HB

[Kieran Maguire @KieranMaguire]

Why does football mean so much to fans?

It’s part of our culture. Every two weeks

The same pub
With the same mates
Sat around the same table
Telling the same jokes
Remembering the same incidents
From the same matches
And the same unrepeatable stories
About the same nights out
And reminiscing about the same gigs, and the same albums, from the same bands
And planning the same trips
To the same away grounds
Where we will sit in the same pubs

…until one of you isn’t there.

When the message came through ‘Paul’s passed away’ my first reaction was ‘Who is Paul?’, the reply ‘Paul is Evil’

I knew him as Evil because that’s how he was introduced over 40 years ago. His nickname is Evil because he was the nicest guy amongst us.

No agenda, no side, never complained, always positive, always modest, never trying to be the Alpha Male.

All the wives and girlfriends loved him the most of the gang too, because he was always the one that would ask the right questions and be able to speak beyond the sport, music, drink conversations that so many male gatherings descend to.

So today is his funeral, he is just 61, and we’ll raise a glass or two and celebrate us being lucky enough to have him as a mate.

It will hit worse when it’s the first match of the season at @OfficialBHAFC as there’s a group of lads who are STH that all sit together, and one of those seats will be empty, and you’ll feel beyond crap.

Football is the glue that binds us together, but it’s also the most important of the unimportant things in life, as friends, family and health mean so much more.

Rest In Peace Evil, we’ll be crying later today because we love you.

[Pippa Crerar @PippaCrerar]

A good spot from our @JoshHalliday on one of most significant consequences of Andy Burnham’s devolution plans…
that predictable revenue streams would let combined authorities take out 30-year loans against projected income to fund major projects.

Under the plans, mayors will keep a share of income tax generated in their area from 2028, as well as business rates totalling tens of millions of pounds by April 2027.

As they’re currently prevented from funding huge initiatives on housing and transport because they can’t take out private loans on basis of one-year funding settlements from Whitehall, this more predictable revenue has potential to make big difference.

https://t.co/FawFYwz6cQ

[Cheeses Of Nazareth @OhCheesesChrist]

The Demise Of The Season Ticket Holder

I want to give a bit more context on why I believe the recent sanctions being issued to Season Ticket Holders (STHs) are happening, and why I think there’s a revenue-driven agenda to reduce the number of STHs from the last published figure of 46,800 (see repost).

When the Glazers took over the club, they gradually increased the number of Season Tickets. The benefit of doing so was that it brought more money into the club upfront, at the start of each season, through renewals. Back then, there wasn't much difference between what a Season Ticket Holder paid per game and what a member paid to attend the same match.

Last June, Liverpool reported having 34,000 Season Ticket Holders, which represented around 55% of their stadium capacity. By comparison, Manchester United sits at around 62%. That might not sound like a huge difference, but financially it’s significant if the club replaces those season tickets with higher-priced memberships and hospitality.

To bring United down to the same 55%, the club would need to reduce the number of Season Ticket Holders by around 5,800.

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll use my own Season Ticket as an example. The figures won’t apply to everyone, but they illustrate why not only United but also a number of Premier League clubs may be looking to reduce the number of legacy Season Ticket Holders.

My Season Ticket costs £874 a season (£46 x 19 league games).

If my Season Ticket were removed and those same seats were instead sold to members at current match-by-match prices, the income would look something like this:

6 Category A games: 6 × £81 = £486
10 Category B games: 10 × £73 = £730
3 Category C games: 3 × £58 = £174
That totals £1,390.

So, on my seat alone, the club would generate an additional £516 per season — an increase of almost 60%.

Now apply that same principle across 5,800 Season Ticket Holders, and the additional revenue is almost £3 million per season (around £2.99m based on these figures). There could be additional operational costs to the club around all of this, but I don’t believe it would make the chase for the extra revenue pointless

This also doesn’t include any additional memberships that would need to be purchased for a member to obtain tickets.

Of course, these are illustrative numbers based solely on my own ticket price, and the actual figure would vary depending on where seats are located and how they’re repriced. But it indicates the financial incentive to reduce the number of Season Ticket Holders and replace them with more profitable ticketing models.

Now, you could argue that United did issue new Season Tickets after the renewal deadline, so they can’t be actively trying to reduce the overall number. My counter-argument would be that they still need to be seen to issue some Season Tickets while encouraging supporters to buy a Premium Membership, pay a Season Ticket deposit and commit to a Cup Season Ticket.

If the club were seen to be significantly reducing the number of Season Ticket Holders, the whole model would start to unravel, as fewer people would see the value in paying deposits and memberships while waiting for a ticket that may never come. That, in turn, could reduce revenue from those products.

The question then becomes whether the additional income from converting more seats to member sales and hospitality outweighs the potential loss in Premium Memberships, deposits and Cup Season Tickets. I don’t know the answer, but it’s certainly part of the financial equation.

The club will be crunching the numbers across all these scenarios.

Whether that’s what’s happening is open to debate, but when you look at the economics, it’s not difficult to see why clubs may be tempted.

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 WATCH: England sing 'Wonderwall' with fans at the Azteca after eliminating Mexico from the World Cup

[Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer]

Good news.

[HB @harshspeak]

@David_Ornstein @TheAthleticFC Stop leaking the lineup ffs

[ITV Football @itvfootball]

What a moment! 😍

Jude Bellingham singing along to Wonderwall as the England fans serenade the team 🎵

[Andy Burnham @andyburnham]

Politics isn’t working for places like ours.

I will change that.

#AndyBurnham #ForUs

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 NEW: Andy Burnham says he would ban VAR if he had the power

"You can't celebrate a goal because you think someone, somewhere in an industrial unit is going to rule it out"

[Josh Gafson @JoshGafson1]

As Black Rod knocked on the door, someone in the Commons shouted 'not now, Andy'

[Andy Mitten @AndyMitten]

Fernandes angrily urging more support...from the main stand. Fans in there standing up for the first time since Barcelona in '84 to respond.

[Andy Mitten @AndyMitten]

Saint George's Day (Diada de Sant Jordi) in Catalunya is fantastic. Love and literature celebrated, books and roses swapped. Two million books are sold in a day.
Barcelona boasts a huge number of bookstores; the publishing industry thrives. Kids get off screens and read books.

[Paul Quinn @theesk]

Anyone with a remote interest in how Chelsea are funded by Ares, please put aside 10 minutes to read this. Probably the most in depth analysis I have done. Frankly, it's scary... #Chelseafc #CFC https://t.co/1YjdIRUJAK

[Ramachandra.M| ರಾಮಚಂದ್ರ @nanuramu]

Absolute idiots ruining our beautiful game.

India and Australia haven’t played a test at the Eden Gardens, after the epic 2001 test. Now, that’s how you build legacy @BCCI?

[HB @harshspeak]

Prescient

[Retro Football Network @retrofootballnw]

BBC Sport have just done a feature on what football will be like 2036.

Back in 1994, on the football show Standing Room Only, they looked at the future of the game.

This one from 32 years ago was more serious.

[Andy Mitten @AndyMitten]

More Monday night football for MUFC.
Both April home league games switched. Zero - absolutely zero - consideration given to what match going fans think or want.

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

Manchester United fans unveiled a pro-immigration banner during Sunday’s fixture against Crystal Palace in response to comments from minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The banner was displayed by supporters in the corner over the tunnel at Old Trafford before the second half of the Premier League match kicked off.

It read: “MUFC proudly colonised by immigrants” and pictured seven international players who have represented the club: France’s Eric Cantona and Patrice Evra, Park Ji-sung of South Korea, Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes, Norway’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Amad of the Ivory Coast and Brazil’s Casemiro.

In February, Ratcliffe said in an interview with Sky he believed the United Kingdom has been “colonised by immigrants”.

More from @lauriewhitwell

https://t.co/aZqSNAplTh

[HB @harshspeak]

A Chelsea season ticket holder who is resident in Monaco thinks immigrants are colonising the UK. Shocker.

[Alexander Brown @AlexofBrown]

An underreported element of Andy Burnham's bid to return to Westminster is that it would see the Labour MPs football team welcome back one of their most committed players