As Manchester United cancel hundreds of season tickets, are football clubs putting commercial gain ahead of loyal supporters - and could the traditional season ticket be next to go?
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We can all remember when we got our first season ticket. Mine was ahead of the 2007-08 season, when chairman Niall Quinn gave young Sunderland fans a full season of Premier League football for just £19.
Picking up that booklet filled with paper slips was the start of many a matchday for thousands of supporters up and down the land for generations. When clubs went paperless, this was lost, but the sense of connection with a season ticket remained.
Football fans being seen as customers rather than supporters is a growing concern in the modern game, with ticket demand shaping these decisions. Last month, the club cancelled season tickets for nearly 700 Manchester United fans, citing “irregular activity” on accounts and claims that the tickets were being sold for financial gain.
The issue is that some fans have claimed their season tickets and access to away games and ticket ballots have been restricted for no good reason. This may not be the case, and they may be guilty of selling on their ticket, but if hundreds of fans are being exiled from their club for no good reason, then it’s a sorry state of affairs.
Liverpool fans hold a banner as they protest against the recently announced rise in ticket prices during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Sunderland at Anfield in Liverpool, northwest England, on February 6, 2016. (Photo by LINDSEY PARNABY / AFP via Getty Images) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. /
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These season ticket seats will now go back into the ticket mix, and what other Man Utd fans have mentioned on social media is seeing some of these seats, owned by fans for years and years, going to other people, labelled as ‘tourist fans’, on a one-game basis.
On a business level, it is probably more financially beneficial to have a different person come along to each match in a particular seat than to have a fan of many years have it as their season ticket.
However, if a fan who has dedicated years of their life to following their club, spending thousands of pounds in the process, is shown the door for the chance of being replaced by a fan who will spend more on a matchday, then it’ll be a dark day for our sport.
We shouldn’t be selling our game to the highest bidder, although, sadly, this is a case of closing the stable door well after the horse has bolted. We are far enough down that road that there is probably no return.
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 12: General view outside the stadium as fans arrive before the Premier League 2026/27 match between Sunderland and Arsenal FC at Stadium of Light on September 12, 2026 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)
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A supporter who is at Old Trafford for the first time will likely spend more money in the club shop and on food and drink to get the experience they have never had before. Modern football is about top-flight clubs wanting to take as much money out of fans’ wallets as they can.
Extortionate season ticket prices across the Premier League and the idea of being able to make more money from bringing in a new supporter each game are ways that clubs such as Man Utd may be able to put the humble season ticket to the sword, and there would be plenty of people cheerleading for it should that time come.
Football journalist Henry Winter wrote a piece on Substack in September headlined ‘Any attack on season tickets is an assault on the game’, a statement which is brutal but true.
He went on to say the following, which, coming from one of the biggest names in the industry, shows that the concern is a real one across the world of football.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 5: Detail of the official Puma Premier League 2026/2027 season STELLAR NITRO Ultimate Reactivity Ball during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Manchester City and Coventry City at Etihad Stadium on September 5, 2026 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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“Chasing the ‘tourist’ fan may appear attractive in terms of increased ticket price and megastore spend, but it comes at a cost, and that’s even before we start talking about the erosion of the vital bond between club and traditional match-going support.”
Money has become a spectre in football, and it has infiltrated almost every aspect of the game. If, in the not-too-distant future, a top-six club decides to do away with season tickets, then this could lead to a domino effect the likes of which the sport hasn’t seen before.
Sunderland’s ticketing system has left a lot to be desired in recent years, but I’d rather this than be in a world where the season ticket is gone and we’re left with the feeling that seats are effectively going to the highest bidder.
Due to living and working away from home, I’ve not had a SoL season ticket in more than 20 years, but the idea of fans who have dedicated years to having their own seat, surrounded by the same people, being thrown into the wilderness is a dystopian concept for a sport which will never love us in the same way we love it.