London - Arsenal were on Friday night forced to back down over an increase in their 2016-17 season ticket prices after being accused of misleading fans.
Supporters were left enraged when the club announced they would be adding an additional charge of between £7 and £30 to season tickets for the next campaign less than a month after claiming the cost would be frozen.
Following the threat of protest at next weekend’s home match, Arsenal scrapped their plans. Arsenal supporters had been planning to join fans of their opponents Leicester in leaving the Emirates Stadium empty for the first five minutes, as revealed by MailOnline on Friday.
The club said in a statement: ‘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 23 (against Barcelona).’
Leicester fans already planned a protest at the Emirates after Sky Sports moved the game back a day for live television coverage less than four weeks before the game.
Financial firm Deloitte revealed recently that Arsenal, who visit Bournemouth on Sunday, generate more money on match-days than any club in the world.
Arsenal’s U-turn came on the same day Liverpool supporters were told by chief executive Ian Ayre to ‘read the facts’ before going through with a planned walkout after 77 minutes of Saturday’s match at Anfield against Sunderland.
The protest is a show of collective defiance opposing this week’s announcement of the highest ever price of a single Anfield matchday ticket - £77 - next season.
Ayre said: ‘£77 is guiding people in the wrong direction. It is 200 tickets for six games a season. It is less than half a per cent of the total capacity. Of course everybody would like the tickets to be cheaper, including us, but that’s not an option for us right now.’
Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed midfielder Tomas Rosicky, 35, is set to miss the rest of the season with a thigh tear. Arsenal are carefully managing Mesut Ozil’s training schedule due to a long-standing foot problem which caused him to miss last month’s match at Stoke.
Daily Mail