Manchester City fan groups have accused the club of trying to price loyal supporters out of their seats after the cost of season tickets for next season was put up.. Supporters were emailed on Tuesday morning with news of how much their seat had gone up by, with an average increase of five per cent across the 36,000. That follows similar rises for nearly every year in the last decade as City have consistently put prices up.. The latest rise is in line with inflation and similar to what other Premier League clubs are doing, but that has seen little sympathy from the supporters who are being asked to pay more to watch their team while the club records record profits and revenues. Some fans believe that the latest hike is an attempt to get supporters to give up their season tickets so that the club can reduce the overall number and make more money from selling the seats individually for each game.. READ MORE: Erling Haaland injury update issued ahead of City vs Arsenal. READ MORE: City injury news and return dates ahead of Arsenal. “With £80m profits last year, there is absolutely no justification for the continued ticket price rises. Season tickets and matchday tickets and memberships are all too high,” said a spokesperson for the 1894 group.. “Pep Guardiola often asks for more noise at the stadium. He needs to put this question to Ferran Soriano and Khaldoon Al Mubarak as they are the ones who implement the matchday prices.. “It looks like the club are trying to replace us with the global fanbase. If fans are priced out of attending, it means the traditions, heritage and atmosphere get eroded year on year.. “It looks like the club want us to give up season tickets so that more tickets can go on sale via packages. Our advice would be hold on to your tickets and sell to family and friends at face value if you can’t go. Once you give up your ticket, you can’t get it back.. “It’s more than price rises – it’s about the heart and soul of the club.”. City are hopeful that renewal rates will be as high as they have been in previous seasons and are also taking steps to ringfence a significant number of tickets for junior members in an attempt to allow younger fans to regularly attend. However, their actions in raising prices have left fans struggling to believe their words.. A group of City supporters collect every week outside the stadium under the bridge for local foodbanks, and know better than most how difficult life is for so many living in Manchester at the minute. Having been told by the club how important all supporters are, the price rises appear to steamroll over that message.. “Every year Pep says ‘We need our people’, but his mates make it harder for our people to be there. Our core support, who have been following our local club for years and years through it all, has had repeated price increases for over a decade now,” said a spokesperson for the MCFC Fans Foodbank Support.. “The Greater Manchester region, and Manchester particularly, are some of the most deprived parts of the country. There are families living in the shadow of the Etihad using foodbanks, who couldn’t imagine paying what a match ticket costs now.. “When fans returned post-Covid, the PA said ‘We’ve missed you’ and ‘It’s not been the same without you’. City made more money in lockdown despite no fans in the ground, proving that they don’t need to increase matchday revenue at all.. “So why squeeze costs out of the people who can afford it least? Do the people in charge ever consider taking a pay cut if the club needs that extra million quid?”
