Many Leeds United fans happy to decline 2019/20 refunds and 'sit tight' on 2020/21 tickets says Trust

The Trust have surveyed their 1,400-plus members in the past week on issues around ticketing, refunds, credit options and allocations for next season, and will present their findings to the club’s chief executive Angus Kinnear on Friday.

Leeds said on Tuesday night they are currently exploring refund and credit options for those who hold tickets for the nine remaining 2019/20 Championship games. he season was suspended in March and the five home games that have not taken place were set to cost £2.5m according to owner Andrea Radrizzani.

Players, coaching staff and senior management took a wage deferral for the foreseeable future to protect the jobs of hundreds of members of staff.

Vice-chair of the Trust, Graham Hyde, says many fans do not wish to be refunded for this season’s games out of a desire to play their part financially. But some will not be in a position to turn it down.

“The viewpoint of fans is, in the main, highly supportive of the club offering to look at refunds but, secondly, many are saying as far as they’re concerned the club can keep the money,” he told The YEP.

“There’s certainly a groundswell of support that, if it can help the club and ensure individuals are paid, many will back that. But they recognise the fact that, at this difficult time, there will be some who are quite keen to get a refund. If they can’t complete the season and there are five home games, even at a minimum of £19 a ticket, you’re talking about the best part of £100.

“For some people that would be important. Throw in the £40 for Blackburn, the £30 for Cardiff that was taken and some individuals, even for this season, are £170 out of pocket.”

Hyde, who says it would be a big ask for the club to ask fans to accept recompense in the form of discounts on 2021/22 tickets, believes many are willing to be patient and wait to see how football will move forward, before asking for refunds on next season’s tickets.

The club are yet to address the payments already made for 2020/21, a campaign that remains entirely up in the air.

Leeds are yet to discover if the final nine games of the current season will be played and could find themselves in one of two divisions, whenever the 2020/21 season kicks off.

“In the main, most people are willing to sit tight on that, that’s the general response we’ve had,” said Hyde.

“I think it’s an interesting one; it effectively puts the club in hoc to the fans to the tune of millions, particularly if you throw in the membership sign-ups, which will have, no doubt, helped sustain the viability of the club as a business. That’s money being loaned without any current promise of a return on it.

“The club owes a sizable debt to the fans, particularly if the season isn’t going to start anything but behind closed doors. The general consensus is that most people are happy to wait on that.”

Hyde acknowledges the difficulty Leeds have in communicating their plans to supporters, when the future is still so uncertain but welcomed Tuesday’s statement.

“It’s deeply challenging for [the club],” he said.

“Any business is trying to communicate out to its customers and football is a very special business in terms of that.

“Communicating out to the fanbase and saying this is what we’ll do, this is what we’d like to do, it’s done with hands very much tied.

“They can’t say very much at the moment because they don’t know where they’re going.

“Fans appreciate just being told how important they are right now.”