Posted on 10th April 2025
Man City ticket prize freeze a “victory for fan power”
Yesterday’s announcement by Manchester City that they would freeze ticket prices for 2025-26 was hailed as a “victory for fan power and fan action” in a joint statement by three of the club’s supporter organisations.
The MCFC Fans Foodbank, Trade Union Blues and 1894 have led protests against high prices and lack of engagement on ticketing policy, while also backing the nationwide #StopExploitingLoyalty campaign.
They said: “We welcome the freeze in season ticket prices announced by the club today. It is a victory for fan power and fan action. It is vindication for each one of the thousands of Manchester City supporters who took action vs Leicester last Wednesday, and every supporter will benefit from it.”
The statement outlines that, after a decade of price rises, a freeze in itself isn’t enough and calls for further reductions, the reintroduction of season tickets, changes to the club’s Flexi-Gold scheme and an end to partnerships with “predatory third-party resellers”.
City announce a season-card price freeze ahead of the 25/26 season.
This is an important first step. pic.twitter.com/hj2ZMKqRC4
— 1894 (@WeAre1894) April 9, 2025
1894 added that further protests might be organised and they planned to consult with the club’s fanbase on whether further action should take place at their next home game against Aston Villa on Tuesday 22nd April.
1894 told the FSA: “The club have had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the table to talk about ticketing, a price freeze is the bare minimum, the club had the case for inflationary rises planned when meeting fans but the protest the day before ultimately made them realise the depth of feeling. We have not heard anything on new season ticket availability and we may need to protest again at the Villa game.”
Alex Timperley of MCFC Fans Foodbank said: “The price freeze is a great first step, but that’s all it is. The club still have many ticketing issues to resolve and supporters will keep working together and taking action until they do so. Football supporters have more power than they know, hopefully the example set at City can be copied up and down the country with more protests against exploitative club owners.”
City Matters, the club’s “formal fan engagement programme” also rejected price increases.
What does the FSA think?
At a national level the #StopExploitingLoyalty campaign has had a big impact, leading to a wider understanding that prices are out of control and concessions are under attack.
At the last count seven top-flight clubs have announced price freezes and we don’t believe that would have happened without fan actions – last season 19 out of 20 clubs bumped up prices and they’ve risen by 19% since COVID.
But national campaigns only really work if supporters get stuck in at their clubs too, so huge credit to Manchester City supporters who have been at the forefront of the campaign at a local and national level.
