Sir Jim Ratcliffe said "it doesn't make sense" for a Manchester United ticket to cost less than a ticket to watch Fulham, speaking in an interview with the United We Stand magazine,
Ratcliffe was born in Failsworth, Greater Manchester, but has clearly forgotten his working class roots across the many years that he has spent living between Monaco and London.
Manchester is different to Monaco and London. The bedrock of United's matchgoing support are fans who live locally and the club would be nothing without them, but the decision-makers at Old Trafford often seem to forget, or deliberately ignore, that fact.
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Protecting local supporters and looking after their interests should be at the front of centre of the club's policy, particularly on ticketing, which has caused a stir across the last six months.
You have your head buried in sand if you somehow haven't noticed that Ratcliffe made the mid-season decision to raise matchday ticket prices to £66 per game in the Premier League.
That has meant no concession for children or pensioners and protests have been held. "£66, you're taking the p***," has been aired at Old Trafford. Ratcliffe has been targeted with vitriolic chanting. The British billionaire was also confronted by angry fans at Craven Cottage in January.
Ratcliffe has faced intense backlash from supporters and Carly Lyes, the chair of the MUFC Local Supporters' Club, an official branch for fans who live within a two-mile radius of Old Trafford, spoke to the Manchester Evening News in November to express concerns the price increase would be "the thin end of the wedge."
"Three years ago, it was £13 for an Under-16 to attend Old Trafford and they've proposed now putting that up to £66. They say it's only a small amount of tickets, but this is an indicator of travel and an indication of the direction that the club is going," she explained.
The fear is further ticket rises are coming and season tickets will be affected. United supporter group The 1958 have arranged a protest against the treatment of fans before facing Arsenal this weekend and the Manchester United Supporters' Trust have written to Ratcliffe asking him to freeze ticket prices.
A fortnight ago, United published their financial figures for the final three months of 2024 and MUST highlighted the club's £1billion debt. The financial situation at Old Trafford is bleak, but fans shouldn't be asked to pay for years of financial mismanagement at boardroom level.
MUST argued: "It is clear that ticket prices at United are plainly not the problem with the recent £66 changes raising less than £2m. This shows big increases in prices would be futile and counterproductive, making only a trivial difference to the financial challenge whilst hugely harming fan sentiment and worsening the mood in the ground which inevitably feeds through to even worse team performances.
"Fans should not pay the price for a problem that starts with our crippling debt interest payments and is exacerbated by a decade or more of mismanagement. It’s time to freeze ticket prices and allow everyone - players, management, owners and fans - to get behind United and restore this club to where it belongs."
The Glazers are ultimately responsible for the mess that Ratcliffe inherited. The American family are the reason why United are currently facing such a grim financial outlook, but Avram Glazer recently said "no" when a journalist in Florida asked him whether he would sell the club.
The 1958 protest group will continue to focus their efforts to fully remove the Glazers, and MUST's call to freeze ticket prices should be universally backed by fans in the meantime.
United must not increase ticket prices for next season. The money generated by hiking prices would be a drop in the ocean, but it would hit ordinary fans in the pocket and force some to walk away.
It's imperative that United freeze ticket prices and follow the lead of West Ham, who announced last weekend their ticket prices for the 2025/2026 season would remain the same.
A club source once told the MEN "our tickets are among the most competitive in the top tier of English football," and they were right. The football hasn't been great since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement, but United's ticket prices have been objectively good value by Premier League standards.
Season ticket prices at Old Trafford were increased for the first time in 11 years from the start of last season but remained competitively priced.
“Ticket prices at Old Trafford – along with matchday food and beverage prices – will remain among the most affordable in the Premier League and we are committed to continuing that approach,” United said.
“However, with the cost of delivering matches up by 40 per cent in the past five years, and 11 per cent in the past 12 months alone, the modest increase in price for the 2023/24 season is necessary to allow the club to operate on a sustainable basis.
“We understand that our fans are also facing pressure from increased living costs and that is why we have kept price increases well below the current rate of inflation.”
The cost of a United season ticket for this season (2024/25) rose again from £551 to £579, a five per cent rise the club felt was necessary due to inflation.
Another rise for the 2025/2026 campaign would be unacceptable from United.
