Wearing Manchester United’s home shirt to Old Trafford is a matter of choice and means more to some than others. The majority of fans do take pride in donning the famous red shirt to games or even around the city centre but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the price is enough to put some fans off.
This was backed up in a study by Betting.net that revealed a tiny 9.33% of fans from various clubs around England make it a habit to purchase their team’s replica shirt each year. That leaves a staggering 90.67% of fans who say they don’t purchase their teams favourite top each year and surely that begs the question, why, when most fans would prefer to?
It will come as no surprise to see that 55.88% of the fans survey from around the country say that price is the main reason behind their decision not to purchase the replica kit every year. Delving a little deeper into the survey and bringing the issue a little closer to home, 55.56% of the Manchester United fans that were surveyed said that price was the main issue behind not buying the kit which is less than the national average but still in the majority.
Despite a large percentage of United fans stating that price wasn’t the issue, only 11.11% fans of the Manchester United faithful would be willing to cough up over £50 for a replica shirt. That in itself is a problem when you consider the new home shirt retails at £59.95 in the Manchester United megastore. There was a lot of fanfare around when United released their historic 2018/2019 home kit in July but it died down when the price was revealed.
As a Manchester United fan, it’s important to pick your battles at the moment after the club looks to be a bit divided with performances on the field. This was emphasized after a 3-2 loss to Brighton but these are key issues not only affecting United fans but supporters from the length and breadth of the land who pay good money every week to watch their team.
Any cost exceeding £40 looks to be enough to turn fans off and clubs would do well to connect with their loyal supporters again by making it more affordable for them to wear the current season’s top.
