Fan and club representatives reconvened at Old Trafford on Thursday 18 April for this season's third Fans’ Forum, and the first since Sir Jim Ratcliffe became a minority investor in Manchester United.
Chaired by Collette Roche (chief operating officer), the forum provides an opportunity to actively discuss matters across all fan strata and enable collaborative ways of working to strengthen the connection between club and supporter. The full minutes from the meeting can be accessed here.
We have collated seven key agenda items to take away, including FA Cup final operations, season-ticket updates and nominations for an end-of-season award.
1. We listened to the concerns raised by Forum Reps and have agreed that the increase in the number of games a season ticket must be used will now be phased in by one game per season. This means for the 2024/25 season, season tickets must be used for 15/19 Premier League games. Ticket ‘usage’ includes forwarding to a member, donating to the MU Foundation and selling back to the club for a full refund. If the buy-back option is ever disabled due to too high demand, we will also enable season-ticket holders to forward to non-members via the app. We will keep the data on ticket usage under review – as we still want to ensure all tickets are used each game, allowing fans without season tickets to attend and to help improve the atmosphere – and share with the Forum before next season.
3. Nominations are open for the Ian Stirling Fan Award 2024. Fans can nominate a fellow supporter who has gone above and beyond in support for the club, their fellow fans or local community. The winner will be announced at our end-of-season awards night.
5. We’re continuing to trial in-app tickets ahead of next season. Over the last five months, over 20,000 tickets have been used via the official app as part of our commitment to tackle unauthorised resale of tickets and improve safety at the stadium. Supporters will be able to manage all tickets in their network and use ticket usage options (forwarding to members, donations to MU Foundation and resale to the club) all from within the app.
7. Ticket collection points will be in place for accessible supporters at away fixtures following increasing fan concerns around the alleged misuse of accessible tickets. In collaboration with MUDSA, we will recommence collections to ensure that as many disabled fans as possible have access to match tickets which are suitable for them.
The final Fans’ Forum of the 2023/24 season will take place in June. Please submit your questions or feedback to your Fan Rep here.