Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been discussing Newcastle United’s announcement regarding refunds on pre-paid tickets and season tickets.
On Thursday last week, the North East club made an announcement regarding the refunds of tickets for matches at St. James’ Park that are set to be played behind closed doors (per Newcastle United).
This made the Toon the last Premier League club to offer reimbursement to supporters who could now not attend matches they had already paid for (per The Guardian).
So, on the latest episode of The Price of Football Podcast, Maguire discussed these refunds in relation to other current issues at the club.
He said: “Newcastle were the last club to effectively publish their accounts and they’re the last club to announce refunds. They don’t really have much of a choice in the matter because there is consumer protection law, and they failed to deliver 19 matches where people can attend.
“But at least they have got around to announcing it. I think in an ideal world, Mike Ashley would have put the sale through earlier this year, a couple of months ago, and then left it to the new owners to have to deal with.
“But as the owners’ and directors’ test issues are dragging on, I suspect the club felt that they couldn’t continue to show a deaf ear to fans.
“One disappointing thing: those fans who have taken up the early-bird offers for 2021 and let’s face it, we don’t know whether matches are going to take place before a paying audience, it’s highly unlikely when the season starts. They’ve said: ‘Oh, we’ll make a decision later.’
“So, fans who have stumped up money early for whatever reason, it could be that they get a discount, it could be that they wanted to support the club – they won’t be given the opportunity of a refund for the foreseeable future.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be judged from what the finance expert had to say, it seems that Mike Ashley may have wanted hang fire on the refunds for as long as possible to see if the responsibility could be passed to a new owner.
Has the club handled the refunds of pre-paid tickets and season tickets poorly?Yes, it's a bit of a farce
No, not been that bad
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If that is the case as Maguire suggested, that perhaps seems like a poor excuse to leave supporters waiting around to be the last in the Premier League to be offered refunds.