Dave Kelly of Everton Fan Advisory Board on supporting Utd ticket protests

Dave Kelly of Everton Fan Advisory Board on supporting Utd ticket protests  01/12/2024  Old Trafford, Manchester, Uk

Transcript

00:00I'm Dave Kelly and I'm the chairman of the Everton Fan Advisory Board.

00:08Well Dave, tell us what you're doing here then as well from an Everton point of view.

00:11Well I think a lot of people are interested and you've got the unusual set of circumstances

00:17where Everton, Liverpool, Man City and Man United supporters are protesting today,

00:23standing shoulder to shoulder, probably two of the most competitive cities in the country

00:29with four of the most competitive teams.

00:32I'm here clearly for one reason and one reason at all.

00:36Certainly until this game kicks off, it doesn't matter what colour shirt your team wears

00:42and it doesn't matter about the badge upon the chest,

00:45we're here today as an act of solidarity with Man United supporters,

00:50just like we have been with West Ham supporters and Tottenham supporters,

00:54Fulham supporters and Southampton supporters and we'll be doing so for the whole of the season.

01:01We're here as an act of solidarity.

01:03I want to stand here today with Man United supporters

01:06because if Man United get away with what they're doing here,

01:10why wouldn't Everton want to do it or Liverpool want to do it and all the other clubs want to do it?

01:17It's somewhat ironic, within two weeks of the Premier League announcing

01:22a £12.7 billion broadcasting deal with the broadcasters,

01:29that clubs now think it's fair game to actually start charging fans more and ending their concessions.

01:38Well, I believe fans coming together, putting travel differences to one side

01:44and putting the market down, saying enough is enough, we're not prepared to accept this,

01:50we're going to take it on and it's a campaign that we've got to win

01:53and we'll only win that campaign by doing it collectively.

01:57One individual club isn't going to win it, we'll all win it by all sticking together.

02:02Yes, because you were just explaining that you have good dialogue with Everton,

02:05you're not particularly upset about the ticketing prices there,

02:08this is more a wider issue within football.

02:11Well absolutely and I think Everton have just announced their ticket pricing structures for next season

02:17when we move into a new stadium and I'd urge Man United,

02:20why don't you try and be a little bit more like Everton,

02:23why don't you listen to fans, why don't you listen to the hopes, dreams and aspirations,

02:29because that isn't just about what happens on the pitch, it's what happens off the pitch.

02:34But actually in a cost of living crisis, everyone's finding it really difficult,

02:39so to think fans are fair game, to charge more for tickets,

02:43they've read the room wrong or in this instance they're going to read the stadium wrong,

02:48and I'd urge Man United to be a little bit more like Everton.

02:51Let's liaise with fans and let's set football at levels where it's affordable

02:58for future generations of supporters to come to games.