Another display of stuttering meant Manchester United drew goalless at home to Newcastle United on Sunday. This was their first draw of the season.
Now the Red Devils have two clubs to contend with in the top four: Tottenham Hotspur arrive at Old Trafford in midweek, followed by a delightful clash with Chelsea on Saturday.
Ticket allocation cut
As well as the on-field rivalry, the match against the Blues has also been met with off-field controversy due to United reducing their away ticket allocation.
Manchester United players returned most of the family tickets for the Chelsea match so that the fan allocation would not be reduced as much. Each member of the matchday team usually gets two seats each, but they wanted to express their solidarity with the supporters. #mufc #mujournal
[@lauriewhitwell]
– United Daily (@theutdjournal) October 17, 2022
As previously reported, the initial number of away tickets allocated for United supporters was 2,994.
But the Metropolitan Police ended up suggesting that the allowance should be reduced due to police concerns about the standoff. They had suggested a drastic reduction to 1,500.
United had to intervene and the Met Police eventually agreed to allow 2,370 fans, which meant the club had to inform 624 lucky fans who were successful in voting that they would not be traveling to Stamford Bridge.
The club tried to appease the fans by including the option of attending a separate match later on.
As The Peoples Person reported, Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) had issued a statement threatening Hammersmith and Fulham Council with legal action due to the reduced ticket allocation for the match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Players help fans
And now The Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell has claimed that the leading group among the players has made a collective decision to “return the family tickets for the game at Chelsea next weekend so that fewer fans of the club have to be removed from the visitor allocation.
Initially, 624 tickets were said to have been reduced, prompting “Erik ten Hag’s team leadership group, which includes Harry Maguire, Bruno Fernandes, David de Gea and Tom Heaton, to come together to decide how they could help”.
Usually, team members get two complimentary tickets reserved for friends and family, but after the meeting, a large part of the team decided to give up their part.
Now, the figure has been reduced to less than 600, which will benefit quite a few fans who had been forced to give up their tickets.
United’s away support is considered to be some of the best in the world and they will be delighted at the players’ initiative to help them.
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