The Man Utd fans losing their seats near the dugouts to make way for hospitality: ‘It felt like getting dumped’

A big change is about to happen at Old Trafford.

About 500 Manchester United fans who sit in the general admission seats closest to the dugouts will be moved for next season.

Their seats will be converted to premium hospitality, “reflecting the high value of this unique location”, according to the club. “We appreciate the disruption this will cause those fans who currently sit there and we will be contacting them individually to ensure a suitable alternative seat is found”.

After Sunday’s Manchester derby, those ticket holders will be down to their final few games in seats many have occupied for decades.

The Athletic spoke to some of those affected about what the seats mean to them and how they feel about being moved…

Tony

“We’re 11 rows behind the dugouts. I’ve been in the seats since the 1980s and, other than illness, injury or holiday, I’ve not missed a home game since the start of the 1973-74 season when we got relegated.

“The tickets were originally my parents’. My dad was the sports editor for a national newspaper and edited the match programme, which is probably how we got such good seats. He was a United fan and was invited for a trial at the club in the ’50s — I’ve still got the card inviting him to attend at The Cliff, with the suggested bus routes so he could travel there.

“For a long time, the three seats have been mine, my son and daughter’s. My son is 29 and has been going since he was three. He wouldn’t even sit on the seat we paid for at first as he couldn’t see, so we’d take a blow-up seat and stick it on the chair so he could.

“We’ve always said that we’re exceptionally lucky to have those seats — they’re brilliant. We’ve also said that if they redevelop the ground it’ll be turned to hospitality. And if we move to a new stadium, they won’t put us on the halfway line. So we knew it was going to come down the line at some stage, but there’s frustration to put hospitality in now if they’re moving to a new stadium in the next five years.

“Now we go to football for the social side as much as the football and it’s like a community we have there, though I called the man next to me ‘Andy’ for years, when that’s not his name. He called me ‘Steve’, which isn’t my name. We called each other the wrong names for years and were too embarrassed to clarify.

“The news was put on the website about season ticket renewals. I don’t have an issue with a five per cent rise, everything goes up in life, but I know the rises are issues for pensioners as they’ll be bigger.

“But the news about us moving was buried in the story and my son WhatsApped me, asking if he thought we’d be affected. I looked again and it said that some seats had been identified directly adjacent to the dugouts. I told my son that if you take what United say literally then it shouldn’t affect us, since we’re 11 rows behind the dugouts. At 8pm the same evening, we got an email telling us.

“My main job is an employment lawyer: you speak to people affected before you make a general announcement. The email talked about disruption and inconvenience, not upset and disappointment — what sort of language is that?

“I’m not inconvenienced, I’ll still get the tram to the game and walk to the ground. It’s not causing me any disruption either, more disappointment, and if the club break the link with longstanding fans they have a problem because Manchester’s not a tourist destination like London: you’re not getting 100,000 tourists turning up on a Tuesday to watch Ipswich.”

Alex

“I’ve had the season ticket in my name since the amnesty in 1994, my dad since 1974. I’ve never sat anywhere else, but for odd games.

“We’re nine rows behind the dugouts — the seats could hardly be any better. Close to the halfway line in the middle of the main stand, the directors’ section just behind. We’re about 30ft from where Ferguson sits. People turn round when there’s a rare visitor: Tyson Fury or whoever. I pay £56 per game; it will go up to £59 in that section.

“They’re amazing seats. I can remember Arsene Wenger getting sent off and the referee telling him to get out of the dugout. He didn’t know what to do, so he walked up the steps near us.

Arsenal manager Wenger after being sent off in 2009 (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

“I don’t agree, but I can understand why the club are doing it and I’m surprised that it hasn’t happened sooner, but how many more exec seats do they need?

“We have no idea where we’ll be moved to. The club have said they’ll tell us in a couple of weeks. My dad is more annoyed about the loss of the seat. There’s very few steps for him at the moment to reach his seat. Things like this matter to him.

“We got an email to say we’ll be moved from our ‘high-value’ seats, as the club have put it, directly behind the home team dugout. It’s a real shame but, if I’m being honest, I’m surprised it’s not happened a lot sooner.

“There’s a lot of time-served reds in those seats including well known red, Digger, just a few rows behind. I think with the removal of the 50 per cent concession discount it’s hard not to feel like the club are forcing the older generation, paying £26 a game, out of those seats so they can be sold at £226 a game instead. It’ll be the end for plenty, I fear.

“With the price rise, I think my dad will be paying 59 per cent more a season if we end up in an equivalent seat. It’s a bit odd but I think he’s more bothered about being moved than the cost.”

Eric

“I’ve sat in this section since the 1999-2000 season, row LL, maybe 15 rows behind the dugouts. I don’t look at it as a premium seat, I look at it as my seat — a brilliant seat. People say to me: ‘Wow, you’d never get rid of those seats would you?’ But that’s being taken out of our hands.

“We were moved slightly in the Covid season when the dugouts were extended and the players had to sit apart. Entourages have been growing so the alarm bells have been there for a little while that we’ll be moved.

“We got the news via a generic email about ticket prices, then a mate who said: ‘Have you seen that we’re moving?’ It felt like getting dumped. If I explain it to other people they might say, ‘It’s not that bad’, but it feels bad.

Fans at Old Trafford protested rising ticket prices in March (Darren Staples/AFP/Getty Images)

“A community grows around where you sit. My dad is 74 and people said, with that northern humour, ‘Glad you’re still with us’ at the start of the season. I think everyone will get split up. I was angry after the announcement. I was like, ‘That’s it, that’s me done’, but then you calm down and of course I’ll renew.

“I also appreciated the decade-long freeze on ticket prices until two years ago. This season, my ticket was £914 last year (£48 per game) and my dad’s was 50 per cent off that (£24 per game). If I move a row back, it goes into the next payment category. I can stomach the five per cent rise, but Dad’s will go up 25 per cent on top of the five per cent rise for everyone, as one of the concessions is being reduced.

“He can only see out of one eye so it’s good that we’re in a central position. And it’s a good position. I look behind and see who is in the directors’ box or the press box. I like that and seeing the people I read or listen to.

“I just hope that we’re moved to somewhere close to where we normally sit, but I’ll miss that seat. I remember an interview with a Chelsea fanzine lad last year and he talked about how much the seats were being sold for near their dugouts and thinking, ‘That’ll never happen to us’. But it has.”

(Photo: Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)