Man Utd’s penny-pinching owners are no better than Oasis for fleecing fans
Old Trafford’s ticket price hikes are part of a wider disease that affects us all
November 29, 2024 4:00 pm
“The Crowd In History” by George Rude, a study of popular uprisings in 18th century England and France, brought a new academic focus to the little people, shifting the emphasis from the traditional historical narratives around kingship and power.
His method was dubbed history from below. It is safe to say were Rude, who died 31 years ago, chronicling the behaviour of the English masses today, he would be priced out of Old Trafford. The profile of the football fan is increasingly upwardly mobile, a result of the rising cost of entry, which at Manchester United has hit a minimum of £66.
The discounted £25 ticket for under-17s is no more. The new price represents a 124 per cent increase for teenagers and 40 per cent for adults previously charged £40. United say this will not impact most supporters since 97 per cent of all available tickets for the rest of the season are sold. Which begs the question, why do it at all in mid-season?
The answer might be that Ineos cannot help themselves. This microeconomic move reflects the nature of their capitalistic ownership, and can be seen in the same light as the shedding of 250 staff and other cuts to boost the bottom line. Mind you, they don’t appear to be very good at that judging by the appalling misjudgment of extending Erik ten Hag’s tenure in the summer when the evidence pointed to his sacking.
That error cost them the best part of £20m four months later, taking into account Ten Hag’s hefty severance pay and the cost of appointing Ruben Amorim from Sporting Lisbon. That would have gone some way to subsidising tickets for children. A sum of £65 for a parent and child to attend on matchday sounds an awful lot better than £132. “Merry Christmas everybody,” love, Sir Jim.
This insensitive act of penny-pinching has been met unsurprisingly by widespread outrage, and a missive of complaint from the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) to United chief executive Omar Berrada, suspecting that this might just be the thin end of the wedge.
“There is a risk that this is only the opening salvo of what will surely be massive pressure to implement a significant price rise for next season,” a spokesperson wrote.
“Once they have got used to charging £132 for a parent and child to come to OT, will they really go back to the old pricing levels for next season?”
Even before this announcement, described by MUST as a low blow and disgusting, supporters of the four mega Merseyside and Manchester clubs had organised in an act of searing prescience a joint fan protest on Sunday against the exploitation of fans. Supporters of Liverpool, Manchester City, United and Everton will gather together outside Anfield and Old Trafford under the aegis of the Football Supporters Association (FSA) campaign, “Stop Exploiting Loyalty”.
In a joint statement from the four clubs, supporters argue the game does not have a revenue crisis but a spending problem and claim it is unjust to pass on the cost of the clubs’ profligacy and mismanagement to the ordinary fan.
“We have been outraged for a whole host of reasons with regards the latest price hikes. This goes far beyond just ticket prices. It’s an attack on football, it’s an attack on heritage and rivalries. The start of an erosion of the very fabric of football culture in our country,” said the MUST spokesperson.
All this against the backdrop of a record, new Premier League broadcast rights deal of £12.25bn, a whopping increase of 17 per cent. The commoditising of popular culture is a widespread disease that targets the interests of ordinary folk. Witness the “dynamic” pricing rip-off that saw the cost of some tickets for the Oasis comeback more than double from a face value of £150 to £350, and that’s if you could connect to the seller.
Well, the Gallagher boys long ago quit the Mancunian barricades for swanky London barrios. What do they care that kids who still live in their old Beswick neighbourhood and thousands like them, have no chance of attending the party? Perhaps they would prefer the neighbours in Highgate and Maida Vale to come instead. That way they won’t feel so bad about maximising the profit from the stored demand of innocents?
Sir Jim Ratcliffe hardly needs the money to prop up his Monaco lifestyle, but this is never personal. It’s just business, eh Jim? United are predicated on youth, yet this is how the club of the Busby Babes treats the demographic, failing to recognise the intimate connection between young supporters and the professional dreams of academy stars. They start in the same place.
United fan groups were further outraged by the lack of consultation despite a commitment to a new fan engagement strategy.
“Tickets are the access point for match-going supporters,” a MUST spokesman said. “By exploiting them, you risk losing the goodwill and affinity which brings so much added value to the club, not just in support for the team but financially as well, both in terms of fans’ discretionary spend and also value for sponsors.
“The marginal gains in ticket revenue will be outweighed by the loss in these other areas. Compared with our main rivals, United has a proud tradition of fairer pricing, which in turn has helped to generate our huge loyal support over decades. Decisions like this one take this loyalty for granted and put it at risk.”
Loyalty is for the old crowd. United are shaping a new history governed by profit, of which supporters are simply another source.
