Industry News

Overwhelmed St Etienne suspend sales for Man Utd clash

French Ligue 1 club St Etienne was forced to suspend ticket sales for its Europa League clash with English giants Manchester United due to an unprecedented demand.

Tickets for the round of 32 tie went on sale on Thursday morning but only a few hours later the French club announced sales were suspended for 24 hours until 9am on Friday.

St Etienne admitted their staff could not deal with the "historic" numbers of fans who turned up to queue for tickets.

English Premier League club United and St Etienne meet in the first leg of their tie at Old Trafford on February 16, with the return leg played at the 42,0000 capacity Stade Geoffroy-Guichard a week later.

Meanwhile, Hull City fans have complained after an area of their KCOM Stadium ground usually reserved for home supporters was handed to travelling Manchester United fans for the two clubs’ EFL Cup semi-final second leg.

Due to the size of ticket allocation taken up by United, supporters in three north stand blocks will not be able to buy their regular seat at the KCOM for the January fixture.

While some fans have said the KCOM ticket prices are fair compared to those at Old Trafford, others took to social media to complain about supporters being moved out of their usual seats to make way for Manchester United supporters.

A number of fans took to social media, with one posting on Facebook: “Well there's three tickets we won't be buying. Absolute disgrace, we stick by the team in these bad times and how do you repay us, by giving our seats to Man U fans. Both fans in upper west and the north stand shafted by our club. I feel like cancelling my membership. It happened when we played Arsenal too."

However, the club responded by saying that a larger away contingent could lead to an improved atmosphere in the ground.

In a statement, Hull said: "The club received criticism in the previous round for not allocating more tickets to Newcastle United, which was said to dampen the atmosphere. We have reacted to this and allocated Man Utd a larger number of seats. In order to accommodate these, the club has to allocate more space to the away side, either from the East or North Stand.”

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