Manchester United have dealt a fresh blow to matchgoing fans with their new match categorisation ticket model slammed by supporters as a “kick in the teeth”.
The fixtures for the 2025/26 season were released earlier today, with the Red Devils handed a ferociously difficult opening run of games.
The campaign kicks off at home to Arsenal in one of six Premier League games listed as category A, the label for the most prestigious – and therefore the most expensive – matches.
Tickets for the Arsenal game, along with matches against Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Newcastle United, will cost between £59 and £97.
Eleven league games, including the match against Leeds United, fall into category B (£57-£86) and two (Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sunderland) into category C (£37-£60), with domestic cup fixtures listed as category D (£32-£52). Categorisation applies only to match-by-match ticket members and does not affect season ticket holders, while junior and senior concessions remain in place.
As per the Manchester Evening News, club sources say that the new structure “reflects the reality of large variations in demand and attractiveness between different fixtures”, but the move has not gone down well with fan groups.
The Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) claims that the fans’ forum and fans’ advisory board (FAB) were not properly consulted, and that the cost of the cheapest ticket for most league games has risen by over 50%.
Club sources contest that the figures were presented to the FAB, who requested a review, and also noted that the introduction of the categorisation model helped keep season ticket prices lower than initially proposed.
In a statement MUST expressed disappointment with the club for failing to effectively consult with fan representative bodies and introducing “eye-watering price increases” for fans.
The group slammed the new model as “a fresh kick in the teeth” for supporters and accused the club of “making choices against the interests of fans”, warning that it “will do enormous harm and undermine the atmosphere in the ground in a season when the team will need it more than ever.”
The full statement reads: “After how last season went, we might have hoped the club would reconsider their plans for this new ticketing model which will see eye-watering price increases for 20,000 supporters per game who buy tickets on a match-by-match basis. This really is a fresh kick in the teeth for Manchester United fans.
“When the club said they were introducing this new model for members’ tickets, we urged them to keep the majority of matches at current levels and only apply the highest price category for a small number of the biggest games, and reduced prices for lower demand games.
“Once again, they have failed to consult any of the fans representative bodies on the details of the decision, and once again they’re making choices against the interests of fans and, we believe, the club as a whole.
“The club’s stated commitment to fan representation is fine in principle, but once again is not being delivered in practice. The structure is in place, and the fans’ forum and FAB representatives are doing their job, but the club are not adhering to their previous commitment to proper consultation and that needs to change and change fast.
“What Manchester United needs next season is a united fanbase and club, with the team on the pitch supported by loyal and vocal fans roaring it back after the disaster that was last year. These ticketing decisions only push those regular supporters away in favour of occasional visitors and risk pricing out the next generation of younger fans who are the very future of the club.
“This match categorisation model will do enormous harm and undermine the atmosphere in the ground in a season when the team will need it more than ever.”
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
