In a rather confusing twist of events, Arsenal have announced the season ticket holders will not be charged extra for the visit of Barcelona on 23rd February.

Arsenal season tickets are sold to include 19 Premier League fixtures as well as seven cup ties (depending on the pricing category they fell into) over the course of the season. Having played six, Arsenal will now face Hull City and FC Barcelona at home over the course of the next few weeks.

Arsenal already faced Bayern Munich in a ‘Category A’ game this season, and the Barcelona match would fall into the same category. An email sent to season ticket holders on Thursday had fans up in arms, as the club announced that £16-19 (roughly) was required for the Barcelona game, as it is ‘Category A’, and that would be added to the price of next season’s season ticket.

However, that is no longer the case. The club released the following statement on Friday:

“We have listened to our fans and recognise that there is confusion about the basis of our long-standing policy on charges for the seven cup games in our season ticket package.

We believe that this policy, which last year resulted in a refund to fans and this year would result in a surcharge, is the fairest of the possible alternatives but we accept, on the basis of the reaction to our recent announcement, that we need to improve our supporters’ understanding of how the system works.

It was never our intention that we would upset those fans who are amongst our most loyal supporters. Having listened to their feedback, we are announcing on this occasion that we will not ask fans to pay the additional amount due under our season ticket conditions for the game on February 23rd.”

There was more, with the club going on to reiterate that they feel the current season ticket policy is the fairest one possible, but it may not have been contacted clearly enough to season ticket holders.

Thus, we can expect to see more complaints if something similar happens next season, but everyone should be well aware of what they are paying for.

Good on Arsenal for acting this time around, and it’s honestly refreshing to know that the club can and does still listen to its match-going supporters when something is close to their hearts.