MX23RW : Tuesday, March 19 10:56:39| >> :120:31354:31354:

Liverpool apologise, announce price freeze

Liverpool announce that ticket prices will be frozen for two years.

Liverpool's owners have issued an apology to fans and announced that ticket prices will be frozen for the next two seasons.

The club sparked outrage last week when it announced that tickets to category A games will cost up to £77 next season, with around 10,000 fans walking out in the 77th minute of their match with West Ham United at Anfield on Saturday.

Now Reds principal owner John W Henry, chairman Tom Werner and president Mike Gordon have released a statement apologising for "a tumultuous week" and causing "distress" to their supporters.

"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. Quite the opposite is true," it read.

"To that end, we have never taken a single penny out of the football club. Instead we have injected vast sums of our own money to improve the playing squad and modernise LFC's infrastructure - exemplified by the £120million advance from FSG to build the new Main Stand.

"On the other hand, part of the ticketing plan we got wrong. In addition to the other elements of the plan we proposed price increases on a number of tickets. These pricing actions generated growth in general admission ticketing revenue on a like-for-like basis exclusive of revenue from newly-added GA seats.

"We believed by delivering a vastly improved seat offering in what will be the newest stand in English football, concentrating the price increases on those tickets typically purchased by fans least sensitive to affordability, and for LFC to begin repaying the £120million advance from FSG for the new Main Stand that these increases were supportable even in the context of growth in revenues from the new Premier League TV deal. However, the widespread opposition to this element of the plan has made it clear that we were mistaken."

The trio confirmed that they have now scrapped categorisation of games, meaning that a top price of £59 will apply for every game regardless of opposition through to the end of the 2017-18 season. Planned season tickets costing £1,029 will now be frozen at £869 for the same period, while the lowest-priced season ticket will reduce in cost by £25 to £685.

Liverpool's ticketing controversy has caused a chain reaction across the top flight and wider Football League, with prime minister David Cameron pledging to "look carefully" at the issue.

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