Arsenal’s shock FA Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest has cost the club around £4.5million in lost season-ticket revenue.
The Gunners were dumped out of the FA Cup on Sunday night at the third-round stage after Championship side Forest won 1-0, courtesy of substitute Lewis Grabban’s late goal.
The defeat ended Arsenal’s hopes of winning the competition a record 15th time and it will also cost the club around £4.5m.
Fans were due to have the first two home matches in the FA Cup included in their season tickets this year, but that will no longer be the case.
As a result, supporters can either redeem the money from Arsenal as a refund or they can have the amount they are owed deducted from the price of their season ticket for next season.
The money due varies, depending on the position of a fan’s seat at Emirates Stadium, but it averages out at roughly £50 per cup game not fulfilled. Given Arsenal have around 46,000 season-ticket holders that equates to revenue losses of around £4.5m.
The Gunners were not at their best against Nottingham Forest, who were worthy winners at the City Ground.
Arsenal, who made seven changes from the defeat to Manchester City on New Year’s Day, failed to muster a shot on target during the 90 minutes and manager Mikel Arteta was not happy with what he saw.
“I’m really disappointed with the performance, first of all - not with the attitude, but how much purpose we had and what determination we showed to change the game when it’s difficult to play against [them] and the way they play,” he said.
“[We needed] more drive, more hunger to win at any cost in every single action. We were not there at our level today.
“I know - because I’ve been playing games like that for the last 18 years - how complicated it is to come here and the difficulties you’re going to face is no surprise. But when we do that, we have to face it in a different way.
“We didn’t have enough incisiveness, determination and purpose to progress the ball with enough quality into those areas. When we had the chances to do that, we didn’t hit the target.
“When you don’t hit the target, it’s difficult to win a match.”
