Liverpool owners scrap £77 ticket and apologise to fans

Thousands of fans left 77 minutes into Saturday's draw with Sunderland at Anfield in protest at the planned top-price £77 ticket in the new main stand.

Club owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) said: "Message received."

Liverpool's dearest matchday ticket will now stay at £59, while the highest season-ticket price is also frozen.

The Anfield club's principal owner John W Henry, chairman Tom Werner and FSG president Mike Gordon issued an open letter detailing the changes, following what they described as a "tumultuous week".

"The three of us have been particularly troubled by the perception that we don't care about our supporters, that we are greedy, and that we are attempting to extract personal profits at the club's expense," it said. "Quite the opposite is true."

The club has also ended game categorisation - meaning fans will pay the same price for matchday tickets regardless of the opposition.

Key quotes from the open letter

"We have never taken a single penny out of the football club. Instead we have injected vast sums of our own money."

"We were strongly engaged in the process to develop the ticketing plan for 2016-2017."

"Part of the ticketing plan we got wrong."

"We believed... these increases were supportable even in the context of growth in revenues from the new Premier League TV deal."

"The widespread opposition to this element of the plan has made it clear that we were mistaken."

"A great many of you have objected strongly. Message received."

"This plan shall be in effect for both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. For the next two seasons, LFC will not earn a single additional pound from increasing general admission ticket prices."

"We believe we have demonstrated a willingness to listen carefully, reconsider our position, and act decisively."

"The unique and sacred relationship between Liverpool Football Club and its supporters has always been foremost in our minds. It represents the heartbeat of this extraordinary football club."

Background to the protests

From next season, Premier League clubs will benefit from the start of a new three-year £5.1bn domestic television rights deal - rising to about £8bn with overseas rights contracts.

Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) chairman Malcolm Clarke has been campaigning for clubs to pass on the huge revenue boost by reducing ticket prices.

BBC Sport's Price of Football study found two thirds of Premier League tickets were frozen or reduced in price in 2015, and Liverpool have now joined Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Norwich and Swansea in freezing season-ticket prices for 2016-17. West Ham have reduced theirs for their move to the Olympic Stadium.

Clarke had told BBC Sport the FSF was meeting fans' groups to discuss further action, including a potential mass walkout across a weekend of Premier League fixtures.

He said his organisation wanted to make sure top-flight clubs "really do deliver some sort of a package" to help bring down prices.

The Premier League says all clubs are in "absolute agreement" to help away fans, without a "consensus" on how to do it. A spokesman said there would be "something meaningful for the start of next season".

During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, David Cameron said he would "look very carefully" at Labour proposals to give fans compulsory places in club boardrooms.

(BBC)