Ferguson hits back at sports minister over prices

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has hit back at criticism by Britain's sports minister of Old Trafford ticket prices, saying Arsenal and Chelsea are more expensive.

Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said Premier League clubs were in danger of pricing out supporters and singled out United, adding they had increased their season tickets by 13 percent. Sutcliffe also described top players' wages as obscene.

Ferguson refuted the comments on ticket prices, telling a news conference on Friday the average increase at his club was less than 11 percent.

"What I do object to is the sports minister coming out with this stuff about ticket prices and singling out Manchester United," he said.

"I thought that was unfair and inaccurate because as we all know the prices at Arsenal and Chelsea are absolutely obscene if you want to talk about obscene.

"He (Sutcliffe) works down in London [Images] and I'm sure he knows where Arsenal and Chelsea are and where there grounds are and I'm sure he must know about their ticket prices," Ferguson added.

"So I don't understand why he's picking out Manchester United, considering the difference in the prices with the two grounds I've mentioned."

Standard season ticket prices for Manchester United range from 475 ($989.3) to 836 pounds ($1,741), the club said.

Chelsea said theirs are between 650 and 1,150 pounds while Arsenal said standard season tickets cost from 885 to 1,825 pounds.

Ferguson had some sympathy with Sutcliffe on the issue of wages, though the United manager thought soccer players should be compared with highly-paid figures in other sports.

"First of all you have to put things in perspective," Ferguson said. "There are some tennis players and golfers earning enormous amounts of money. Is that wrong?

"Because it's an individual, you'll say he deserves to be paid the best because he's playing in tournaments creating a lot of money and a lot of interest with television and sponsorship.

"I would agree that in some cases there are some of them (footballers) who are paid too much, but I'm sure there are one or two tennis players getting great sponsorship deals who can't win a tournament," he added.

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