Leeds and Manchester United act to curb trouble by limiting away fans

Leeds and Manchester United have reduced away ticket allocations for games between the two clubs this season to try to prevent crowd trouble.

Rivalry between supporters of the two teams has grown increasingly bitter in recent years and, after trouble at Elland Road and Old Trafford last season, the clubs decided that cutting the number of visiting fans was the most sensible course of action.

Leeds will give United just 1,300 tickets for the first encounter in Yorkshire on 18 October, with Peter Reid's side getting 1,900 for the Old Trafford return on 21 February.

"Both clubs have taken the decision to cut their respective ticket allocations reluctantly and are aware that the moves penalise the many decent, law-abiding football supporters who peacefully attend the games," a joint statement said.

"But Manchester United and Leeds United believe that, given the behaviour of a small but sizeable minority of away fans at previous games between the two teams, this is the best course of action to avoid further incidents of hooliganism and public disorder, and to protect public safety."

But the clubs added that if the games passed off peacefully this season the full allocations would be restored for the 2004-05 campaign.

Manchester United's Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will join many of the club's supporters in missing the trip to Elland Road. He faces three months on the sidelines while recovering from knee surgery to correct a problem with which the Norwegian striker has been struggling since before the start of the season.

The United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, said it was a blow to lose the 30-year-old, who has done an impressive job on the right-hand side of midfield following the departure of David Beckham. However, he believes his squad has the depth to cope with Solskjaer's absence, even if it puts even more emphasis on the fitness of Paul Scholes.

"We've adopted the same policy as last season, where anything that needs to be done this early, we get it done," Ferguson said. "It is a blow for us and, now the transfer window has closed, there is nothing I can do about it. But I do feel we have a good enough squad to cope. We have alternatives like Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Forlan and Darren Fletcher so we'll just get on with it."

Ferguson must hope that Scholes comes through his first week's training without a problem after finally showing signs of recovery from a long-standing hernia complaint, and that he is fit to make the Champions' League trip to Stuttgart next week. Scholes has not been involved in the first-team squad since United beat Wolves at the end of last month.

If he does suffer a setback, he will have a third operation, which would rule him out for a couple of months, a period which includes England's vital Euro 2004 qualifier with Turkey in Istanbul.

The Brazilian World Cup winner Kleberson and Wes Brown are other key Old Trafford players who face lengthy spells on the sidelines.