Manchester United have been warned by their financial advisors not to take for granted their season ticket holders.

Investment bank JP Morgan, one of the banks behind the recent £500million bond issue, released a research paper into the club last week.

It wrote: "We note that 17,000 people are on the waiting list for Manchester United season tickets.

"However, this somewhat overstates the demand as we note that no deposits have been paid and many seek specific seats in the stadium."

The announcement last week that the Glazers were freezing prices for next season, the first time the Americans have resisted the temptation to hike prices since their takeover in 2005, suggests they dare not take any risk in testing that demand.