Manchester United has restricted the accounts of some season ticket holders to curb black-market ticket trading. Many fans are furious.
Manchester United is facing fierce criticism from some of its fans. The historic English club has restricted the online accounts of “thousands” of season ticket holders to investigate potential black-market ticket sales and violations of its own ticketing terms. This has sparked discontent among many supporters.
Affected fans are currently barred from purchasing or transferring tickets and must provide an explanation to the club if they believe the allegations are unfounded. According to the BBC, many of the affected fans are long-time season ticket holders who feel they are being wrongly suspected. Many fans emphasize that they merely passed their tickets on within their family or circle of friends and did not pursue any commercial interests.
Fan furious: “They want to get rid of us”
“I’m furious about this—they just want to get rid of us,” a fan who has held a season ticket for more than 35 years told the BBC. His father has held a season ticket since 1974. Another fan criticized: “They don’t want fans; they want customers.” Supporters accuse the club of failing to adequately explain exactly which rule violations they are being accused of. This is causing great uncertainty among many of those affected.
ManUnited uses software from an external provider to identify suspicious ticket accounts. According to the club, anomalies were detected that could indicate a violation of the ticket rules. The vast majority of the cases reviewed were correctly identified.
This is what the fans are demanding
At the same time, fan organizations emphasize that the fight against ticket scalping is fundamentally important. However, they are calling for greater transparency and fair treatment of long-time fans. The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust warned against punishing fans who are simply helping other supporters, for example by passing on an unused ticket at the original price. The Red Devils had already taken measures against ticket abuse last season and canceled 22,000 tickets for the first five home games.
The club estimates that approximately 10 to 15 percent of season tickets could be controlled by ticket scalpers. The final decision on potential season ticket revocations is to be made by an appeals committee before the start of the new Premier League season. The Red Devils emphasize that revoked season tickets will subsequently be offered to fans on the waiting list.
