Robbing Red Tards. Newcastle begin their League Cup campaign this coming Wednesday night, when they travel to Old Trafford for a Third Round tie against Manchester United. Kick-off is at 7.45pm and the tie - which will be settled on the night via extra time and/or penalties if required - will be televised live by Sky Sports. With the approval of NUFC (or so the Football League Press Office claim) the home side opted not to discount their Premier League prices, meaning that away fans were asked to part with £45 (plus booking fee) for what is effectively a midweek reserve game live on TV. As a result, Alan Pardew's side will be backed by a far smaller support than would be expected as many toon fans vote with their feet. Meanwhile, a check of the Old Trafford seating plan confirms that home followers are also boycotting the tie to such an extent that various sections of the stadium aren't open on Wednesday night. To give you an idea of just how ridiculous and out of context this pricing is, here's what you'll pay as an away fan at the other ties in this competition at top-flight grounds this week: Norwich v Doncaster £10 Southampton v Sheffield Wed £15 West Brom v Liverpool £15 QPR v Reading £15 (advance ST sales £10) West Ham v Wigan £15 (advance ST sales £10) Arsenal v Coventry £20 (advance ST sales £10) Man City v Villa £22.50 Chelsea v Wolves £25 And for completeness, here's what the other travelling Premier League fans are paying this week: Crawley v Swansea £17 MK Dons v mackems £15 (advance ST sales £13) Carlisle v Spurs £19 Leeds v Everton £20 PS: It's possible to buy cheaper non-member adult tickets for upcoming Champions League games at Old Trafford than for this League Cup tie. Empty seats.
Twice the price of the Man City v Villa £22.50 tickets. We must have a hell of a lot of pulling power to deserve having the prices higher than for any other League Cup game.
I prefer actually going to the games regardless of them being on the box, but I said as soon as I saw the prices that I'd be giving this one a miss. Ridiculous prices for what is going to be more or less a reserve game.
We charged £5 for adults and £1 for kids for Arsenal at home in the League Cup a few years back. Got a 47,000 crowd as a result. The atmosphere was great, although the chanting was a bit high pitched due to loads of kids coming Got beat 3-0 mind...
What do you think the logic is charging these prices? Do Manure want a half empty stadium? Or could it be that they just don't want the 12th man turning out for NUFC I would be interested in your opinions, because it just doesn't make much sense to me.
Hahaha, well why didn't they just say so Pulp, we could have had a whip round for them. At the present time l have the following contents in my pocket:- 1 two pieces of spearmint gum 2 some cotton buds 3 a nice piece of fluff 4 a receipt from a well known DIY store 5 a very old shopping list Do you think l should donate all that stuff, or would that be a little too generous ?
You should probably keep the gum. Oh, and the fluff. You never know when you're going to need some fluff
Manu fan said its because thy want to progress and know that away fans won't pay....thus the 12 man is lost.
Thats great! Much rather have a full ground than a near empty one. More revenue in the club shops etc. better atmosphere and getting the kids hooked while they're young. Saying that, after that result, it'll probably put a canny few off for life!
