By Andrew Warshaw
February 11 – Just days after a mass walkout that generated global publicity, Liverpool’s American owners have bowed to supporter pressure and scrapped their controversial £77 maximum ticket price for next season and apologised for the “distress caused” by the planned action.
Around 10,000 supporters exited the ground in the 77th minute of last Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland and principal owners John W Henry, chairman Tom Werner and president Mike Gordon announced on the club’s website that the price hike was now being shelved, leaving the most expensive ticket at £59.
“On behalf of everyone at Fenway Sports Group and Liverpool Football Club, we would like to apologise for the distress caused by our ticket pricing plan for the 2016-17 season,” the statement said.
“The three of us have been particularly troubled by the perception that we don’t care about our supporters, that we are greedy, and that we are attempting to extract personal profits at the club’s expense. Quite the opposite is true.”
The club additionally said that while some prices may change slightly, total ticket revenue would be frozen at the current level except for new seating due to be added in the redeveloped Main Stand. The highest season-ticket price is also frozen.
With Premier League clubs due to receive a bumper three-year £5.1 billion domestic television rights deal from next season, there is a strong popular movement throughout the country that fans should in some way benefit. As a result, Saturday’s protest gained widespread support among supporters’ groups. Liverpool is also ranked the fourth most deprived local authority in the country.
In defence of their record to date, Liverpool’s owners said they had not taken a “single penny” out of the club and had invested heavily in the playing squad and infrastructure.
The club has also scrapped its system of game categorisation – a scheme, to be fair, imposed by other top-flight clubs too. That means Liverpool fans will pay the same price for home match day tickets regardless of the opposition.
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