United View: Club announces ticket price rises

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS have continued their mission to overhaul Manchester United’s finances by announcing that the club would be increasing season ticket prices by around 5%, an average of £2.50 per game.

But what are the reasons behind this and what else can we expect going forward?

The increase for the 2025-26 season will mark the third successive year that the club has increased the price of season tickets, which also saw a 5% increase in those seasons after 11 years of price freezes.

This comes after the shocking revelation by minority owner Ratcliffe that the club would have gone bust by the end of the year without drastic intervention, and while the projected rise in ticket costs isn’t as expensive as many initially feared, it still shows the constant rise in the cost for fans to watch their teams.

The Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) released a statement regarding this increase, saying, “We do note that the scale of the headline increase is less than many feared, and we believe that enormous amounts of dialogue that fan groups have had with the club, alongside the public pressure extracted through the media and various projects helped restrain the increase.”

This isn’t the only change being made at Old Trafford ahead of the new season, including a new match categorisation model – affecting the price of tickets depending on the opposition. The relocation of fans behind the dugout to sell those seats at a premium price, and increasing the season ticket holder user required games from 15 to 16 of 19 Premier League games.

Fans will also be fined £10 for selling their ticket back to the club less than two weeks before the game, which seems harsh as fans will often experience unforeseen circumstances that make it impossible for them to attend games.

Additionally, there will be a 15% increase in the price of car parks, which will be felt significantly by the club’s disabled fans who often rely on service cars to attend games, meaning their most vulnerable may be hit the hardest in all of this.

The club believes this is fair in line with inflation and is in line with their mission to make Manchester United the most profitable club in the world. However, as it has with many of the decisions made by the club, more often than not it’s the regular person who has been affected most.

From hundreds of redundancies, the increase in ticket prices to £66 for the remainder of the season, to scrapping free lunches at Carrington, INEOS is acting ruthlessly in their bid to stop the rot, with Ratcliffe stating that the club was losing millions every year due to poor management of the club and spending more than they were making.

Meanwhile, the Glazer family, who are solely responsible for the downturn in United’s fortunes, continue to escape the burden of this situation, despite taking out over £1billion in dividends since their purchase of the club in 2005.

Ratcliffe hopes that the newly announced 100,000 stadium will help to make the shift from potentially bankrupt to incredibly rich. Which will likely have lucrative sponsorships to coincide with the unavailing of what will be the largest club stadium in the UK.

For now, fans will continue to bear the load of Manchester United’s struggling finances. Whilst the fanbase has been incredibly faithful, this will prove to be another test of their patience, especially with the club experiencing its worst league campaign in over three decades.

Following the International Break, United will take on Nottingham Forrest on Tuesday night, ahead of the Manchester Derby the following Sunday.