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Manchester United fans call in Office of Fair Trading over '60 per cent' rise in ticket prices


Kompressor

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Taken from the Telegraph Lawyers representing Manchester United supporters will complain to the Office of Fair Trading about season ticket prices at Old Trafford. In calling for an OFT investigation into the Glazers' ticketing policy, which United fans allege has seen certain seat prices hiked by "up to 60 per cent'', supporters also hope this will "prove a test case about ticket pricing across football''. With the credit crunch hitting fans in the pocket, ticket pricing has become an increasingly sensitive issue. The sports minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, has already spoken of his concerns about ticket prices and some clubs, like Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough, have come up with imaginative pricing schemes to attract supporters. On Dec 10, a cross-party meeting gathers at Westminster to look into the complaints filed to the OFT by the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), an independent group who claim "to represent 34,000 members, all of whom are Manchester United supporters''. In Tuesday's document being delivered to the OFT offices in London, MUST lawyers will register "three complaints in the way that Manchester United's ticketing policy has breached both its statutory and legal obligations to its season ticket holders. It is our contention that the club has acted unlawfully. "We request that the Office of Fair Trading investigates whether the pricing policy for tickets at MUFC since 2005 indicates an Abuse of a Dominant Market Position. If infringements of the 1998 (Competition) Act are found, we request that the OFT takes immediate steps to stop this abuse. "Since the takeover by the Glazer family in 2005, Manchester United's season tickets have increased by an average of just below 60 per cent. In addition to this, United season ticket holders also have to purchase home cup tickets under the Compulsory Automatic Cup Scheme under these inflated prices. "In 2004/05, a season ticket holder in the North Stand Upper Centre had to budget to pay £532 for the season. For the 2008/09 season, the same seat costs £912 and the season ticket holder is forced to allow the club to charge him/her for all home FA and Champions League Cup matches. This could amount to £502, meaning that the season ticket holder must now budget for a total of £1,414. "Whilst we accept that price increases are part-and-parcel of modern business, where a company such as MUFC exists in a dominant market position and there is no reasonably substitutable product available, the sheer scale of these increases is clear evidence of an abuse in contravention to the 1998 Act.'' The prices have "led to anger amongst supporters'', according to Duncan Drasdo, MUST chief executive, said last night. "Sports minster Gerry Sutcliffe was sufficiently interested in our complaint that he agreed to meet me to discuss this following his own outspoken criticism of Old Trafford prices. "Although this is an MUFC-specific complaint it is clear that much of thecontent of the complaint is relevant to other clubs in the Premier League and beyond both in terms of ticket prices and terms and conditions. A Celtic supporter is taking legal action with regard to Champions League ticket bundling and QPR supporters have also made a complaint to the Football League regarding price banding and price rises.'' Whatever the OFT's verdict on the fans' complaints, the mere fact that Old Trafford season ticket holders have banded together, organised lawyers, and spent time and money putting a complaint together is an embarrassment to the champions. Hopefully other clubs supporters will stand up to a lot of us have grown up attending football matches but sadly it looks as if our Kids won't get the chance we had if the ticket hiking trend continuesLONG LIVE FC UNITED

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its a jokegotta pay to sign up then pay to buy tickets its a jokebetter off hanging round the stadium waiting for sum1 to sell them to you
Or everyone can just boycot a couple games till the ticket prices become reasonable i honestly don't understand anyone who had a season ticket in the 90's still having one 60% rise since 2005 is ridiculous but as long as idiots keep paying nothing will change Not to mention the stupid Carling cup pricescheapest tickets fot the Blackburn game in the next round are £31but no doubt when you phone the ticket office they'll all be sold out and the next cheapest are £37Holdtite the Glazer family taking the piss out of people since 2005
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its a jokegotta pay to sign up then pay to buy tickets its a jokebetter off hanging round the stadium waiting for sum1 to sell them to you
Or everyone can just boycot a couple games till the ticket prices become reasonable i honestly don't understand anyone who had a season ticket in the 90's still having one 60% rise since 2005 is ridiculous but as long as idiots keep paying nothing will change Not to mention the stupid Carling cup pricescheapest tickets fot the Blackburn game in the next round are £31but no doubt when you phone the ticket office they'll all be sold out and the next cheapest are £37Holdtite the Glazer family taking the piss out of people since 2005
you northern fans are funny. Like £31 for a ticket is expensive. Try going White Hart Lane, Emirates, Stamford Bridge or Upton Park.
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its a jokegotta pay to sign up then pay to buy tickets its a jokebetter off hanging round the stadium waiting for sum1 to sell them to you
Or everyone can just boycot a couple games till the ticket prices become reasonable i honestly don't understand anyone who had a season ticket in the 90's still having one 60% rise since 2005 is ridiculous but as long as idiots keep paying nothing will change Not to mention the stupid Carling cup pricescheapest tickets fot the Blackburn game in the next round are £31but no doubt when you phone the ticket office they'll all be sold out and the next cheapest are £37Holdtite the Glazer family taking the piss out of people since 2005
you northern fans are funny. Like £31 for a ticket is expensive. Try going White Hart Lane, Emirates, Stamford Bridge or Upton Park.
Yeah but our carling cup games cheapest tickets are £10.
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wouldn't be so expensive for half the supporters if they actually lived near manchester and weren't glory hunting southerners who had to travel all the way up there for a game...
In future United should factor in Euston-Manchester train fares when setting season ticket prices.
LMAO
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wouldn't be so expensive for half the supporters if they actually lived near manchester and weren't glory hunting southerners who had to travel all the way up there for a game...
In future United should factor in Euston-Manchester train fares when setting season ticket prices.
LMAO
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To be honest Arsenal fans have every right to pass comment on ticket prices at least their club respect their fans enough to only charge £10 per adult £5 per u-16 for their Carling cup matches there is a huge difference between £37 and £10 especially if you've already forked out a fair bit on your season tickets and god help you if your ever silly enough to want to take your kid to a game I've said it before and i'll say it again Randy Learner is a credit to club owners everywhere got a lot of respect for the guy Hope he continues doing what he's doing there

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And to Address the whole out of towners/day trippers debate i think you'll find that the majority of fans who are in uproar about this ARE the LOCAL fans some of which have been following United for decades through the bad times and now the good times have come they're being priced out its ridiculous from when someones got the money to fork out on Train fair accomadation food and drink + the game and a fair bit of trade in the "mega" store these guys aren't likely to be complaining about prices especially seeing asd a lot of them only attend a few games a season its the guys who go week in week out that are affected by this not the day trippers

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LOL at Arsenlol fans chatting in a thread about ticket prices.LOL at Arsenlol fans!
obviously we can if you're ticket prices are worse than ours
I thought you were Meta?
yeah that is slippingalthough i was at work at the time, and wasn't really focusing...honest
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Wish i can buy tickets for £31.
Out of interest how much are the Spurs home tickets for the Carling cup
For Liverpool i know it was £49 for East, even more for West£37-40 quid for North£35 for Park Lane (The best place)And this is our cheap tickets :lol:f*ck*ng joke tbh i know alot of ST holders who can't continue 'cause it's killing them financially and we are not even a top 4 club!
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