Liverpool scrap ticket price increases following fan backlash

Liverpool have decided to scrap rises in matchday and season ticket costs, instead freezing prices and apologising to supporters for the "distress caused".
Fans staged a walkout in the 77th minute of Liverpool's 2-2 Premier League draw with Sunderland last Saturday in protest at the planned hike in prices, which would have seen the most expensive matchday ticket go from £59 to £77, with the costliest season ticket priced at £1,029.
But the club have now ditched the planned increases, opting instead to freeze the highest-priced matchday ticket and season ticket at £59 and £869 respectively.
The lowest-priced season ticket will be reduced by £25 to £685 for the 2016-17 season.
Among the other revisions to the club's ticketing structure, Liverpool will remove the game categorisation of tickets, meaning matchday tickets will cost the same price regardless of opposition, and offer £9 general admission tickets for every Premier League match.
A statement from Liverpool's principal owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner and president Mike Gordon read: "On behalf of everyone at Fenway Sports Group and Liverpool Football Club, we would like to apologise for the distress caused by our ticket pricing plan for the 2016-17 season.
"The three of us have been particularly troubled by the perception that we don't care about our supporters, that we are greedy, and that we are attempting to extract personal profits at the club's expense. Quite the opposite is true.
"We believed by delivering a vastly improved seat offering in what will be the newest stand in English football, concentrating the price increases on those tickets typically purchased by fans least sensitive to affordability, and for LFC to begin repaying the £120million advance from FSG for the new Main Stand that these increases were supportable even in the context of growth in revenues from the new Premier League TV deal.
"However, the widespread opposition to this element of the plan has made it clear that we were mistaken.
"A great many of you have objected strongly to the £77 price level of our most expensive GA seats and expressed a clear expectation that the club should forego any increased revenue from raising prices on GA tickets in the current environment. 
"Message received.
"As a sign of our commitment to this improved ticketing structure, we are further announcing that this plan shall be in effect for both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. For the next two seasons, LFC will not earn a single additional pound from increasing general admission ticket prices.
"We believe we have demonstrated a willingness to listen carefully, reconsider our position, and act decisively.
"The unique and sacred relationship between Liverpool Football Club and its supporters has always been foremost in our minds. It represents the heartbeat of this extraordinary football club."