By Pranav Shahaney

8th Mar, 2023 | 8:40am

Phil Hay delivers verdict on Leeds United season tickets hike

Phil Hay believes that Leeds United need a bigger stadium and that serious redevelopment needs to take place at Elland Road.

This comes after the Whites announced, via their official website on 6 March that they will be hiking their season ticket prices by 10 per cent for next season.

The 2023/24 Adult Season Ticket prices will start from the equivalent of £22.21 per game.

Hay wrote on the Athletic [8 March], “Two things jump out from Monday’s announcement about season ticket renewals. The first — and no newsflash here — is that Leeds need a much bigger stadium. They are miles off satisfying the appetite for attendance and while that is true of other Premier League clubs, they are also miles off the largest capacities in the league.

“The second is that Elland Road, as aesthetically seductive as its old-school demeanour is, badly needs upgraded facilities that put it on a par with top-level grounds and make the match-day experience better value for money.

“The reality is that most of the cash they have is channelled into wage bills and transfer fees, and all of us are guilty of encouraging that; of bemoaning the money in the game while banging on about the importance of recruitment and the lunacy in refusing to buy another centre-forward.”

Spot on

It’s pretty clear that Leeds have to think about the longer term as the supply and demand are not on the same level.

Surely there are more people that want season tickets but will not be able to get them and that’s just the nature of the game.

Hiking the prices in the midst of the most awful 18 months since Marcelo Bielsa’s reign began is certainly not what the supporters would’ve wanted.

Of course, it will be offset by relegation, but none of the fans would take that and wouldn’t mind paying a few extra quid per game and being in the Premier League.

Hopefully, after the takeover, the Elland Road expansion is front and centre of the San Francisco 49ers’ plans as it’s important that something is done about the stadium.

It remains to be seen which direction they take the club in but first and foremost, avoiding the drop this season is paramount.

In other Leeds United news, the club may now face a losing battle to keep their star player at Elland Road beyond the summer transfer window.

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