Simon Jordan has risked the wrath of Manchester City fans by siding with the club’s ownership over protests.
The former Crystal Palace owner was responding the morning after many supporters sat out the first nine minutes of the Premier League win over Leicester, which City won 2-0.
The act came after Viagogo became the ninth external ticketing website used by the club who signed a new partnership last week.
Fans see the decision as the equivalent of ticket touting by the club, pricing out regulars who can no longer afford to attend matches.
Speaking ahead of the match against Leicester, manager Pep Guardiola seemed to side with supporters, saying the club needs to ‘listen to them’ but he also appeared to suggest that protesting wasn’t right as his job ‘makes no sense’ without them.
Responding to the Catalan’s comments, Jordan said: “I think Pep Guardiola should back the owners and their views and I think the fans should be allowed to express theirs.
“This club has been created by the determination and the wealth of Sheikh Mansour, the regeneration of the area, so when you make a decision people don’t like, how can it be that you take all the good things that you think are wonderful and when someone takes a decision you don’t like you protest and vacate the building.”
Mansour, the vice president and deputy prime minister of the UAE, bought Man City in 2008 and has injected vast amounts of money that has seen the club take over English football.
City have won eight Premier League titles since his arrival, and even the holy grail of a league, FA Cup and Champions League treble in 2023.
Due to such success, Jordan thinks fans shouldn’t disagree with the new deal, as he insists it’s just their opinion.
“I’m not arguing whether they have the right to do it, I’m arguing whether they’re right to do it, but what about this sense of entitlement?” he said.
“You have a football club which has been powered by the economics of a huge investment, you have a team that’s been able to win the Premier League because of one man’s decision to pour lots of cash in there. Then you don’t like something and you protest.
“Do we really live in a world where you only accept what you like and then when there’s something else you don’t like, all your loyalty and respect for these wonderful owners that you laud and applaud when it suits you, the moment you don’t like something you’re going to protest?”
When it was put to Jordan by co-host Jim White that the fans do support the club, they just have an issue with this one scheme, he continued: “Why shouldn’t they trust their judgement?
“They clearly believe this is an opportunity to monetize certain aspects of the ground, specifically the hospitality sectors which a lot of the fans don’t participate in, so what we’re talking about is moral confected outrage. I think these owners might know what they’re doing.
“What a bunch of nauseating ingrates then. They can watch the 90 minutes if they step back from their moralistic standpoint.
“I’ll have all of the upside of billions and billions and billions of pounds to build a football club the like of you’ve never seen, but if a small section of their ideas are ‘we’re going to monetize some of the tickets’ – outrage.”
Jordan, who was the owner and chairman of Palace from 2000 to 2010, then gave another perspective from that side of the debate, insisting that it isn’t just about the fans.
“It’s not a one way transaction,” he said. “It isn’t an owner’s job just to bend over and do precisely what fans think they should do when fans don’t understand the dynamics of how football clubs are really run.
“They have an opinion and they’re entitled to it and if they want to vacate the building that’s their privilege.
“Would I react to it? I wouldn’t, I’d say ‘thanks for your support, you’ve supported me when I’ve given you what you’ve wanted now you’ve got something you don’t quite like, you’re not going to support me’.”
