Manchester United are facing a furious backlash from older supporters who have accused the club of trying to price them out of games and a having a “scandalous” disregard for decades of loyalty.
United announced on Monday that most season ticket prices will increase by about five per cent for a third successive year, with a price freeze for under-16s.
But thousands of senior citizens are facing huge increases in the cost of their season tickets – in some cases as high as 70 per cent – after a 50 per cent discount for those fans was halved to an “across the board” 25 per cent rate for next season.
Telegraph Sport understands that around a few thousand have been affected – from a total of 50,000 season ticket holders – in a move labelled a “total disgrace” by The 1958 supporters’ group.
The Manchester United Supporters Trust, who said they would seek “urgent discussions” with the club, are thought to have been inundated with messages from concerned older fans. Many of those supporters say they have felt “hoodwinked” by the huge rises after claiming they had been given no prior warning from the club about the changes.
Telegraph Sport has spoken to a number supporters who have been affected, several of whom say they can no longer afford the new prices and are faced with the prospect of giving up season tickets they have held for decades.
‘It feels like a bereavement... it’s scandalous’
Dave Lewis was one of the thousands filing out of Old Trafford last Thursday night after Manchester United’s Europa League victory against Real Sociedad when another fan accidentally clipped the back of his heel and sent the 68-year-old tumbling over.
Lewis suffered a dislocated shoulder in the process but not even that could deter him from travelling to the King Power Stadium 72 hours later to see his beloved United beat Leicester 3-0.
Two big wins had brought a smile to his face in what has otherwise been one of the most disheartening seasons in his 56 years watching United but that positive mood would not last long.
On Monday night, Lewis received an email from the club to inform him that his season ticket price for next season would be increasing by 60 per cent – from £285 to £456.
“I actually felt bereaved because I’m there thinking: ‘I’m actually going to have to give this ticket up’,” explained Lewis, who sits in the old Scoreboard End at Old Trafford.
Lewis, who attended his first game against Wolves aged 12 in 1969 and five years later acquired his first league match ticket book, said he had not had one word of warning from the club of the rise to come. “I feel hoodwinked. It’s absolutely scandalous,” he said.
With the annual state pension (worth around £11,500 from next month, providing his main source of income) Lewis says retaining his season ticket is a “financial non-starter”.
“I don’t expect anybody from United to turn up at my funeral,” he added. “But after 56 years going home and away – seeing us relegated, coach trips to Europe in the 70s, being left behind in Norwich and hitch-hiking back through the night, having rubber bullets shot at you in Porto – somewhere along the line you hope you’d be shown some decency.
“But I don’t spend £100 in the megastore buying a shirt every time I go to watch a game. This is basically the club saying: ‘You’re not paying enough for the privilege so we don’t want you here’. I just feel like loyalty means nothing now.”
Lewis is one of thousands of senior United fans now facing up to a stark choice: stop following the club you have watched for decades through thick and thin or swallow huge season ticket prices rises next season.
Two years ago, United introduced a reduced 25 per cent discount for some seniors – down from a long-standing 50 per cent rate – but that is now being applied across the board from the start of the 2025/26 campaign meaning eye-watering increases for a few thousand fans.
United say half-price season tickets for senior citizens are unsustainable given the club’s financial challenges and with a growing percentage of fans in that category.
But that has done little to soften the blow among older fans who feel like they have had their loyalty thrown back in their faces – and have been blind-sided by the bombshell changes suddenly dropped on them.
The 1958 fans’ group have branded the move a “total disgrace” and the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust say they are seeking “urgent discussions” with the club. It echoes the fury that greeted the news of United’s decision to introduce a £66 ticket with no concessions midway through this season with no prior consultation. Protests, including those in support of the FSA’s #StopExploitingLoyalty campaign, have been a regular fixture at United games this season.
‘I’m finished now... I’ve had enough’
Marilyn Chadderton, 78, went to her first game before the Munich air disaster in 1958. She watched the club regularly throughout the 1960s and 70s and has had a season ticket since 1982 but her son Gareth says she will now be giving that up after the price for next season skyrocketed by 70 per cent to £840.75. “She’s angry and really upset,” he said. “She said to me: ‘I’m finished now. I’ve had enough.’ It’s devastating.”
Chadderton has been organising coaches to take United fans from Dukinfield, Tameside, where she lives, to Old Trafford for the past 32 years. She keeps an additional float to help subsidise any outings to Wembley and on those occasions when there is not a Cup final that kitty will be handed over to supporters to enjoy an end of season shindig. A hugely popular figure with many United fans, the prospect of Chadderton being forced to turn her back on the club she has dedicated her life to following is one of so many sobering stories.
‘Two fingers up to loyalty’
Lydia – who asked for her family’s surname to be withheld – has been attending matches with her father Roger for 31 years. “He got done for skiving school to go to the 1968 European Cup final at Wembley on his 16th birthday!” Lydia says. His renewal price has jumped 57 per cent to £612.75 for next season.
Now 72, Roger – who comes from Saddleworth and grew up in Ashton-under-Lyne – was diagnosed with dementia last year. Given the enjoyment they get from going to the game together, Lydia is leaning towards renewing their tickets but believes the club are trying to price out older fans in favour of corporates or day-trippers or other fans prepared to spend fortunes in the megastore. “It feels like two fingers up to loyalty,” she said. “They just seem to want to get the people in the cheap seats out. That looks like the direction they’re going in and you could see with the £66 ticket they introduced this season.”
She is equally aggrieved by the decision to increase the minimum usage of a season ticket to at least 16 of 19 Premier League home matches and a £10 charge for fans who sell a ticket back to the club less than two weeks before a game.
“It’s all very well and good saying you can move your ticket on but try getting someone with dementia to do that a few hours before a game because he’s not having a good day and then potentially being at risk of losing season ticket as a result,” Lydia said.
Paul Dorrington, 69, who has been watching United since 1973, said his season ticket was going up to £33 a game from £21 and that, while he was one of the lucky seniors who could swallow the rise, he was appalled at the message it sends.
“I emailed [Omar] Berrada [the United chief executive] and said: ‘This is my reward for 50 plus years of loyalty,” he said. “I just feel like you’re all trying to force us out.’ They’re trying to price us out.”
