Man Utd: Supporters submit ticketing complaint to the OFT

The Office of Fair Trading has just received a complaint from MUST, the independent Manchester United supporters' trust. asking it to investigate ticket pricing at Old Trafford. If the OFT choose to investigate the matter properly, it may set a precedent for each and every club that has unfairly taken advantage of its 'customers' in recent years. I for one welcome this move.

The hikes at Old Trafford are not just about 60% hikes, they are also about the unfair and potentially illegal Automatic Cup Scheme which forces season ticket holders to purchase tickets for every home cup game. Whilst the club have recently agreed to remove the League Cup from this, they are still forcing all fans to buy tickets at full price for home to Aalborg in a potentially pointless group stage game, an no doubt there will be some equally unattractive and expensive FA cup games on the horizon too. This has added hundreds of pounds onto the cost of season tickets for many and has meant thousands of longstanding supporters have walked away from the club. Fans have now got together with lawyers to proof the practice is against compeitition law, for example that making fans sign what is essentially a blank cheque every summer should not continue.

In addition to submitting the complaint, United fans have organised a meeting of MPs from all the main political parties which is taking place in early December. So far the response has been positive and it is now up to the OFT to act. But every football supporter should be following this one and hoping it pays off. I know the usual response to this is "yeh but it is just a business, they can charge what they like" but we have found top compeititon experts who see it differently now, including Downing Street's own advisers from when Murdoch tried to buy the club. We have also obtained documents through a Freedom of Information request that show the Glazers promised the government there would not be major price hikes, which they have now broken. The information can all be seen in detail at this link: http://www.joinmust.org/oft/

Oli Winton

Comments

[What do i know?]

A Looong way from £5.95 a ticket i used to pay in 1980. As a youngster I worked all week to go, and was the highlight of my week. How many youngsters get to go now? That's the real problem, player earning's should not affect the crowd's population but it has. Now buying clubs and borrowing to do it, should not be allowed for the above reason's. Football should be priced the same as the pictures as used to be, sky distorted everything and bosman did the rest. The suits need to realise football is nothing without the fans just watch any game played in front of a half filled stadium!!

[Andygeog]

Me too, watching Coventry at home last year was a joke. We were forced to buy the ticket and then they played Dong Fangzhou up front.

It was the final nail in the coffin for me.

This may just sound like spoilt United fans moaning but I really resented the club taking me for granted in this way.

[Ben]

After many years as a season ticket hold, i gave it up this summer. This was purely due to the cup scheme which I strongly disagreed with. I struggle to attend midweek games due to work constraints. Most cup games are mid week. i was therefore paying for the seat and praying i could resell. with the overall cost going up this year, i felf less confident i could sell the ticket on each occasion. i miss my weekend at OT, but not the monthly credit card statement showing iv paid for a game\s i cannot attend and did not want to pay for. goog luck MUST.

[Oli]

If anyone wants to watch a very good explanation of this from Sky Sports News from a non-Man United fan.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WasP4gZmOCQ

[Rob]

I'm somewhat surprised that the Man Utd board has been allowed to run the Automatic Cup Scheme as long as it has.

Look at it this way: a contract comprises three elements, offer, acceptance and consderation. You, the fan, were offered a season ticket for a certain amount of money, you accepted the offer, and you gave the club the money whilst they, in return, gave you a seat at matches and paid players to play in front of you.

This, in itself, is a very straightforward contract for entertainment - you pay, they perform. However, the addition of an unknown element in the eventual price - the results in cup games - creates a problem.

There is a legal principle that consideration should not be past, as per the case of (bear with me here, it's a long time since I've done this) D v Rees (1964?). Past consideration in that case referred to the plaintiff's roof being fixed before she'd offered to pay for it (she was away on holiday, and returned to find that the builders who were fitting an extension to her house had also redone the roofing).

Whether or not you, the fan, have to pay for, say, an FA Cup quarter final ticket depends entirely upon how Man Utd do in rounds three, four and five (and that's before you take into account that the draw may not give Utd ANY home ties). Therefore, the season ticket holder is being expected to pay extra for a win that has already happened.

Remember, consideration cannot be past, and consideration for a season ticket is your money and the team's performance. The club are insisting on you paying as a result of a past performance, and one you may not even have seen (if the 5th round game had been away from home).

The club are insisting that their previous efforts warrant a future payment from you. And this simply is not permitted in English law.

[Rob P]

I am a Manchester United fan living 500 miles away. I love my club and try to get to as many games a season as I can. This is a disgraceful way to treat fans though. The biggest issue here is not the cost of attending extra games; it’s the uncertainty of how expensive a season will be over the course of a season. You cannot keep your supporters guessing how much money is going to be coming out of their pocket.

Regarding the cost of other club's season tickets - the reason United can afford to charge less is because of the 100+ corporate boxes at Old Trafford which start at £60k a season (there is a waiting list for these) and the incredible levels of merchandise sales, both at the ground and worldwide. This allows the club to charge less than other rivals - raising season ticket prices, however it is done, is not actually needed.

[Rob P]

I am a Manchester United fan living 500 miles away. I love my club and try to get to as many games a season as I can. This is a disgraceful way to treat fans though. The biggest issue here is not the cost of attending extra games; it’s the uncertainty of how expensive a season will be over the course of a season. You cannot keep your supporters guessing how much money is going to be coming out of their pocket.

Regarding the cost of other club's season tickets - the reason United can afford to charge less is because of the 100+ corporate boxes at Old Trafford which start at £60k a season (there is a waiting list for these) and the incredible levels of merchandise sales, both at the ground and worldwide. This allows the club to charge less than other rivals - raising season ticket prices, however it is done, is not actually needed.

[Dave H]

Whilst the actions of MUST in trying to give supporters the option to buy cup tickets, the reality is that as a season ticket holder you know you need to attend every game to have a chance of getting a Cup final ticket.... should we be lucky enough to get to Wembly or rome.
The increase on car parking and credit card charges also needs looking into.

[RB]

Should MUST not actually be applauded for taking this action? If this was purely an Anit-United / Anti-Glazer action then why are FSF right behind it, why are Politicians looking into the issue of ticket prices..oh aye, I forgot, they are all Anti-United too!

Think about it, if this action is successful then every other club has to look at their ticketing policy. United have gone down a potential illegal route to pull in cash to pay off the debt they are ridden with. If this action is NOT successful then every other club will look at doing something similar!

[Char]

First of all the Chelsea/Arsenal ticket prices being higher than United's is a myth. Second of all- look at the bigger picture here. This is not just about MUST or Manchester United or Manchester United supporters. If MUST win this case it has hugely positive ramifications for ALL of you. Do you not want reasonably priced tickets? Each club is essentially a monopoly in itself. All we ask is that they don't abuse that dominant position. In 2005 a seat in the North Stand cost just £532. This season it costs £912 with a possible £502 extra if United go all the way in all competitions. So that season ticket would cost £1,414. There has been a 60% increase in ticket costs since the Glazers came i despite their assurances that no such rise would happen.

Mal- no a monopoly cannot just do what it likes. There's a thing called Competition Law that prevents it.

So if supporters of other clubs would stop focussing on United fans' plight and telling us not to moan, maybe you'll see that this is being done for all supporters including Chelsea/Arsenal/Leyton Orient etc etc. Open your eyes. We all love our clubs. BUt that does not mean we have to let them take us for a ride. It does not make you a better supporter to hand over your wallet whenever they want it. It makes you a mug.

[Oli]

Actually Mal, they can only do what they want within the law. And they have broken competition laws in three different instances, hence the complaint being submitted to the OFT. If United have done no wrong then they have nothing to worry about, but if they have broken the law then it is right it is addressed. Out of interest, which of MUST's 3 complainst do you disagree with or think are legal? Or have you not actually read them?

[Mal]

I'm sorry FORCED is the wrong word here. Using the word forced creates the impression of a physical act by the club. Fact of the matter is MUFC are a private entity who can do as they please. Don't like it? Move on.

[Rob]

£102 for an away ticket to Villareal?

**** me. Almost makes you wonder what the point is in a billionaire owner?

[Stan]

Rob, thats not what Oli was saying at all. What he was saying is after shelling out for a way more expensive season ticket, weeks after the most expensive European away trip UEFA couldve concoted, and having £40 automatically debited for Carling Cup games, I dont have the choice to not attend the Aalborg game. There will also be no chance of moving the seat on as it wont sell out, therefore Viagogo, the clubs own touting system, wont kick in. Mates are just as financially squeezed as i am, and will be more so two weeks before xmas. If your finances are limitless, good luck to you. Mine arent.

[Oli]

Rob, I take your point but supporters should have a choice. I'd go to home to Aalborg for a tenner (just as the whole Emirates for their game v Wigan last week was £10 adults and £5 kids) but after £40 for home to QPR, and £40 for the Carling Cup home games against Boro/ Blackburn in the Carling Cup I'll be giving it a miss. And it does not help that Villarreal away are either £58 or £102 in the United end face value (with United then adding 3% transcation fee and £4.75 special delivery) and that both Celtic and Aalborg away were £40 each.

[Harry Boulton]

The price of games now is well beyond my means and has been for some time now. The automatic cup scheme simply puts it even more beyond reach for myself and other supporters. It's a shame. I only get to go maybe 4 or 5 times a season now, and that's if I'm lucky enough.

Franco, people in London earn approximately a 3rd more per annum than they do up north. The pricing is far from level.........

[Rob]

"they are still forcing all fans to buy tickets at full price for home to Aalborg in a potentially pointless group stage game"

While I'm sympathetic, to an extent, with the complaint that the Champions League group stage is basically a money-spinning exercise from UEFA, are you suggesting that your club won't deserve any support because you may already have qualified?

Wait. Let me rephrase. That's exactly what you're suggesting.

Sounds like a typical Surrey Red to me. Long way to travel for a dead rubber, eh?

[Stan]

''Do these 34,000 supporters know haw much it costs to watch Chelsea & Arsenal??''

Better than you do Franco, it would seem....

[Oli]

Hi Franco, that would be true if the money generated from tickets went into the club. Unfortunately it all goes towards paying off the £650m debt the Glazers ran up to buy the club and contiurbuted to the £70m leaving the club every year in repayments. And as for the rumour that Arsenal and Chelsea cost more, they do not. Tickets in the main stands at Old Trafford are now approximately £44 a game and you are then forced to buy cup tickets too, meaning you are looking at around £1200 a year minimum- most Chelsea ST's are around £800.

[Franco Mizzi]

Do these 34,000 supporters know haw much it costs to watch Chelsea & Arsenal?? If they did they wouldn't complain to much. After all what do they want? To win trophies year in year in year out?? Or be also rans??

Thaey are right about the compulsory cup ticket scheme, if it still exists.