Man Utd fans face ticket quandary

New Manchester United season-ticket holders will also be forced to join the Red Devils ‘Cup scheme’, which could cost them an extra £250 (€360.20) a year.

With the new quadrants, the first part of which are due to be opened in time for Sunday’s Barclays Premiership encounter with Birmingham, taking Old Trafford’s capacity up to 76,000 by the start of next season, United have decided to release another 7,000 season tickets, taking the overall figure up to 50,000.

But, in a controversial move, they have also made it compulsory to join the cup scheme, which commits fans to buying tickets for all home cup games, including any Champions League qualifiers and the early rounds of the Carling Cup, when Alex Ferguson tends to field most of his young players.

More than 20,000 existing season ticket holders are members of the scheme but, while the club has rejected claims fans will be asked to pay upfront for a set number of tickets, the move is sure to irritate fans’ groups.

“We are not asking fans to pay upfront but we have put a condition on our new season tickets that supporters will automatically have to join our cup ticket scheme, to which many of our current season-ticket holders currently subscribe,” said a United spokesman.

It is not thought there are any plans to extend the ruling to current season-ticket holders, who have previously been given the choice whether to join the cup scheme or not.

United played eight cup ties at home this season – four in Europe, three in the Carling Cup and an FA Cup replay with Burton – only two of which came close to reaching capacity.

On current prices, those extra games would cost around £240 (€345.90) and many fans, especially those sceptical about Malcolm Glazer’s ownership, will feel it is a cynical attempt to guarantee income.

However, it could also work against the American with some supporters who may have wanted to guarantee a seat at Premier League games being put off at the prospect of having to pay over 33% extra to watch the likes of Lille, Barnet and Burton.