Man Utd face reduced ticket allocation

Michael Kenrick , 16 July, 8comments | Jump to most recent

Manchester United fans are set to have their ticket allocation at Goodison Park cut amid safety fears. Members of Liverpool City Council's licensing committee are due to vote next week on cutting United's away allocations for this coming season and beyond.

The Licensing Committee have been asked to adjudicate on the issue of ticketing after the Ground Safety advisory group, made up of council officials and the police, raised concerns about fans persistently standing and blocking aisles.

If passed as expected, the council's ruling will see around 200 less away fans in the Bullens Road Stand.

The report set to go to the council said: “In general, most away supporters who visit Everton either do not stand or do not stand in gangways; however, this is not the case for Manchester United.

“EFC played Manchester United on October 29, 2011. The away spectators had the usual allocation in the Upper and Lower tier of the Bullens Road Stand (approx 3,125).

“The Licensing Unit attended the game and noted that, in spite of the efforts of the Club, the gangway . . . in the Upper Tier (nearest the Park End Stand) was closed over by spectators standing in the gangway.

“In previous seasons some encroachment into the gangways here had occurred but it was minimal. This game saw an increase in that activity.”

Quotes or other material sourced from Liverpool Echo

Reader Comments (8)

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Roy Shuttleworth
1 Posted 16/07/2012 at 15:36:34

Does this mean that they will look to reduce our 'friends across the park' ticket allocation because they always stand up throughout the game and have no regard for the stewards...

Derek Turnbull
2 Posted 16/07/2012 at 15:42:17

Good to see that the licensing committee recognise that standing is safe at the match as long as certain criteria are adhered too. Hopefully, the next step will be official safe standing areas in the home areas of Goodison Park.

Keith Glazzard
3 Posted 16/07/2012 at 15:52:55

Derek - amongst the pros and cons of seated/standing, do you think that any possible return to standing would be accompanied by a reduction in the ticket price? Can't imagine that myself.

Shane Corcoran
4 Posted 16/07/2012 at 15:57:37

Isn't all seater stadia just an English rule?

Derek Turnbull
5 Posted 16/07/2012 at 16:25:49

No Keith. If anything more expensive as they may want more stewards there for example.

Lee Gray
6 Posted 16/07/2012 at 16:43:08

Pathetic...United will just cut our tickets!

Paul Gladwell
7 Posted 16/07/2012 at 18:21:35

Will they do it when it's not a first home game of the season and not a guaranteed sell out like recent seasons, meaning a loss of cash, or will this reduced seats just remain empty anyway?

Matt Traynor
8 Posted 16/07/2012 at 18:34:30

Clubs are required to offer at least 3,000 tickets for visiting spectators (or if the capacity is less than 30k, then 10%) unless agreed otherwise between the two boards.

At least half have to offered on a sale-or-return basis, and any balance of tickets must be ordered at least 4 weeks before. This explains sometimes why we get a lower allocation for games we'd expect to sell out (think QPR away last year) - our club often doesn't take up it's full allocation.

I'm pretty sure when Man U were undertaking redevelopment work at OT they got dispensation to give a ridiculously low allocation to the away fans - 300 or something.

In the past when these issues have arisen, there has been tit-for-tat responses from the other club, even though these are supposedly licensing decisions.

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