Fans want to take tickets off Emirates stay-aways

Two-thirds of Arsenal fans are urging the club to take the unprecedented step of rescinding the season tickets of those who regularly fail to attend home matches.

At some games this year there were thousands of empty seats, culminating in Thursday’s first European match under new head coach Unai Emery against the Ukrainian team Vorskla Poltava. The official attendance was more than 59,000 but Arsenal publish only a “tickets sold” figure and there are varying estimates of the true number.

The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust believes that there were fewer than 30,000 at the match – a figure disputed by the club – and is stepping up its campaign to address a situation that also became a major issue in the final months of Arsene Wenger’s tenure as manager.

Arsenal sell seven home cup games as part of a season-ticket price that is among the most expensive in Europe – but with the team now playing in the Europa League, many fans are unhappy that they are obliged to pay for these matches in order to get their Premier League season ticket.

There is also concern over wealthy no-show fans who, despite a waiting list for season tickets, continue to renew their seat so that they can see the highest-profile matches but are not then motivated to turn up for a large number of other fixtures.

A new AST survey, which has been seen by The Daily Telegraph, reveals the extent of the discontent over this issue among ordinary fans and the desire for the club to now take firm action.

Asked if Arsenal should remove season tickets from holders who regularly leave their seats empty, a total of 66 per cent were in favour.

“If someone is only using the ticket a few times a year, then they should be warned and after that they should lose their priority for the next season,” said AST spokesman Tim Payton.

Arsenal said that they are looking at a number of initiatives to improve occupancy at the Emirates.