The Ineos vision at Manchester United is starting to take shape in a concrete form after lip service and the latest announcement stands as the biggest proof of that.
Man Utd’s new stadium plan announcement is the first major step they’ve taken since Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Co became part owners of the club.
The 100k-seater stadium is expected to transform the fortunes of a club that has been ignored for far too long by an apathetic Glazer family.
However, with more eyeballs comes a higher profile, and with a higher profile comes hyper capitalisation, thereby making the fans fear they could be priced out of the new stadium.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has addressed that fear by issuing a clear objective for the new stadium ticket prices.
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Sir Jim Ratcliffe on Man Utd’s new stadium ticket prices
It happens all the time when clubs increase their profile by building a new stadium.
The “legacy” fan gets pushed out for more corporates, capitalists take over, and ticket prices soar in search of more revenue and profit.
Therefore, when the club announced their plans for a new stadium, Man Utd fans, already feeling unheard by Ratcliffe, had valid reason to fear for their ability to attend games in the future.
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Ratcliffe addressed that issue in an interview with the official club channel, saying that he wants the tickets to be affordable broadly and his objective was clear.
He said: “This stadium is for Man Utd supporters and the majority who go to the ground are people in Manchester. So, tickets have to be affordable and they have to be a fair price. I fully support and understand that.
“There will also be seats for corporates, people come from Hong Kong/London, they’ll have to pay a bit more money for those. But we’ll look after people from Manchester.”
Man Utd need to balance legacy with profit
Ratcliffe’s message seems to strike the fine balance between preserving the legacy and the soul of the club by looking out for loyal fans while maximising profit.
It remains to be seen how that flexible ticket price is in action, but effectively getting the “one-time” visitor to subsidise for regular matchgoing fans seems like a sensible idea.
Ultimately, they are the ones who create the atmosphere the club builds its reputation on and that becomes even more important when moving to a new stadium.
United will have to create new memories and build a legacy in that building from scratch, so being formidable at home is a non-negotiable.
They need a raucous atmosphere for that, and looking after the regular matchgoing fans is the deal way to do so.