Dunny’s Hairdryer

IN the bad old days of UEFA, there was not only a VIP section at Champions League finals – there was a VVIP category.

It was some gravy train. Things have improved a little, but, make no mistake, there will be plenty of largesse in the hospitality areas of the Stade de France on May 28.

In fairness, UEFA are allocating 10,000 tickets to be given away free of charge to “reward the lifeblood of the game for their loyal support during the pandemic”.

Exactly who will receive these tickets is unclear, but it is a decent gesture.

However, it means that the respective finalists will only get 20,000 each, which is not enough.

And then, there are the prices. I have been to the Stade de France many times and, as is the case at Wembley, there is not a bad seat in the house.

Yet there are four categories of tickets, the cheapest at €70.

After that, they are €180, €490 and €690.

The rich might pay six hundred quid to watch a game, but it is obscene.

That tariff means that half of the categories of tickets are out of the range of ordinary fans – the lifeblood of the game, as UEFA would like to call them.

Giving 10,000 tickets away is good – depending on who they go to, of course – but pricing the working-class men and women out of a final is shameful.

IF one of the Big Three – because Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea are now exactly that – really wanted to twist the knife into Manchester United, they would take Paul Pogba (above) on a free and get him playing like his national team knows he can.