Manchester United have contacted the FA to complain about the number of tickets allocated to them for their cup clash at the Emirates Stadium in January.
Mike Keegan reports for the Daily Mail in their print edition on Monday, December 16th that Manchester United have contacted the FA to raise concerns after receiving fewer than 8,000 tickets for their match against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in January.
Arsenal generally allocate far fewer tickets than that for away fans, but the cup competitions are different. Due to the limited number of matches and the random nature of the draw, clubs are entitled to 15% of an opponent’s full capacity.
For the Emirates Stadium, that means giving up 9,000 seats of the 60,000 capacity stadium. So whilst close to 8,000 tickets is more than you’d get in a league game, it’s over 1,000 below what United would have expected on this occasion.
Talks have reportedly taken place between the clubs, but they haven’t led to a resolution. As a result, United have escalated the case to the FA as a “last resort”.
Arsenal’s view is reportedly that the matter is a safety issue, and that they are acting in accordance with the police and the safety advisory group.
But United are frustrated, feeling they’ve given enough time to the Gunners to meet their expectations.
This is far from the first time this issue has been raised, with more than 10 years of similar instances involving big-six clubs unhappy at their Emirates Stadium allocations.
We should find out how this dispute will be resolved before long, with the actual game now less than four weeks away.