ManU 'Slammed' For Offering Derby Tickets To Corporate Customers

ManU has been "forced to issue an embarrassing apology" after the club offered sought-after derby tickets as a sweetener to potential corporate clients, according to Mike Keegan of the MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS. The team contacted would-be customers via email and told them that if they paid upward of £1,539 ($2,480) for sought-after seats and exec boxes at Old Trafford for the rest of the season, they would "receive two tickets for the clash with City at the Etihad Stadium" in December. Derby tickets are considered a hot commodity. Around 2,600 were allocated to ManU last season -- there were 20,000 applicants -- and the incentive has "prompted a furious reaction from supporters." But the club said that although the offer was discussed, it was "subsequently scrapped and should not have been sent out to potential new customers." Team bosses added that the tickets that would have been used "would have come from the staff allocation" (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS, 10/25).