The Indie:
As the Glazer family last night prepared to announce what percentage of Manchester United they now own following the first deadline of their official offer for shares, the club confirmed record season ticket sales that undermine claims of a massive and meaningful anti-Glazer protest.
A spokesperson:
"That automatically puts us at a record level. The likelihood is we will sell all our available season tickets, 42,500 of them, by the start of the season."
The Torygraph:
The club announced that for the 2005-2006 season there would be a record 42,500 season ticket holders. After away supporters take up 3,000 tickets and executive boxes 5,500, members will get fewer seats for every Premiership game. For the coming season this would be about 17,000 per game instead of 19,500, as in the past.
Club officials concede that the figure is slightly misleading. Normally United offer 40,000 season tickets. But this year they offered 2,500 more, as at the end of next season the corners of the ground will be available for seating and the club want to use this extra space to rationalise season ticket seating arrangements. Over the years the increase in capacity has meant that friends sitting next to each other have been split up and the club hope to correct this next season.
Normally some 200 season ticket holders do not renew, for various reasons. This year the figure is about 345. What is also significant is that the season ticket renewals have come after the old board of Manchester United put up prices by 11 per cent.