Andy Delaney has been a season ticket holder at Manchester United for 18 years. Under the Glazer family's watch, the club went from European champions to flirting with relegation. After the season ticket price hikes this week, he summarises his feelings on the current mismanagement at the club's top.
Earlier this week, Manchester United revealed their season ticket prices for the 2024/25 season. At the heart of the plan was a 5% price increase across all adult season tickets.
The response has been a mixed bag from my fellow season ticket holders with some satisfied with the increase and others perplexed as to how the club can justify an increase for the third consecutive year when performances on the pitch are getting worse.
Those in the former camp are those who feel that either a) United's prices are still reasonable compared to what other clubs charge or b) the increase isn't as big as it could have been and perhaps would have been had protests in recent weeks not intensified.
Those in the latter, like myself, feel that an increase of around 20% over three years is unacceptable for a club who are happy to boast about being the biggest and best in the world and whose co-owner stated just last week that he wanted to look after the club's most loyal supporters.
INEOS may be fronting the decision but the Glazer family are to blame
Regardless of whether the Glazer family had an input on the season ticket prices, it is ultimately their fault that the club are in a position where fans are having to pay more money to watch a worse product.
The debt they have riddled the club with is now past the £1bn mark if you include outstanding transfer fees that need to be paid, which is incredible when you consider the club was entirely debt-free before their leveraged buy-out in 2005.
It remains a mystery how they were able to purchase the club in such a manner, but that's a conversation for another day.
The Glazers, primarily Joel and Avram, continue to hide in Florida while Sir Jim Ratcliffe comes out to bat for them in front of the UK's media. The new ‘face' of the club only has a 28.9% stake in it, but it's the INEOS head honcho who is now fronting up to the decisions made in the past and explaining how he's going to look to dig the club out of the hole left for him by his now-colleagues.
A slap in the face to the club's most loyal supporters
Of course, Ratcliffe can't come out and slate the Glazers, but you get the feeling he might if he ever fulfils his true desire of owning the entire club. But if he is going to continue conducting interviews with the UK media, then he would do well to avoid making statements that he knows he will contradict in a matter of weeks.
In his chat with Gary Neville for the former Manchester United full-back's YouTube channel, Ratcliffe said that his instruction to those below him regarding ticket prices was to look after the club's most loyal supporters.
Elaborating on that point, Ratcliffe confirmed he was talking about season ticket holders who attend every match and not just the ones against the best teams in the country.
You could only assume from that statement that the club would do anything but raise season ticket prices for those over 65 by nearly 60% in some cases. But alas, as part of the season ticket price announcement, it was revealed that senior fans, some of whom have been going to Old Trafford for more than 50 years, would now only get a 25% discount instead of 50.
🇾🇪 Can we please spread the word that the 5% increase on Season Tickets at Manchester United in some cases actually means nearly 60% for the older fans who have been watching this club for decades @Garynev @AndyMitten @WayneSBarton @OllieHolt22 🇾🇪
— YesterdaysStars (@YesterdaysStars) March 18, 2025
Where do we go from here?
With a new £2bn stadium to pay for and a lack of European football on the cards for next season, it's more than likely that another price increase will be coming next season.
It seems that the club wants to slowly increase season ticket prices to the point where either a) season ticket holders are phased out or b) they are paying upwards of £60 per match. After all, Ratcliffe has gone on record to say he doesn't think it's right that Fulham's ticket prices are more expensive than United's.
Ultimately, though, the core of United's support needs to remember the true enemy – the Glazer family – and not be blindsided by the bemusing fact that Ratcliffe and co are happy to take all the heat on their behalf.
Protests will no doubt continue, and rightly so.