Revealed: How Premier League giants are exploiting a ticketing loophole in the rulebook – to the fury of their fans

There are few issues that can unite football supporters from Manchester and Merseyside, but greedy Premier League clubs have managed to find one.

If the dreary empty stadiums during the Covid pandemic have taught us anything, it is that the presence of fans should be sacred. But in the midst of squeezing every last penny out of the game, the supporters are collateral damage – and they’ve had enough.

Manchester United sparked outrage last week after scrapping concessions for children and pensioners, while raising match ticket prices to at least £66. Tottenham, who earn almost £6 million in matchday revenue per match, will stop selling next season new season tickets for seniors.

At West Ham, concession season tickets for under-18s, under-21s and over-66s are restricted to a small area at the back of the London Stadium.

Now there are fears it is only a matter of time before other clubs follow suit – and that prospect led to fans of Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City and United joining forces on Sunday.

A few hundred United followers gathered in front of the United Trinity statue in Old Trafford in support of a campaign by the Football Supporters’ Association. They, along with some Everton fans, held up a banner reading ‘Stop Exploiting Loyalty’ before the teams faced off. They sang ‘£66, you’re taking the p**s’ and let out plumes of red smoke.

Liverpool hosted Manchester City on the same day and banners were also displayed there.

United fan Martin Feely, 70, who has been going to Old Trafford for 61 years, can no longer afford to take his grandson with him.

He said, ‘This is completely out of order. I want to take my grandson but it costs £66 for him – a nine year old. I went to FC United with him because I can’t afford it. If they do this now without consulting the fans, what will they do next season? That worries me.’

What makes United’s decision all the more puzzling is that they are attracting the hostility and anger of fans for a minuscule profit.

Take their total revenue in 2022-2023: only 21 percent came from matchday revenue. That includes ticket prices, food, drinks and hospitality. The money made by dropping concessions is only a small percentage of what they make.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told Mail Sport: ‘Their argument fails. According to United, 97 percent of the match tickets have already been sold. That leaves three percent, which is 2,250. Let’s say 20 percent goes to concessions, which is 450 tickets. They charge an extra £30 per ticket, which is around £16,000 extra per match, which is peanuts compared to the PR look, which is terrible.

‘Ineos knows that with such a large, varied fan base they can sell to a different kind of market. What they’re trying to do is tap into a lot of different revenue streams. They know that people with the softest voices are easiest to reach, such as the disabled, children and the elderly.’

It follows that the club recently increased the price of disabled parking spaces by 20 percent. Mail Sport has seen correspondence with a punter in which United’s excuse was that disabled fans want to be treated equally and ‘not as charity cases’.

But it’s not just United where fans are at their wits’ end. Tottenham have increased their total matchday revenue to £117.6 million, the second-highest Premier League side for 2022-2023. But that’s still not enough to satisfy the bosses. They claimed the decision to stop offering concessions to new season ticket holders came after the number of senior season tickets rose to four times the number at their old White Hart Lane ground, before saying such an increase ‘is not sustainable and will limit competition’. ticket choice for others’.

Martin Cloake, of fans group Save our Seniors, said: ‘Spurs’ reasoning that there are too many season ticket holders eligible for the senior rate, and that is not sustainable, essentially means that ‘fans are not dying out fast enough to to survive’. the money we need to earn”. It’s insulting and rude. Spurs have taken no action against the junior concessions. I suspect that’s what they’re coming for.”

Under Premier League rules, clubs must offer discounted tickets. But Mail Sport understands some teams have found a loophole by only offering them in a limited area.

Nick Clarke, from Manchester City’s Fans Foodbank Support Group, told Mail Sport last week: ‘The problem is that clubs don’t deal with fans – they treat us like shit and know there’s nothing we can do about it because we will continue come back. They praise generational fans from the communities in which they are located. The fact that we are willing to go to our biggest rival (Liverpool) and protest with them is something we have not done before. We’re all sick of it.’

Season ticket prices have also been rising for years. 17 Premier League clubs have increased their cheapest adult season tickets this season and according to SeatPick the average for 2024-2025 is now £594, compared to £297 for Serie A, £225 for La Liga and £179 for the Bundesliga .

Arsenal has the most expensive season ticket in Europe; their cheapest is £1,073, a 10 percent increase on last season. That includes at least six cup matches, meaning each match costs £42. Tottenham’s cheapest is £856 for 19 Premier League home games, or £45 per match. Most tickets cost much more.

Attracting corporate fans and tourists is more preferred as they spend more. This damages the tradition of young people or families going to matches.

Cloake added: “Clubs are rooted in communities – they mean something to people, they have tradition and history. That tradition of passing on to the next generation in a family is under threat. Families are literally torn apart as a result. They can’t go together.’

Amid the gloom, there is some hope. Arsenal proposed scrapping senior concessions last season, but after meeting with the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust they abandoned that plan.

An AST spokesperson said: ‘The club has increased the number of concessions for children and adults in recent years and introduced a young adult category.

‘Last year Arsenal proposed abolishing all senior concessions. After feedback they chose not to do this. It shows good dialogue. If clubs don’t do that, they should do it.’

The outrage will continue, but one thing is clear: fans are at a breaking point.