Before Man United's Chelsea visit, Red Devils' fans threaten legal action over reduced ticket allocation

A lot of action and drama is taking place in the ongoing English Premier League (EPL) 2022-23 edition. Ahead of the much-awaited Chelsea-Manchester United clash, set to be held on October 22, a controversy has emerged, off the field, with the Old Trafford club'sfans not pleased at all.

TheManchester United Supporters Trust havethreatened legal proceedings against Hammersmith and Fulham Council afteracut to the ticket allocation for Erik Ten Hag-led club'svisit to Chelsea, to be held later this month.

Manchester United Supporters' Trust lawyers have, thus, taken matters into their own hands and recentlysent a letter to Hammersmith and Fulham Council in a bid to place a request toissue a new safety certificate to allowfans to attend the high-voltage clash, at the Stamford Bridge stadium in Fulham.

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"United fans, and football supporters in general, have had their fill of being on the receiving end of unfair and irrational decisions by councils and the police who seem to consider us to be a public order problem rather than ordinary people freely enjoying a day out,” the fan group -- addressed as MUST --revealed on Thursday (October 13).

"Tickets had been sold for this game and fans are being treated like second-class citizens. Our first priority in policing football — and the increasing crime and disorder associated with it — is the safety of fans and those who live and work in the local community,” police stated. “This can require significant resources and we have to balance this commitment against our many other policing responsibilities across London.

"For this reason, the agreement in place between the Met and London clubs is that fixtures assessed as high risk should start before 16:45 at weekends to help keep people safe.” United had writtento their ardent supporters last week.

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"While we are very disappointed by this outcome and believe it is unjustified, it is clear it is a final decision. Over recent years, we have made significant progress in protecting away ticket allocations for our fans and we can assure you that we will continue to fight for this in future," the club further informed.

In the legal letter to the council, the fans have argued saying "there is no rational reason to reduce the ticket allocation for away fans at a 5:30 p.m. kick-off when it is accepted that there would be a full ticket allocation at a fixture beginning no later than 4:45 p.m."

Talking about the EPL standings, Chelsea are placed a spot above Man United. After eight games, they have five wins and two losses -- with 16 points -- whereas the Cristiano Ronaldo-starrer club occupies the fifth position with five wins and three defeats to have 15 points.