FC United of Manchester: A Club Born out of Protest
This week, as a former member of Manchester United who has chosen not to renew his membership due to the takeover of the Glazers and subsequent ticket price rise, I received an email from fellow United fans who feel the same way.
Before you go on to read the email, a little bit of background;
The Glazer's first step after taking over Manchester United was to take out an enormous loan, using Old Trafford as collateral. For a club that had made itslef the richest in the world without ever going near debt, this was quite a shock. The reaction from Manchester United fans was to create their own club: FC United, and go back to the roots of football, without the Premiership greed.
I have attended many FC United games and, despite us only having around 3000 fans on the average game, the fans pack themselves into one particlar stand of Bury's Gigg Lane, and stand from start to finsh. The atmosphere they generate is, from personal experience, much louder than the noise generated from 75,000 Old trafford fans.
The Glazer's have since forced all season ticket holders to buy cup game tickets too, thus raising the season ticket price by several hundred pounds. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the 3000 fans of FC United in the Unibond First Division - four division below the football league - I eat my half time pie, chant traditional Man Utd songs, and realise that the Premiership is taking the soul out of the game.
Dear United Supporter,
Without doubt you will have been affected to some extent by the decision made by the Glazers to force Manchester United Football club to impose the Automatic Cup Scheme on all Season Ticket holders this season.
Indeed, it may be that this was the final straw for you, and you did not renew .
If you still have your Season Ticket, you have to find extra money for every game, and what will next season's prices be?
If you were not in the Automatic Cup Scheme before, the amount of that extra money may well be hundreds of pounds more than in the past.
While some supporters will be lucky enough to afford these increases, we at Fight For United recognise that hundreds upon hundreds of committed United fans have effectively had the match day experience taken from them, despite years of loyal support.
Whilst One United Members have not personally been forced into a difficult decision about whether to renew a season ticket, clearly the club's dual policies of having as many season ticket holders as possible, and all of them in the Automatic Cup Scheme, means their chances of getting a ticket in the Member's ballot for a game have been greatly reduced.
It may be that you are considering upgrading from a One United membership to a Season Ticket, but are worried about the effect of the Automatic Cup Scheme and another inevitable price rise on your ability to afford one.
The most obvious answer to these problems is the re-introduction of the League Match Ticket Book.
This would make getting in to see United hundreds of pounds cheaper in one fell swoop.
Were this available to purchase, your financial commitment would be much easier, you would be sure of entry to Old Trafford league games, and be able to choose which Cup ballots were right for you to enter with your chances greatly enhanced if the LMTB still existed.
We can now see why all LMTB's were upgraded to Season Tickets a couple of seasons ago – by definition the club could not impose the ACS on LMTB holders, and so had to get them into the ACS in stages.
How ever you are able to support United these days, be it from in the ground, or priced out of it, we at Fight For United hope you will join us in calling for the club to re-introduce the LMTB as soon as possible to once again make going into Old Trafford an affordable option for thousands of Reds.
Not much to ask for is it?
If you are one of the thousands upon thousands of fans who feel strongly about this, but do not know what you can do, become a part of Fight For United and support the Re-Birth of the LMTB.
With Government Ministers finally commenting on pricing issues within football, add your voice and opinion too – go to www.fight-for-united.com where you can see how you can make a difference.