In a social media post TUB said: “Season tickets must become available to the next generation and prices must be affordable.
“A price freeze should be the starting point.”
This was followed by further protests at the club’s home game against Wolves on 2 May, and on 10 June TUB announced that they had officially become an allied member of the Football Supporters’ Association.
They have also written to MCFC to raise concerns about the season ticket policy changes, which require a ten-game minimum attendance at home matches to retain the ticket.
TUB says this requirement could unfairly discriminate against certain fans, including those who are disabled, elderly, or on shift work.
They also raised concerns about the use of facial recognition on club workers, saying it is something they “fully oppose”.
Crucially, TUB want to see bigger changes across the football industry, not just at MCFC.
They see themselves as the first of many trade unionist groups fighting for fans at clubs all over the country.
Find out more and follow the Trade Union Blues at https://linktr.ee/tublues.
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Featured image: Trade Union Blues