The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) has withdrawn its threat of legal action against Hammersmith and Fulham council over the reduced away allocation offered to fans for Saturday’s Premier League game.
A late decision to move the game forward from a 4.30pm kick-off on Sunday to a 5.30pm start the day before, due to Chelsea’s Champions League draw scheduling to play on the following Tuesday, led to a disupte over the 2,994 tickets sold to the visiting United fans.
The Metropolitan Police said “policing concerns” demanded they reduce the allocation by 1,500 - a number reduced to 694 after negotiations between the two clubs. All of the tickets had already been sold before the rescheduling.
MUST threatened legal action against the local council for “uncritically accepting the advice” of the Met as hundreds of supporters were told they could no longer attend. The police force had said that weekend matches deemed high-risk must kick-off before 4.45pm.
On Monday, the supporters’ group withdrew its threat of legal action but insisted the responses they received by the council and the Met were not “adequate”.
A statement read: “Given the greater uncertainty of success, the short time remaining before the game and the cost risk we have taken the decision not to proceed to a court hearing on this occasion.”
MUST say legal costs could have reached £40,000. They demanded decisions such as this are taken further in advance to ensure fans are prioritised.
They added: “We have made the point to Councils and police forces up and down the country that we are scrutinising these allocation decisions. And if we are treated unfairly, we won’t hesitate to challenge them again.”
Standard Sport has contacted Hammersmith and Fulham council for comment.
