Manchester United’s new £4,000-a-year season ticket model, that doesn’t even guarantee a seat

Fans will have to spend big if they want to secure a season ticket at the club's new stadium

Old Trafford is more than 100 years old, and its leaky roofs and inaccessibility have grown to become symbols of stagnation at English football’s most successful club. 

When new minority owner Jim Ratcliffe first arrived at the club in 2024, he promised to bring Manchester United into the 21st Century after years of mediocrity, saying: “Our shared ambition is clear: we all want to see Manchester United back where we belong, at the very top of English, European and world football.”

Organising the building of a new stadium was seen to be at the very top of that agenda. 

First announced in March, the swanky new state-of-the-art stadium will be constructed next door to Old Trafford in the Stretford area of Manchester, and will cost £2 billion to build. 

In order to help recoup some of that investment that will be put into the 100,000 seater arena, Manchester United are said to be considering implementing a controversial new ticket model.

The model would require fans to fork out thousands for the right to simply apply for a season ticket.

As first today reported in The Mail, Manchester United are planning to ask fans to first purchase a ‘Personal Seat Licence’ (PSL) before they get the chance to secure a season ticket.

If successful in their application, fans will then be requested to pay even more for the season ticket itself.

United have stressed that no final decision has yet been made, but they are in discussions with US-based consultants CSL International over how to make the most of financial opportunities created by the new stadium.

PSLs are commonplace in the US Sport market but have never been used before in the UK.

Fans of Stan Kroenke owned NFL side LA Rams are asked to pay £166,000 for licences at their stadium.

Despite being one of the best supported clubs in the world, United lost upwards of £110 million of revenue in their last published accounts. 

Ratcliffe has initiated a number of schemes aimed at saving money, making swathes of redundancies and cutting back on free lunches for staff.