English Premier League football club Manchester United will introduce a ticketing exchange for away games next season.
The move has been announced after the club banned fan Graeme Clarke from attending away games for a year after illness caused him to break club rules by missing a game for which he had bought tickets.
Clarke secured two tickets for the match at Hull City in August but did not attend after coming down with flu. The club contacted Clarke to tell him he had been banned from attending away games for a year because he did not collect the ticket. United said it was understandable that he had not travelled to the game, but said that under club rules introduced this summer he should have cancelled the ticket to avoid his seat remaining empty.
According to the Daily Mail newspaper, Clarke’s ban will remain in place despite the latest announcement.
Under the new rules, fans who cannot attend away games will be allowed to offer their seat to a season-ticket holder of their choice who also applied in the ballot, as long as the club is informed in advance.
The club held a meeting with the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) last week to discuss criteria for the ticketing plans.
“We told the club that being banned for non-collection of a ticket is unnecessarily harsh if there is no proof of touting or other illegal behaviour,” MUST said in a statement.
“As such, the club will immediately propose to fans forum members that non-collection of tickets at an away ground should result in that supporter being asked to collect any future away tickets, for the rest of that season, rather than immediately being banned from applying.
“While MUST agreed that raising allocations and supporter success rates in ballots were both important, we also discussed at length the bad feeling that is being caused by supporters being stopped from passing tickets to friends at face value; something that has been a tradition amongst fans for many years and has helped to nurture a community and camaraderie which is a key element in United’s much envied away support.”
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