The Leeds controversy over ‘super away attendees’ — what’s happened and is it fair? — The Athletic 28/7/24

By Nancy Froston

When Leeds United play away from home, they sell out their allocation. That is a given fact. It is also why the system for accessing away tickets is so vigorously debated by fans.

At times, Leeds’ loyal away following has come at a cost. In their years in the EFL, supporters have often been charged over the odds as the home team looks to cash in on a larger-than-usual away attendance. It is why Leeds introduced reciprocal pricing — their policy of agreeing ticket prices with rival clubs at the start of the season and mirroring them across the two league games to avoid their fans being out of pocket.

However, not every club has been willing to cooperate over the years and, ahead of the upcoming season, Leeds have decided to ditch the policy. Instead, to bring themselves in line with the Premier League rules on away ticket prices, they have capped all adult away tickets at Elland Road at £30 regardless of the opponent.

Time will tell if that gesture prompts other clubs to act similarly, but in the process of announcing the changes, Leeds revealed another amendment: elements of the system for allocating away tickets are changing.

Supporters can guarantee access to away tickets, which last season cost £825. For 2024-25, that has risen to £850 and can be paid up front or via a finance plan. These so-called away season tickets are not offered for sale at the moment and are only available on a renewal basis for those who already have them.

However, some fans were guaranteed the option to buy away tickets without having to buy an away season ticket, courtesy of their historic commitment to following Leeds on the road. Fans who attended 80 per cent of away matches from 2015 to 2020 gained ‘super away attendees’ status, which applied to 265 fans, a category which ensured they could buy away tickets, crucially, on a match-by-match basis.

In a change that has garnered much attention on social media, the ‘super away attendees’ classification has been removed in its previous form. From 2024-25, they will now have to buy an away season ticket to maintain the same guaranteed access to away games — they have been asked if they would like to buy one for next season — or buy away tickets on a match-by-match basis.

Alex License, a lifelong Leeds fan, was one of the 265 who received an email last week informing him of the change to his ‘super away attendee’ status. “Even when things weren’t great (on the pitch), it wasn’t really about the result,” he says. “At that time, we were finishing mid-table every season, but it’s been a dream come true as a Leeds fan to be able to travel up and down the country supporting them every week home and away.

“It’s been two things: the timing of them telling us about the change, which is going to cost a lot of fans a chunk of money when we thought we’d have no stress about tickets for this season. It’s a case of either finding the money up front or committing to finance, which will cost even more with interest on top.

“But the other thing is knowing what goes into the admin fee. Demand is obviously through the roof for tickets since we’ve been relatively successful in the past few years. I think some other fans see super away people as ticket hogs but got it for a reason, it takes a lot of commitment and plenty of money over the years (to go to so many away games).”

In a time when fair pricing for fans is a hot topic, License’s social post about the issue stirred a lot of interest online. “It was crashing my phone after a couple of hours so I had to mute the post,” he says. “It’s a football problem, it’s not just Leeds. You can see it happening to fans all over but obviously it’s Leeds that’s relevant to us.”

There is a degree of pragmatism to the club’s decision. Pleasing all fans on issues of ticketing is impossible. Uptake by those with ‘super away attendee’ status for away games was, as expected by a group of fans with that classification, very high. Removing that status will probably mean a few more tickets being available for away matches to fans who were not ‘super away attendees’.

Key issues for supporters, however, are clarity on the associated costs of the away season ticket, the timing of the announcement and how it was communicated.

The cost for away season tickets is calculated based on totalling up the estimates of what each Championship club will charge Leeds fans for an away ticket. Individual ticket prices for all away games totalled £669 in 2023-24 and fans were charged £825. Should the cost of away tickets purchased individually exceed the price for that season’s away season ticket, the excess is not charged to fans.

However, as the cost of attending each game on a match-by-match basis in 2023-24 was £156 less the price of the away season ticket, the club refunded away season ticket holders £54. The club said the difference between those figures (£102) was to cover administration and postage.

The recent changes to the ‘super away attendee’ status were communicated with fan groups, among them Leeds United Supporters’ Trust, although they say that was initially without details of the new away season ticket price or rebate information.

LUST have been in dialogue with the club and are pushing for the detail behind the administration charges on away season tickets. They welcome the new £30 price cap on visiting fans at Elland Road, which is in place for the 2024-25 season, but stress their disappointment that home fans sat in the same stand face a price increase.

Where the Trust and other supporters want clarity is the basis for the fees being charged to the away season ticket holders, as well as a greater desire to see future changes communicated with as much notice as possible, so that fans are not faced with a substantial outlay or taking on debt at short notice.