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Fans were delayed getting into Old Trafford on Sunday.(Image: 2025 Simon Stacpoole\/Offside)<\/p>\nHundreds of Manchester United fans were forced to miss the opening exchanges of Sunday’s game against Arsenal at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n
19:35, 18 Aug 2025Updated 19:37, 18 Aug 2025<\/p>\n
Fans were delayed getting into Old Trafford on Sunday.(Image: 2025 Simon Stacpoole\/Offside)<\/p>\n
Manchester United have investigated how hundreds of supporters struggled to enter the stadium before the clash with Arsenal on Sunday.<\/p>\n
United have been criticised by fans who encountered problems at the turnstiles before the opening day fixture. The club has rolled out a new ticketing system for every supporter for 2025\/26, meaning fans now enter Old Trafford<\/a> using NFC (Near Field Communication) technology.<\/p>\n All tickets are digital on a smartphone and downloaded to a device’s wallet. The tickets are scanned to gain entry at the turnstiles, but mass confusion occurred before the Arsenal game when hundreds of supporters could not gain entry, and they were sent to the ticketing office by unprepared stewards.<\/p>\n The Manchester Evening News has been told some stewards on the turnstiles sent fans to the ticketing office because they did not know the solution to the problem, forcing fans to miss the start of the game.<\/p>\n United have investigated the issue and are planning to provide additional fan-friendly assistance around Old Trafford on matchdays this season to prevent a repeat.<\/p>\n The club introduced NFC tickets under instruction from the Premier League<\/a>. United phased the introduction of the NFC tickets over the past year to help fans adapt to the change, but it appears some stewards on the turnstiles were unprepared to assist some supporters with the technology.<\/p>\n The MEN has been told United recognises from the feedback that they must do more to make entry as smooth as possible, although the club claim the NFC system itself “worked well”.<\/p>\n United said flow rates were consistent with previous seasons, with 92 per cent of fans inside before kick-off, and 98 per cent of supporters by 16:35, but the supporters who were forced to endure long delays are not happy.<\/p>\n One fan tweeted: “Man Utd ticketing is a disgrace. Thousands of fans queuing at the ticketing office because the new NFC tickets are not working at the turnstiles! 10 minutes to kick off and massive queues everywhere.”<\/p>\n Another fan posted on Facebook: “Manchester United<\/a> excelled themselves today. Gave mum a plaque on her seat as she\u2019s had her season ticket for 25 years, but then wouldn\u2019t let her in.<\/p>\n “Ticket wouldn\u2019t scan despite being downloaded exactly as instructed. And despite another fan helping her to download it again. Man on the turnstile was a useless \u2018computer says no\u2019 character and refused to let her in.<\/p>\n “He told my 77-year-old mum, who struggles walking, that she had to go to the ticket office where there was a queue a mile long. And this was after queuing in the car for over an hour to get to the stadium, which we live five miles from.<\/p>\n “She went home. I got to the seats only to find two other people sat in them! Not sure how they\u2019d managed to get in, but I had to kick them out and now mum\u2019s Platinum Season Ticket Holder seat is empty. Well done United. Well done. Hope you\u2019re proud.”<\/p>\n Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package<\/p>\n This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a> \u00a343<\/p>\n \u00a335<\/p>\n Sky<\/p>\n Get Sky Sports here<\/a><\/p>\n Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports<\/a> bundle for the 2025\/26 season, saving members \u00a3192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.<\/p>\n Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Here at the Manchester Evening News, we\u2019re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United coverage and analysis.<\/p>\n Make sure you don\u2019t miss out on the latest United news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here<\/a><\/strong> to subscribe.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here<\/a><\/strong> to be sent all the day\u2019s biggest stories.<\/p>\n And finally, if you\u2019d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast, featuring The Samuel Luckhurst Show and The Midweek Debate. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify<\/a><\/strong> and Apple Podcasts<\/a><\/strong>, and you can also watch along on YouTube<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of Manchester United fans were forced to miss the opening exchanges of Sunday’s game against Arsenal at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,423,36241,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-355101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-united-fc","13":"tag-old-trafford","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115051844394123276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Content](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Sky-Factbox.jpg\")
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