Life-long man utd fan will see europa league final after fiasco

MANCHESTER UNITED ARE FACING TOTTENHAM IN THE EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL 11:20, 20 May 2025 A life-long Manchester United fan fan is on his way to Bilbao and WILL watch the Europa League final

after the _Manchester Evening News_ exposed the ticketing 'fiasco' which left him at risk of missing the big game. Last week we reported how David Dale, despite forking out a small

fortune for the May 21 final, would probably watch the game in a bar in Spain because of problems converting a club-issued code into an actual ticket for the match. The United fan, 67, had

already paid £9,000 for two executive memberships at Old Trafford for the largely miserable season about to come to an end, one for himself and one for his daughter, fellow die-hard fan

Louise. As the owner of two exec memberships, which includes top seats in the North Stand as well as food and drink, United sent David two codes to purchase two seats for the final against

Tottenham Hotspur at the San Mamés stadium in Bilbao, northern Spain, from UEFA's website. He also splashed out 1,000 euro on a hotel and whopping 1,700 euro on flights to Bilbao via

Frankfurt. He purchased the first match ticket for himself successfully but says the website crashed and, despite repeatedly trying, wasn't able to purchase the second ticket for

Louise, 43. David, a retired arbitrator from Derby who started watching United including George Best and Bobby Charlton in the 1960s, resigned himself to giving up his 230 euro ticket for

Louise. He's previously watched United win the Champions League twice, in Barcelona in 1999 and in Moscow in 2008. In desperation, he reached out to the M.E.N. and after our story David

reports that a new ticket 'suddenly dropped into my basket'. "It's amazing," said David, who said the story was key and that soon after publication he received an

email confirming the good news. David said there was 'no way' he would have received the ticket without the story being published. "I don't know what you did but it

worked," he said, speaking as he was boarding a flight to Spain. Before it was resolved, David had previously told how United and UEFA were blaming each other. "I've managed

to get through on the phone to UEFA and they say it's the club's fault and the club tell me its UEFA's fault. I'm in limbo," he said last week. "I have a valid

code for a ticket but both United and UEFA say 'it's not our problem'. There's a problem with the website and nobody seems to be bothered." When David complained to

UEFA, its customer services team said in an email to him: "Please note that you received the code by your club and the connected rules are made by the clubs. We kindly ask you to reach

out to the club." When he pressed further, UEFA said in another email: "Please note that the access codes are being distributed by the clubs. Should your code no longer work, we

invite you to contact the club." Article continues below The M.E.N. contacted both United and UEFA. While UEFA did not respond, a spokesman for United confirmed the club issued two

codes to David to redeem tickets via the UEFA ticket app. He added: "Unfortunately, every step after that is within the UEFA system, which is outside of our control. We very much hope

that Mr Dale is able to resolve the situation with UEFA." The sudden change means that David and his daughter are among the 15,000 Reds with official tickets heading to the ground which

has a 49,600 capacity.