Leeds United begin honouring season ticket refunds to fans

LEEDS UNITED are honouring their pledge to pay partial refunds to supporters who bought season tickets for the 2016-17 campaign '“ and will inject any unclaimed money into the club's academy.
Elland Road, Leeds.Elland Road, Leeds.
Elland Road, Leeds.

United face a potential pay-out of more than £1m after their narrow failure to qualify for the Championship’s play-offs guaranteed a number of a season-ticket holders a 25 per cent refund.

Leeds promised to hand back that sum to any supporter who bought a season ticket before the end of May 2016 if the club fell short of a top-six finish.

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United were on course for the play-offs for much of the term but finished seventh last weekend after a damaging loss of form in the final month.

Eligible supporters will be entitled to a 25 per cent refund on the net cost of season tickets, which equates to the original price minus VAT at 20 per cent and a three per cent EFL Levy.

Leeds are set to pay back up to £127 to individual fans and have set a deadline of Friday, June 9 for supporters to claim a refund. Eligible adults in the Kop will receive almost £90.

The club originally asked for applications by April 30 but extended the cut-off point with Garry Monk’s squad in contention for the play-offs until the penultimate weekend of the season.

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A statement read: “Since the conclusion of the season we have had a large number of supporters who have stated that they do not wish to receive a refund. Therefore there is an option to help develop future players for the Whites by donating the 25 per cent refund to the Leeds United academy.

“Supporters who do not submit their bank details by Friday, June 9 will see their refund automatically default to the Leeds United academy.”

Leeds said season-ticket sales for the 2016-17 term had reached 14,500, narrowly short of the 15,000 benchmark set for fans to receive 50 per cent refunds in the event of United finishing seventh or lower.

The initiative was unveiled in an attempt to increase the take-up at Elland Road after the 2015-16 campaign ended in another mid-table league position. Monk’s squad began this season with a run of one win from six games, dropping them into the Championship’s relegation zone, but a surge in form either side of Christmas left them eight points clear of Fulham in seventh with eight games to play.

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Fulham, however, overturned the deficit and finished five points clear of United after Leeds took one win from their last eight fixtures.

A pay-out of £1m represents a sizeable portion of the annual gate receipts at Elland Road.

Leeds took £8.1m through tickets sales during the 2015-16 season, though average attendances in the past nine months have increased by around 4,000 to more than 27,000.

Leeds midfielder Eunan O’Kane has been named in Martin O’Neill’s Republic of Ireland squad for fixtures against Mexico, Uruguay and Austria next month. Stuart Dallas and Chris Wood have also been called up for international duty.