People power wins.
Liverpool fans who walked out of the club’s home game against Sunderland last Saturday, at a proposed hike in ticket prices, appear to have won a major victory tonight.
The club’s Boston based owners were under huge pressure over the last number of days, after plans were leaked that suggested some tickets for games at Anfield could be priced as high as £77 from next season.
Fans, including Jamie Carragher, walked out of the stadium on Saturday afternoon in the 77th minute to highlight their disgust at the plan, but tonight the club’s American owners have responded.
According to a statement this evening on the Liverpool Twitter page, no tickets at the club will now be priced higher than £59 pounds after a price freeze announced this evening according to FSG.
The statement, issued by “Principal Owner John W Henry, Chairman Tom Werner and President Mike Gordon” states that the owners are fully aware of how angry fans were in relation to a proposed price hike at the club.
The owners also have admitted they were wrong in their plans to seemingly price some fans out of seeing Jurgen Klopp’s team at Anfield.
“It has been a tumultuous week. On behalf of everyone at Fenway Sports Group and Liverpool Football Club, we would like to apologise for the distress caused by our ticket pricing plan for the 2016-17 season.
“The three of us have been particularly troubled by the perception that we don’t care about our supporters, that we are greedy, and that we are attempting to extract personal profits at the club’s expense. Quite the opposite is true.”
The American owners also admit that they got the ticket pricing plan wrong, and that their aim was to try and help the club, and not, as some perceived it, to extract more cash from hard-pressed fans.
“A great many of you have objected strongly to the £77 price level of our most expensive GA seats and expressed a clear expectation that the club should forego any increased revenue from raising prices on GA tickets in the current environment.
“Message received.”
The proposed changes to the ticketing policy for the 2016/17 season, are outlined below, and the statement confirms they will also be in place for the 2017/18 season too.
A number of major revisions have been made to the ticketing structure for 2016-17 and will remain in place for the 2017-18 season #LFC
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 10, 2016
Game categorisation will be removed – fans will pay the same price for matchday tickets regardless of the opposition #LFC
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 10, 2016
Ticket prices will be readjusted to result in zero revenue growth from general admission ticketing on a like-for-like basis #LFC
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 10, 2016
The highest-priced general admission ticket and highest-priced season ticket will be frozen at the 2015-16 level #LFC
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 10, 2016
The lowest-priced season ticket will reduce a further £25 from the 2015-16 level, with all other tiers being frozen or reduced #LFC
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 10, 2016
£9 general admission seats will be offered for every league match – an allocation of more than 10,000 tickets across the season #LFC
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 10, 2016
The statement concludes by hoping that fans, and the owners, can both move past the embarrassing incident and look to the future of the club
“We believe we have demonstrated a willingness to listen carefully, reconsider our position, and act decisively. The unique and sacred relationship between Liverpool Football Club and its supporters has always been foremost in our minds. It represents the heartbeat of this extraordinary football club.
“More than any other factor by far, that bond is what drives us to work tirelessly on behalf of the club and its future. We have great conviction in our world-class manager and our young, talented squad and know that in time the on-pitch success we all crave will be realised.”
