Manchester football fans are being warned of a rise in resale ticket scams ahead of the FA Cup final in a couple of weeks time.
History is repeating itself and tensions are building by the day, as Manchester United and Manchester City are facing each other in an all-Manchester final of the Emirates FA Cup at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 25 May.
And, to no surprise, it’s set to be a massive day for football fans in our football-obsessed city.
2023 was the first time the two Manchester clubs battled it out for the FA Cup title in the final in the 151-year-old football competition’s illustrious history, and it was victory for the Citizens, with the trophy was formed a crucial piece of their treble-winning season… but, in what seems to be a repeating turn of events, 2024 is the year of the re-match.
As you’d probably expect, once it was confirmed that United and City would face each other again in the FA Cup final this year, tickets for the match sold out instantly, and there’s only a handful of restricted view seats left now.
Despite Manchester City having even warned that any fans who are found to have resold their ticket will face a ban, there are, however, countless resale sites and individuals are flogging their seats online.
This is why the digital payment experts at takepayments are urging any fans hoping to travel from Manchester to London for the final to remain vigilant, and make sure they are armed with the knowledge and tips that’ll prevent them from falling for fraudulent ticket scams.
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“The FA Cup Final is one of the most highly-anticipated matches of the season and there is always huge demand for tickets,” explained Jodie Wilkinson, who is the Head of Strategic Partnerships at takepayments.
“Unfortunately this means ticket touts will be looking to sell seats at inflated prices, as well as conning fans out of their money with fraudulent tickets, or stealing their bank details using a fake resale site.”
Manchester football fans have been warned of rise in resale ticket scams ahead of FA Cup final / Credit: The FA
She explained that while buying tickets by credit or debit card does cover fans under Section 75 and Chargeback Rules – which is where their card provider could help recover the cost of goods or services if they do not receive what they paid for – paying cash for a ticket doesn’t have the same protection if the ticket ends up being unauthorised.
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Research from Lloyds Bank ahead of the new football season last year revealed that the majority of football ticket scams tend to take place on social media platforms via bank transfers, but unfortunately, Jodie admitted that it can be “extremely difficult” to recover money lost from bank transfer scams, as in most cases, victims willingly transfer payment to a fraudster’s account.
“It’s important to only buy tickets from a secure ticket resale site and never send anyone you don’t know and have only spoken to on social media money,” Jodie concluded.
She also said that secure eCommerce websites will have “certain card payment security measures in place” to prevent people from getting scammed, and that fans should be aware of these security measures before making any payments.
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), 3D Secure Authentication, and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certifications, are some of the most common measures sites put in place.
More information on card payment security measures can be found on the takepayements website here.
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Manchester United and Manchester City will battle it out to be crowned champions in the final of the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday 25 May.
Kick-off is at 3pm, and the game action is to be shown live on both BBC One and ITV.
Featured Image – The FA
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Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Emily Sergeant -
13th May 2024 
