Manchester United are facing a repair bill running into thousands of pounds because of alleged misbehaviour by supporters that has had a knock-on effect for the security arrangements surrounding their FA Cup tie at Shrewsbury Town on Monday.
United will be asked to compensate Derby County after a significant number of seats were damaged in the away end when the teams met in the FA Cup fourth-round at the end of last month, resulting in a 3-1 win for Louis van Gaal’s team.
Derby have already informed United about what their groundstaff found on the morning after the match and intend to charge them for the relevant repairs, claiming that more than 300 seats were broken or pulled off whole.
A spokesman for the Championship club said: “There was damage caused to seats in the away section and we are liaising with Manchester United.”
It is one of the principal reasons why Shrewsbury have abandoned plans to increase the 9,875 capacity at New Meadow with temporary seating, when they host United for a place in the quarter-finals.
Shrewsbury had contemplated putting up two extra areas of seating as they did when they played Chelsea in the Capital One Cup last season, meaning another 500 fans could get in.
The League One club have been in touch with Derby and have also been informed there were incidents of ticketless fans trying to storm the gates when United played at Cambridge in last season’s competition.
After talks between the relevant authorities, Shrewsbury have decided against extra seating because of the additional security risk and high policing costs.
“Each fixture is looked at on a case-by-case basis and all circumstances are taken into consideration,” Ch Insp James Baker, the event tactical commander for West Mercia police, said. “We have an excellent relationship with the club and having jointly discussed the options, we support the club’s decision not to provide additional temporary seating.”
United have been allocated 1,500 tickets despite receiving more than 9,000 applications. The front two rows of seats will be cordoned off with netting.
