website last night. Here is a selection of what he had to
say:
PADDY HARVERSON SPEAKS
website last night. Here is a selection of what he had to
say:
When asked about the possibility of building an extra tier
onto the South Stand he said:
“We have looked at it, but to add a tier to the South Stand
would require building over the railway line and buying and
knocking down the houses on Railway Road. That would be
difficult and also very expensive. We believe that the
current capacity is about right for United.
“The problem is first the cost of practicalities of adding a
tier - it would cost tens of millions to add a few thousand
extra seats and would be a major problem for our near
neighbours because of what we would need to do on Railway
Road. On the issue of ticket prices, we are working on
increasing the flexibility by widening the difference
between the cheapest and most expensive prices. We already
use the Exec and box prices to help subsidise prices
elsewhere. For example, box and execs account for 11 per
cent of the stadium capacity, but for more than 35 per cent
of ticket income. Currently, our average ticket price puts
us about halfway in the table of PL prices, which is pretty
good given we have the highest cost base of any PL club.”
Paddy also confirmed that an away ticket loyalty scheme will
begin next season, although the exact details are not yet
confirmed:
“After consultation with fans and particularly the Fans
Forum we have decided to introduce a loyalty element to away
ticket distribution next season. We haven't confirmed
exactly how that system will work yet, but will be putting
our initial proposals to the Forum this weekend at the
Fulham game. We will let everyone know how the new system
operates as soon as we've agreed it.”
The atmosphere in the Singing End was raised, and Paddy was
asked if it could be relocated to the bottom tier so that
the noise was not ‘lost’:
“The problem is the concourse facilities in the lower tier
do not match those in the upper tier and those down below
are geared toward the execs who sit behind the goal in the
Stretford End. I agree that we do have a problem with the
acoustics in the Stretford End, in that the excellent
singing from up top gets trapped in the roof and does not
properly reach the rest of the stadium. We are conducting an
acoustic survey of the stadium at the moment and maybe
something will emerge from that which will help better
distribute the noise around the whole ground.”
Harverson also ruled out any chance of returning the words
‘football club’ to the crest:
“The crest was changed to allow us to trademark it. We had
no trademark control on the old badge with Manchester United
Football Club. There are no plans to put FC back on the
badge. I know to some fans the removal of the words was
symbolic of what they saw were changes to the way United was
run, but really it was practical move to combat
counterfeiting.”
The issue of safe standing also raised itself, but from his
response it seems unlikely that anything will happen:
“The question of whether safe standing areas should be
introduced in England is first and foremost one for the
government. The law as it stands does not allow us to have a
stadium that isn't all-seater. I know that sounds like a cop-
out, but nothing can be done without a change in the
legislation.
“To be honest, the terrible experiences of the past in
England with our stadiums mean it is highly unlikely that
the government would want to go back to standing, no matter
what has happened in Germany. You have to ask yourself this:
who would want to take on the risk of something going wrong
again and then being asked why on earth we turned back the
clock when the change to all-seat stadiums have had such a
dramatic effect on safety.
“More than 2m people come through our turnstiles every year
and we have had no safety incidents because of seating in
all the time we have been an all-seater ground. The record
really speaks for itself.”
Ahead of IMUSA protest over the early kick off times, Paddy
had this to say about the early starts:
“I wouldn't say they are killing the game, but they are an
inconvenience for a lot of match-going fans. The situation
is that we get picked for live TV games more than any other
club because of our enormous popularity. That means we have
to pay outside the 3pm Saturday window.
“We often can't play on a Sunday because of the Tuesday
European ties, and the police don't like us kicking off
later in the day because they worry fans will be all beered
up after hours in the pub. So we keep getting moved to
Saturday lunchtime because that is when the police feel it
is best in terms of maintaining public order.
“However, that said, we are aware that many fans are
unhappy, and the manager has his own views on the subject
too, so this summer we will be raising it with the football
and other authorities.”
Finally he was asked if United would ever follow other
club’s examples and leave Old Trafford:
“No. We have spent a lot of money on Old Trafford and think
it is a superb stadium, as recognised by UEFA making us the
first English club to ever host a European cup final. We
would not want to leave our roots in Trafford behind. It's
our home and we have no intention of leaving it.”
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onto the South Stand he said:
“We have looked at it, but to add a tier to the South Stand
would require building over the railway line and buying and
knocking down the houses on Railway Road. That would be
difficult and also very expensive. We believe that the
current capacity is about right for United.
“The problem is first the cost of practicalities of adding a
tier - it would cost tens of millions to add a few thousand
extra seats and would be a major problem for our near
neighbours because of what we would need to do on Railway
Road. On the issue of ticket prices, we are working on
increasing the flexibility by widening the difference
between the cheapest and most expensive prices. We already
use the Exec and box prices to help subsidise prices
elsewhere. For example, box and execs account for 11 per
cent of the stadium capacity, but for more than 35 per cent
of ticket income. Currently, our average ticket price puts
us about halfway in the table of PL prices, which is pretty
good given we have the highest cost base of any PL club.”
Paddy also confirmed that an away ticket loyalty scheme will
begin next season, although the exact details are not yet
confirmed:
“After consultation with fans and particularly the Fans
Forum we have decided to introduce a loyalty element to away
ticket distribution next season. We haven't confirmed
exactly how that system will work yet, but will be putting
our initial proposals to the Forum this weekend at the
Fulham game. We will let everyone know how the new system
operates as soon as we've agreed it.”
The atmosphere in the Singing End was raised, and Paddy was
asked if it could be relocated to the bottom tier so that
the noise was not ‘lost’:
“The problem is the concourse facilities in the lower tier
do not match those in the upper tier and those down below
are geared toward the execs who sit behind the goal in the
Stretford End. I agree that we do have a problem with the
acoustics in the Stretford End, in that the excellent
singing from up top gets trapped in the roof and does not
properly reach the rest of the stadium. We are conducting an
acoustic survey of the stadium at the moment and maybe
something will emerge from that which will help better
distribute the noise around the whole ground.”
Harverson also ruled out any chance of returning the words
‘football club’ to the crest:
“The crest was changed to allow us to trademark it. We had
no trademark control on the old badge with Manchester United
Football Club. There are no plans to put FC back on the
badge. I know to some fans the removal of the words was
symbolic of what they saw were changes to the way United was
run, but really it was practical move to combat
counterfeiting.”
The issue of safe standing also raised itself, but from his
response it seems unlikely that anything will happen:
“The question of whether safe standing areas should be
introduced in England is first and foremost one for the
government. The law as it stands does not allow us to have a
stadium that isn't all-seater. I know that sounds like a cop-
out, but nothing can be done without a change in the
legislation.
“To be honest, the terrible experiences of the past in
England with our stadiums mean it is highly unlikely that
the government would want to go back to standing, no matter
what has happened in Germany. You have to ask yourself this:
who would want to take on the risk of something going wrong
again and then being asked why on earth we turned back the
clock when the change to all-seat stadiums have had such a
dramatic effect on safety.
“More than 2m people come through our turnstiles every year
and we have had no safety incidents because of seating in
all the time we have been an all-seater ground. The record
really speaks for itself.”
Ahead of IMUSA protest over the early kick off times, Paddy
had this to say about the early starts:
“I wouldn't say they are killing the game, but they are an
inconvenience for a lot of match-going fans. The situation
is that we get picked for live TV games more than any other
club because of our enormous popularity. That means we have
to pay outside the 3pm Saturday window.
“We often can't play on a Sunday because of the Tuesday
European ties, and the police don't like us kicking off
later in the day because they worry fans will be all beered
up after hours in the pub. So we keep getting moved to
Saturday lunchtime because that is when the police feel it
is best in terms of maintaining public order.
“However, that said, we are aware that many fans are
unhappy, and the manager has his own views on the subject
too, so this summer we will be raising it with the football
and other authorities.”
Finally he was asked if United would ever follow other
club’s examples and leave Old Trafford:
“No. We have spent a lot of money on Old Trafford and think
it is a superb stadium, as recognised by UEFA making us the
first English club to ever host a European cup final. We
would not want to leave our roots in Trafford behind. It's
our home and we have no intention of leaving it.”
Subscribe to the Red Issue magazine on line: