Furious Man Utd fans slam new ticket prices as ‘another slap in the face' and warn decision will do ‘enormous harm'
FURIOUS Manchester United fans condemned a new ticket-price rise as a "fresh kick in the teeth".
The club have introduced a new match categorisation model, charging some members up to £97 for top fixtures - starting with the Premier League opener against Arsenal on August 17.
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Around 20,000 supporters buying tickets for home matches at Old Trafford through the membership scheme will be affected in some form.
Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) claim the club "failed to consult any of the fans' representative bodies on the details of the decision".
However, chief executive Omar Berrada insisted they did.
A MUST statement read: "After how last season went, we might have hoped that the club would reconsider their plans for this new ticketing model.
"It will see eye-watering price increases for 20,000 supporters per game who buy tickets on a match-by-match basis.
"This really is a fresh kick in the teeth for Manchester United fans."
Supporters were already at war with the club after Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Co. introduced a flat-rate £66 for non-season-ticket holders, with no concessions, mid-season.
Berrada admitted this week in an interview with United We Stand that the club had made a mistake.
The opener with the Gunners is one of six Prem games priced between £59 and £97 for members.
Fixtures against Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle are also in Category A.
Paul Scholes lays into Sir Jim Ratcliffe for 'having the cheek' to introduce 'ridiculous' Man Utd's ticket prices
Category B includes 11 league matches, with two games - against Wolves and Sunderland - priced in the Category C band.
Cup games are in the lowest Category D band.
The changes will see prices increase by up to 50 per cent for fans buying tickets on a match-by-match basis - yet United argue that the £97 applies to less than one per cent of the available tickets.
MUST added: "Once again, they have failed to consult any of the fans' representative bodies on the details of the decision.
"And, once again, they are making choices against the interests of fans and the club as a whole.
"This match categorisation model will do enormous harm."
The club insist fan groups were consulted and say ticket prices are lower than those first proposed to the Fan Advisory Board, whom Berrada claims to have engaged with heavily since the £66 decision.
But another protest group, The 1958, insisted: "This is yet another slap in the face for loyal fans.
"Dialogue with the club is broken, ignored or treated with contempt.
'Fans raise genuine concerns, the club responds with spin and price hikes.
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