The document known as “the oldest football season ticket in the world” promises its bearer access to every Burnley home game of the 1884-85 season. It is a ticket that predates the Football League by four years, with all the fixtures played against east Lancashire neighbours. All the same, the legend on the ticket carries a stern warning: “This card is not transferable.
Any member violating this rule will be at once expelled from the club.” For Burnley 1884 read Manchester United 2026. While the oldest remaining season ticket is safely preserved at Turf Moor, at Old Trafford 685 season tickets were voided this summer after a club investigation found evidence of their having been resold on the secondary market. United said such practices “undermine fair access to tickets for genuine supporters and have no place at Manchester United”.
United fan groups again protested against the actions of the club’s ownership, claiming: “The way you treat us is a disgrace.” Nearly 150 years after fans started paying up front to watch their team, the season ticket remains a key component in the success of English football. It is also an enduring source of conflict between supporters and clubs, with tensions seemingly reaching new heights. Arsenal, like United, have continued to act against the perceived misuse of tickets, suspending nearly 74,000 club accounts since they began a crackdown in 2024.
This summer Chelsea became the latest club to insist on minimum levels of attendance to retain your ticket for the following season. Bournemouth moved 600 season-ticket holders to accommodate new hospitality seats and 14 out of the 20 top-flight sides raised their season-ticket prices. Season-ticket holders have long felt undervalued.
But there is a growing sense, especially among fans of the biggest clubs, that they are falling ever further down the pecking order as economic imperatives change. It is a feeling that intensified after a World Cup that seemed precision-tooled to extract as much money as possible from the most devoted fans. One Liverpool supporter crystallised common fears when he appeared on The Overlap at the start of the season arguing that a big club would soon try to get rid of season tickets altogether.
The Football Supporters’ Association argues that clubs’ present behaviour shows an antagonism towards season ticket holders. It’s a shortsighted vision.” The claim that clubs want to swap longstanding supporters for one-off tourists is at the heart of many fans’ fears over season tickets and, to a certain extent, it bears out. Dominik Schreyer, a professor of sports economics at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management in Düsseldorf, says season tickets “come at a cost” for clubs.
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