Manchester United fans have been left reeling after the club confirmed that the away allocation for the match against Chelsea later this month has been drastically reduced.
United will travel to London to face The Blues on Saturday 22nd October.
And as the two clubs battle it out in a Premier League fight for fourth place, the number of travelling fans seems to have become an issue.
Chelsea v MUFC confirmed for 5.30pm on 22nd Oct. Police wanted to cut MU allocation from 2,994 to 1,500. MU objected. Now at 2,370. MU feel this is unjust as tickets already allocated.
— Andy Mitten (@AndyMitten) October 7, 2022
The FA have confirmed a 17:30BST kick off time has been agreed, with television rights and policing taken into consideration.
But the Metropolitan Police had suggested that the away fans allowed to attend be slashed due to concerns, with the allocation being halved.
With 2994 away tickets already being allocated to Manchester United’s fans, the police suggested only 1500 should be allowed to attend because of concerns over policing the fixture.
And with proposed railway strikes which may affect travel on the day, the Met have had to meet United in the middle after they objected against the proposal.
With a reduced figure agreed of 2370, United will still have to let down 624 lucky fans who were successful in the ballot and thought they would be at Stamford Bridge for the game.
And United had to fight for that many, arguing that such a late decision to reduce attendees was unjust.
The uncertainty around the time and date was due to Chelsea’s Champions League commitments.
And the decision means that The Red Devils now have to find a way of treating fans fairly when it comes to redistribution of the tickets.
But an email sent out to United ticket holders has explained that while there is no fair way to do so, over 600 disappointed fans will lose out in 12 days time.
Instead, the club have offered those disgruntled fans the option of attending a separate game later on.
According to The Manchester Evening News, “Fans who choose to return their seat for the game at Stamford Bridge can either get a full refund for the ticket they had originally purchased or can instead get a guaranteed ticket for an away game against either Aston Villa, Fulham, Wolves, or Arsenal.”
