The Premier League giants are preparing to welcome Rangers to Old Trafford on the 23rd of January 2025 in the penultimate game of the tournament’s revamped group stage.
But despite the match being in three months’ time, Manchester United have already put contingency plans in place to avoid Rangers fans snapping up tickets in the home section.
This comes after Manchester United admitted Galatasaray fans snapped up 2000 tickets in the home end for an infamous Old Trafford defeat in October 2023.
Photo by MB Media/Getty Images
Manchester United message to Rangers fans
As reported by the Daily Mail, Manchester United have implemented fresh ticketing measures to avoid travelling Rangers fans scoring extra tickets ahead of the Battle of Britain clash.
The newspaper claims that the Red Devils will not allow accounts registered with the club after the date of the Europa League draw to buy tickets for the match.
This will, in theory, prevent Rangers fans who signed up with United in the hope of scoring tickets from buying briefs ahead of the Europa League tie.
It comes with the high-profile match being branded ‘high-risk’ by local police with the match expected to be subject to a substantial policing operation.
There is no mention of Rangers’ visit to Manchester in 2008 for the UEFA Cup Final, where over 200k supporters attended the city for the clash with Zenit St Petersburg.
The scenes were marred by a minority of supporters getting involved in clashes with police after a day of heavy drinking.
Old Trafford breached by Galatasaray fans
The protective move from Manchester United with regards the Rangers game comes after Galatasaray fans invaded the Old Trafford home end last season.
In a famous Europa League clash were Galatasaray eventually recorded their first ever win on English soil, United admitted that around 2000 Turkish supporters had gained tickets in the home end.
This was after jubilous Galatasaray fans celebrated a 3-2 victory over Manchester United, with images of the Turkish supporters celebrating in the stands irking United supporters.
Whilst there were a number of factors related to Galatasaray fans sourcing briefs in the United end, one of the major issues related to the selling of hospitality briefs.
This led to Man United’s COO Collette Roche branding the situation ‘unacceptable’ and apologising to the club’s fans.
“As with all games, the sale of matchday hospitality isn’t restricted to official Manchester United members,” Roche said, as quoted by BBC Sport.
MORE NEWSON SPORTNET247.CO.UK
Leave a Reply