Manchester United fans are furious at another change from Sir Jim Ratcliffe affecting European away matches.
Ratcliffe and his INEOS-led team have been on a massive cost-cutting exercise since taking over at the club. This spree has seen several extreme changes be made, with 250 employees being made redundant and club legend Sir Alex Ferguson being removed from his role as global ambassador.
Now, as a knock-on to the redundancies, United have made another change in how ticket collection will work for European away games.
Previously the club have had collection points in the country where The Red Devils are playing. This allowed Manchester United fans to go to a designated collection point to pick up their tickets with valid identification.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CENTRE DEVILS WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT NOW!
This system was put in place to prevent fans from buying tickets and then selling them for a higher price without attending the game themselves.
However, this system has now been scrapped due to the cost and implication of staff manning these collection points. The strain of the system on the club has only been heightened after so many staff have been let go.
Jim Liggett addresses the feelings of the Manchester United fans
Addressing the change, operations and maintenance director, Jim Liggett has commented, saying: “Over recent months, as a club, we have undertaken a comprehensive review of our operating costs and prioritisation of critical activities and spend. This has resulted in amendments and reductions to budgets.”
He continued: “We have also completed a redundancy programme that has resulted in a reduction in the number of personnel across the club.
“As a result of these two significant changes, it has been necessary to make some difficult decisions. Whilst we understand some fans value this service the cost of travel and accommodation for eight ticketing staff, two security staff, hiring a dedicated, conveniently located and accessible collection point is significant and it is not possible to continue at this time.
“We also need to consider the impact of eight staff being out of the office for three days, along with the pre and post-collection work that is required to be undertaken linked to this activity. The current situation this season is that given this is not a critical activity we no longer have the capacity to send personnel on an away trip into Europe.”
The change to the system has been addressed within the fans’ forum, with 21 questions raised on European ticket collects and away returns published in the meeting’s minutes. Chair of the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) JD Deitch, these questions will be discussed in his meetings with the club.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CENTRE DEVILS WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT NOW!
