Newcastle United owe fans £7m in season ticket payments as NUST head push for club to #startgivingback

And as a result the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust has launched a #startgivingback campaign in a bid to force the club to reimburse out of pocket fans.

Newcastle United is the only football club in the Premier League to continue to take season ticket direct debit payments for the 2020/21 season, despite the fact no fans have yet been allowed into games and there is no realistic prospect of that situation changing in the near future.

Some fans who paid for their 2020/21 season ticket in full in March are also yet to be refunded for any of the campaign to date.

This has left some fans in an almost impossible situation – not wanting to give up their seat, so forced to pay monthly, even if they can ill-afford to do so.

Launching their campaign, the trust released a statement, it reads: “Over 18,000 fans are still being charged monthly direct debit payments for season 20/21 and have been since March this year.

"Over £1m per month flows out of North East fan households into Newcastle United, at a time of record unemployment and hardship.

"So far Newcastle United have charged fans an estimated £7m for games they will not be able to attend. No other Premier League club is currently taking money from fans at this time.

"Why are Newcastle United fans treated like this? On top of this fans must pay £14.95 for pay-per-view games. How can this be right or fair?

"The cost of watching football in the UK is out of control. The cost of Sky, BT, and Amazon Prime combined is a minimum of £803.88 per year. Adding £14.95 pay-per-view games will be almost £300 per year extra, meaning fans will need to spend a total of over £1,100.

"This is not right. The Premier League should act. Newcastle United need to act. Stop charging us for games we will not see. Stop taking money from people who need it.

"Start listening and talking to fans. Look at what is going on outside of football and start helping supporters.

"Stop taking. Start giving back."

On social media the trust urged fans to back their campaign.

They said: “Use #startgivingback on social media and tweet, Facebook post, or write about how you support the Trust to get £7m away from #NUFC and back into fan bank accounts!

“We are calling on fans, politicians, and people of influence to back our call and bring pressure on #NUFC to stop taking money from fans and refund the money owed to us ASAP. We need our football club to do better and to do right by its fans.

“Time to #startgivingback.”

Trust chairman Alex Hurst reiterated that message from his own Twitter account. He said: “It’s shocking that @NUFC continue to take money from supporters for season ticket payments.

“Not only should this end immediately but the millions that belong to fans currently in the clubs bank account should be paid back.”

When contacted by the Gazette the club issued a “no comment” on the issue.

But club sources have informed the Gazette open dialogue remains ongoing to resolve the refund situation.

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