Protest ideas - Ticket price increase

MancunianAngels

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For all their faults, when Liverpool's owners tried something similar for their new stand, fans left the ground half an hour early and the ownership ultimately went back on their decision.

As per the other other thread, what United have done is outrageous and fans need to make a stand. If we're not careful, a trip to Old Trafford will soon become something that families can only afford a few times a season.

People think we're powerless but I disagree. The nationwide protests against the Super League proved that.

So, what next?

That's ultimately up to everyone. First, a social media presence is a necessity.

Second, an organised protest in the ground. This could be an organised boycott of a section of the match or even the entire match itself.

If you're unhappy. Make your feelings heard now. Not next month or next season (when the increased price will become the norm).

The cynic in me believes nothing will happen from our fans. It would be great to be proven wrong.

Over to you...
 
Boycotting seems to radical for my liking. First of all we should smash capitalism and establish a council republic. If the ticket prices are still too high afterwards, then we can boycott matches.
 
How about a boycott where all match going fans are asked to not spend any money on the ground of Old Trafford before, during and after the match? No buying of merchandise, food and beverage at the property of Old Trafford. Under the motto 'If we have to pay more for tickets, we will spend less during the game'.

With this kind of protest we can still fully support our team (especially under our new manager), but it will at least hurt the club in some way as they will make less profit on match day despite increasing the ticket prices. Even if the club might not be directly affected by it the companies who rent a food court will put massive pressure on the club, because of their loss of revenue.

Local restaurants/pubs around Old Trafford will also likely benefit from it and they can support the protest by organising mobile food & beverage trucks or something similar. It only must be advertised good beforehand so that a lot of people who go to the stadium get to know about it before they enter the stadium.
 
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eiknaldo said:
How about a boycott where all match going fans are asked to not spend any money on the ground of Old Trafford before, during and after the match? No buying of merchandise, food and beverage at the property of Old Trafford. Under the motto 'If we have to pay more for tickets, we will spend less during the game'.
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i think thats a very good idea, getting people to do it in numbers? Well, they cant be bothered frankly
 
Throw tennis balls on the pitch. Worked wonders in Germany. Boycotts won’t work as others will just buy the tickets. So the best way is to disrupt the games as much as possible.
 
HTG said:
Throw tennis balls on the pitch. Worked wonders in Germany. Boycotts won’t work as others will just buy the tickets. So the best way is to disrupt the games as much as possible.
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Every fan is searched before going into the ground so no chance
 
HTG said:
Throw tennis balls on the pitch. Worked wonders in Germany. Boycotts won’t work as others will just buy the tickets. So the best way is to disrupt the games as much as possible.
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Or fishcakes like the VAR protests in Norway. Ironically from the Bodø/Glimt fans, so maybe they can bring some to the match tomorrow.
 
Rood said:
Every fan is searched before going into the ground so no chance
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If by "searched" you mean "wafted with a vibrator, and then half heartedly patted down" then you're bang on. Saying that, your (our ;) ) entrance is a fecking nightmare to get in about 15 minutes before kick off.
 
Rood said:
Every fan is searched before going into the ground so no chance
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Don’t know how strict these searches are. In Germany, it’s easy to smuggle things through.
 
Go to watch your local pub side on a Sunday morning .
You'll probably get the same amount of entertainment.
 
BarstoolProphet said:
Or fishcakes like the VAR protests in Norway. Ironically from the Bodø/Glimt fans, so maybe they can bring some to the match tomorrow.
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Everyone should bring a tin of that really smelly Swedish fish that makes youtubers gag and then all open them together at a specified minute and then sniff really hard and everyone will just throw up and the club will have a massive cleaning bill as 74,000 people all throw up together, creating a massive puke chain reaction that flood the pitch and causes them to have to relay it at a huge cost.
 
Big Andy said:
If by "searched" you mean "wafted with a vibrator, and then half heartedly patted down" then you're bang on. Saying that, your (our ;) ) entrance is a fecking nightmare to get in about 15 minutes before kick off.
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I haven't seen kick off once yet this season!


HTG said:
Don’t know how strict these searches are. In Germany, it’s easy to smuggle things through.
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Varies massively depending on the person doing the search but everyone is patted down - tennis ball not easy to hide

And it's likely the club would be aware in advance of any such protest so security will be told to look out for it
 
Rood said:
I haven't seen kick off once yet this season!



Varies massively depending on the person doing the search but everyone is patted down - tennis ball not easy to hide

And it's likely the club would be aware in advance of any such protest so security will be told to look out for it
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Depends how badly you want to smuggle it in tbh.
 
Where are the under 23 matches being played at the moment?

The old reserve games at Alty used to be ace for a protest or two in the aftermath of the Glazer takeover. Would be good to replicate that
 
MancunianAngels said:
Where are the under 23 matches being played at the moment?

The old reserve games at Alty used to be ace for a protest or two in the aftermath of the Glazer takeover. Would be good to replicate that
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Alot at Leigh I think.

All for protest ideas but boycotts just won't happen. Been there many a time.
 
Look at this generic response from the club.... It's basically a massive feck you to anyone who bought memebership and sits on the season ticket waiting list.

Thank you for your email.

As a club, we are committed to building a successful and financially sustainable club and we will continue to explore all options to grow revenues while minimising the impact on match-going fans.

We have been focused on cost-saving to put us on a stronger financial footing. That also means raising revenues, so we can continue to invest in football and infrastructure.

We have reviewed discounts applied to match-by-match general admission tickets this season and while this was a difficult decision, the changes we are making will affect a small number of fans but will go some way to supporting the club’s efforts to operate more sustainably.

We welcome feedback and we would just like to take this opportunity to provide some additional context / information on the back of this decision:

  • All sales so far have had the ‘age-related’ discounts applied.
  • This will only be applied to the 3% of tickets remaining
  • The ballots for our games vs. Arsenal and City will still have all age and location discounts available, as will home cup games in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup Semi-Final and any knock-out round Europa League games.
Our decision will not affect opted in Season Ticket holders, or Cup Season Ticket holders.

We are very conscious of the cost of attending a football game and the dedication and commitment of our fans does not go unnoticed and is appreciated.

In closing, we will ensure that your concerns are formally documented and shared with Senior Club Officials, however we are unable to comment on this matter further.

Kind regards,

Julie
 
If not tennis balls how about paper aeroplanes?

Really easy to get sheets of paper in, they can get some distance and will be just as much of a pain in the arse to clean up during the game.

If done en masse at a certain minute (maybe the 66th), especially if a unified message was printed on them, it would definitely make the media a drum the point home.
 
U-N-I-T-E-D said:
If not tennis balls how about paper aeroplanes?

Really easy to get sheets of paper in, they can get some distance and will be just as much of a pain in the arse to clean up during the game.

If done en masse at a certain minute (maybe the 66th), especially if a unified message was printed on them, it would definitely make the media a drum the point home.
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Possible, actually getting a fair bit of media coverage already anyway but obviously more is better and will make the club think twice about future rises

 
There's only one way you can successfully protest: Mass boycotting the games.

Still going and leaving after 58 minutes or something dull like that does nothing. The only way the owners will take notice is if Old Trafford gets visibly emptier for at least 10-15 matches in a row.

And yeah, I know that this will never happen. It's so hard to organize, and most fans and tourists will still buy tickets no matter the price. So good luck. Either way, by still going to the games you are sending a message that whatever bs the owners pull, they know they can get away with it.

How the current protests are done is like trying to boycott Sony by buying their products, but saying you will only use it 5 days a week. The cause was lost as soon as that money left your wallet.

Of course, this will get the "It's better than nothing" response. Well, yeah... Maybe. But it's still very ineffective and doesn't really hit the owners where it hurts.

If you want a company to take notice and change, you need to actually boycott them for a sustained period. And it must be a full on boycott, not these partial, symbolic boycotts we've seen over the years.

Many will probably hate this, but it's just the cold, corporate truth.
 
ifightdragons said:
There's only one way you can successfully protest: Mass boycotting the games.

Still going and leaving after 58 minutes or something dull like that does nothing. The only way the owners will take notice is if Old Trafford gets visibly emptier for at least 10-15 matches in a row.

And yeah, I know that this will never happen. It's so hard to organize, and most fans and tourists will still buy tickets no matter the price. So good luck. Either way, by still going to the games you are sending a message that whatever bs the owners pull, they know they can get away with it.

How the current protests are done is like trying to boycott Sony by buying their products, but saying you will only use it 5 days a week. The cause was lost as soon as that money left your wallet.

Of course, this will get the "It's better than nothing" response. Well, yeah... Maybe. But it's still very ineffective and doesn't really hit the owners where it hurts.

If you want a company to take notice and change, you need to actually boycott them for a sustained period. And it must be a full on boycott, not these partial, symbolic boycotts we've seen over the years.

Many will probably hate this, but it's just the cold, corporate truth.
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I disagree. I think it’s the best way but certainly not the only way.

If fans are routinely disrupting matches with tennis balls/aeroplanes, blocking directors entrance and exit from games, refusing to leave the stadium and even doing a pitch invasion after the game will make the owners look like muppets and will disrupt their and the clubs image.
 
ifightdragons said:
And yeah, I know that this will never happen...
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That's the only thing worth saying about boycotts - been talked about and even tried for literally decades but will never happen for our club because the fan base is just too big to make it work
 
U-N-I-T-E-D said:
I disagree. I think it’s the best way but certainly not the only way.

If fans are routinely disrupting matches with tennis balls/aeroplanes, blocking directors entrance and exit from games, refusing to leave the stadium and even doing a pitch invasion after the game will make the owners look like muppets and will disrupt their and the clubs image.
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I agree. I did not mention this because some fans hate this. I don't. Our only protest that was really effective was the postponement of the Liverpool game.

So I support anything that messes with the ability to play matches, as long as it doesn't get violent.
 
Rood said:
That's the only thing worth saying about boycotts - been talked about and even tried for literally decades but will never happen for our club because the fan base is just too big to make it work
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Yeah, unfortunately true. We have a massive fanbase, but the division is equally massive.
 
Protest will do nothing. Old trafford will always be full no matter what.
 
not a holder myself so doesn’t impact me…but given that they haven’t increased prices for 10 years, I don’t think there’s really much to complain about.

I also don’t know if they have actually kept the same price for 10 years and just reading what has been reported
 
Pughnichi said:
not a holder myself so doesn’t impact me…but given that they haven’t increased prices for 10 years, I don’t think there’s really much to complain about.

I also don’t know if they have actually kept the same price for 10 years and just reading what has been reported
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Just business
 
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Pughnichi said:
not a holder myself so doesn’t impact me…but given that they haven’t increased prices for 10 years, I don’t think there’s really much to complain about.

I also don’t know if they have actually kept the same price for 10 years and just reading what has been reported
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It’s not the fact that they’ve raised prices (although it’s a fair hike) - it’s that I need to pay £66 to take my 6 year old lad. This season it was around £65 for the both of us, now it will be £132.
 
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