There has been a huge reaction from Leicester City supporters to the ticket prices for our 4th Round FA Cup tie at Old Trafford.
They are exorbitant, and even more expensive than we were charged by Manchester United to attend the League Cup tie earlier this season.
A combination of a Friday night kick-off at 8pm to enable the FA Cup tie to be shown on ITV, and prices for adults ranging between £51 and £61, means that many Leicester fans are saying enough is enough and they will not travel to Manchester and put money into the Old Trafford coffers.
For other fixtures in the 4th round, Chelsea fans visiting Brighton are paying £25 and Bournemouth fans visiting Everton will pay £35.
The increased visitor allocations available for FA Cup games usually gives an opportunity for more fans to travel to away matches, especially those that cannot normally get tickets for Premier League games. It also enables some younger fans to support their team away from home, some perhaps for the first time. But MUFC as part of their new ‘ticketing strategy’ are charging under 16s £25 when the FA Cup rules enable them to charge as little as £10 for an adult ticket, and even less for concessions!
We would have been entitled to over 9000 tickets. LCFC has reduced our allocation from just over 3000, to 1800 and it remains to be seen whether we sell them! At present ticket sales in the away section appear to be less than a thousand.
The prices set by MUFC are in stark contrast to LCFC’s approach to prices in the 3rd round, when the club responded to the Fans Advisory Boards recommendation to keep costs to a minimum to create the opportunity for the next generation of fans to attend a fixture. This resulted in a crowd of over 28,000, with lots of youngsters in attendance.
The Foxes Trust board considered whether we should call for a formal boycott of the game to directly shame Manchester United and to back up the FSA campaign … ‘Stop Exploiting Loyalty’. But because some fans had already purchased tickets and booked travel, and because this fixture maybe the only time that fans with fewer away loyalty points will get the opportunity to visit Old Trafford, we steered away from that. But fans are voting with their feet.
We have engaged with the Football Supporters Association, Leicester City, the Manchester United Supporter’s Trust, and have made our feelings known to the local media. The outcomes of that are:
- We can confirm that the setting of FA Cup ticket prices is purely a home club decision, the process of both clubs having to agree the prices was changed several seasons ago. Because they are not charging visiting fans more than home fans, they do not need to engage with Leicester City about pricing. And they can choose to disregard the £30 ticket limit for away supporters because that only applies in the Premier League.
- The Trust has spoken with LCFC this week asking if there are any plans for mitigating the exorbitant ticket prices e.g. reduced/free travel or ticket subsidies.
- The FSA has published a damning article about Manchester United continuing to exploit the loyalty of the fans which you can read here – https://thefsa.org.uk/news/manchester-united-exploit-fans-loyalty-with-fourth-round-pricing/
- Radio Leicester held an interview with our joint chair Steve Moulds where our stance about the way Manchester United were exploiting fans loyalty was made clear.
It has to be one of the worst examples of exploiting fans, especially when originally the big TV money coming from Sky and others was meant to enable clubs to reduce ticket prices.
Manchester United have defended recent pricing decisions stating there are at risk of breaching spending rules, stating, ”We are currently making a significant loss each year – totalling over £300m in the past three years. This is not sustainable.” As they spent over £200m in player purchases this summer, there are clearly other areas of their business they need to review rather than charging fans more to reduce losses.
Manchester United should be ashamed … but considering their track record, even with their own fans, they probably won’t be.
More information
The FA Cup rule 20 C (ii) states – Competition Proper
Immediately after the draw is known, the Club playing at home shall decide on all prices of admission, subject to a minimum price of £10.00 for all spectators other than concessions.
Where the away Club’s spectators are permitted to attend, they can only be charged more than the home Club’s spectators if mutually agreed by both Clubs.
Manchester United Supporter’s Trust – Manchester United Supporters’ Trust: £66 tickets are a “disgrace” – Football Supporters’ Association
FSA Stop Exploiting Loyalty Campaign – Fans press Premier League on ticket prices – Football Supporters’ Association
Reading’s 2023 4th Round tie away at Manchester United – Reading FC Supporters’ Trust slam Manchester United and ITV for FA Cup prices and kick off time – Berkshire Live
Manchester United at risk of PSR breach –https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2mknlvyw3o
Radio Leicester Interview with Steve Moulds (from 3hrs 17mins) – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0kh3qxm