Manchester United fans have been left outraged after the club launched their new ‘forwarding membership’: a tier that basically charges you for the sole privilege of receiving tickets from others.
As confirmed via email on Saturday, United announced that they have now ‘sold out’ of official memberships for the first time in their history which, according to their own estimates, makes them the most subscribed team in world sport.
With over 350,000 official members now on board, the club have taken the decision to close the scheme for both Lite and Full Memberships in order “to protect ticket availability at future games” for existing members, but which will fundamentally prevent others from joining the queue to buy their own ticket.
Notably, however, the club waited to stop the sale of new memberships until after they broke the world record and now, to add insult to injury, the club intend to charge fans who simply want to be able to receive a spare ticket from family or friends through this new United membership tier.
Amusing in itself that their magical cutoff point was once they passed the previous world record for a football club, they decided to then introduce a new, shiny membership category, the forwarding membership!
The news has gone down exactly as you’d expect, with fans rightly pointing out that should you be fortunate enough to receive a ticket from someone who cannot attend the game for whatever reason, that should be down to them as the ticket has already been paid for. No skin off United’s nose.
ADVERTISEMENT
Given the busy season, with the club regularly competing in four competitions a year, it can sometimes be hard for fans to make every single match, so many regulars have to pass on their tickets from time to time. Sadly, it seems United are now trying to spin an extra bit of profit from that transaction as well.
Season tickets already set fans back anywhere between £532 and £950 a year (excluding the additional cost of cup games), but whether or not supporters charge mates rates for their spare ticket — again, their discretion — or kindly pass it on for free, the outcome is the same: the seat is filled.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, the forwarding membership scheme is the club, essentially, trying to re-insert itself as the middleman after having already charged for the ticket once, hoping to squeeze out even more money from an already angry fan base who believes the owners are only driven by money. Wonder why?
Fucking hell united never fail to surprise me, “forwarding membership” get a grip you money grabbing cunts
Moreover, as explained in @Daytrippingred‘s lengthy thread, despite fans already having to pay a £100 deposit to get ‘priority’ in the extremely long waiting list for a season ticket, they will now have to acquire an even more expensive Premium Membership to stand a chance, with no guarantee you’ll ever get one.
As for those who could never feasibly afford a full season ticket or even regularly throw in for the odd game on top of their Lite membership (£20 just be entered into the ballot to try and secure a ticket), they will now have to pay a 75% of that price just in the hope that a spare ticket comes their way.
ADVERTISEMENT
United’s various tiers. Forwarding Memberships are already being charged for the remainder of the season. (Credit: Man United)
Not to ram the point home too hard, but this means if your Dad wants to give you his already paid-for ticket that he’s owned since before you were born — something that you have always been able to do and cost absolutely nothing as recently as last week — you will now have to pay at least £15 a year.
Simply ridiculous.
It’s just another sting in the tail of the current ownership, digital ticketing which has flooded United with data on ticket usage and modern football as a whole
In the fucking bin with the lot of them, the money grabbing bastards.#GlazersOut
It seemed as though the administration made at least some small but positive steps following the recent fan consultation, encouraging more communication with supporters’ groups, greenlighting the Fan Advisory Board (FAB), as well as allowing both opt-out and ticket buy-back schemes.
However, it now looks as though it’s one step forward and two steps back, with the new forwarding membership outrage just the latest in a long line of controversies under the Glazer family ownership.
With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that fans are once again staging not one but two coordinated protests ahead of the Manchester derby on Saturday, 14 January.
ADVERTISEMENT
With the Glazers having now hinted at being ‘open’ to the prospect of selling the club, it’s possible that this forwarding membership stunt could be one last attempt at eking out every last penny before they finally call it quits. Reds can only hope.
Today we release protest plans for the City game
These are the most ambitious to-date
A CO-ORDINATED protest from 2 locations
We urge all fans who love our club to keep fighting until they are gone
Luke Littler is challenging amateurs to beat him at darts as part of a live Netflix event
Danny Jones
In an unprecedented new sports event in the world of streaming, North West sports star Luke Little is offering people the chance to try and win a game of darts against him live on Netflix.
Best of all, he and the entertainment platform have put up a huge grand prize for anyone who can beat the Warrington wonder.
So, for any of you who fancy yourselves as Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor reincarnated when stepping up to the oche down at the local, or if you’re simply bold enough to throw your name in the hat, you’ll want to pay attention for this one…
Announcing the special one-off sporting event on Netflix later this year, Luke Littler has issued the call-out to see if anyone can best him in a game of 501 in front of millions watching at home.
Quite literally the opportunity of a lifetime for fans of the arrows, this exclusive livestream is like nothing that the media giants have done before.
Having dipped their toes into the likes of live boxing fights over the past few years, they’ve definitely got a few live events under their belt, but this exciting and crucially interactive series of matches feels like something genuinely new for Netflix.
Most notably of all, using the name of the popular darts game played not only live on telly at competitions throughout the year but also at countless pubs across the country to set the prize fee, a prospective winner could potentially win £501k this autumn.
Imagine: half a million pounds for one (admittedly very tough) game of darts.
The only major caveat aside from, you know, him being an absolute phenom and already a serial winner is he also happens to be in the form of his life – his words and virtually everyone else’s.
"This is the best version of myself… I'm playing SO WELL!"
Luke Littler listens to some of the records he's broken in his ridiculous World Matchplay campaign 🤯 pic.twitter.com/EVQSrHxSHf
Having smashed Gerwyn Price to defend his World Matchplay Darts title on Sunday evening, cruising to an 18-9 victory with so many 100+ visits and finishes that he broke the tournament’s record average, which has stood since 2010, anyone who does come up against him is currently praying for a miracle.
Price himself told Sky Sports that the youngster’s performance looked ‘effortless’, quipping, “I hope there’s nobody else like him coming through!”
Still only 19, the local lad is the toughest of tasks for even the best on the pro circuit, but if you still somehow fancy your chances, heats will be taking place in Manchester and London, where the top 20 players will get their shot at the man himself on Friday, 30 October.
You can find out all the important information and sign up right HERE.
For now, why not see just how good Littler is playing at the minute and watch back his highlights from a record-breaking final this weekend?
Not that he’s ever truly cooled off, but he really is on fire at the minute.
Manchester City auctioning off exclusive ‘artefacts’ from Pep Guardiola’s office
Danny Jones
Manchester City are set to auction off a limited number of used and/or signed items previously owned by legendary football manager Pep Guardiola himself.
The iconic Catalan head coach may have now left the club, but it’s fair to say that supporters are still grieving the bittersweet goodbye – and if you’re one of them, then this might be a good way of clinging on to him and the memories.
Teaming up with MatchWornShirt, an authentic collectables company that deals in memorabilia used by the sporting stars themselves, fans will soon be able to own a ‘piece of Pep’ if they so wish as part of this very special merchandise dump.
So, if you’re a collector of signed or match-worn merch, here’s a taster of what’s up for grabs:
Several items from @PepTeam's office are up for auction 🤝
Yes, should they be willing to put in the winning bid, Blues can genuinely own some of Guardiola‘s office knick-nacks, a tactics board and notes scribed on by the man himself, as well as his actual chair and even his whistle.
Does that count as kissing him? That’s not for us to say…
There is more standard fare, of course, such as worn training kits, photo frames, programmes and other printed media – almost all of which are signed by the 55-year-old.
On the other hand, if you’re so inclined to go for the super rare stuff, you can even buy his desk lamp and go-to coffee cups; whatever floats your boat.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss left Etihad Stadium this summer after 10 years as a Cityzen – with the club even releasing a dedicated ‘Decade Collection’ in his honour – and it now looks as though he could be set for his next job.
His former assistant turned replacement and ex-U23s/Elite Development Squad (EDS), Enzo Maresca, is now in place and making his first impressions on the City squad; safe to say it’ll take some work to leave the same lasting legacy as his mentor.
As for the auction, the club have labelled these exclusive trinkets as “artefacts”, promising that you won’t get many other opportunities, if any, to claim this kind of ‘KeePepsake’.
Meanwhile, in other MCFC news, the City Football Group (CFG) are taking steps to ensure local fans have easier access to matchday tickets with a new postcode lottery, of sorts.
Danny Jones -
10th January 2023 
