A DECISION by Newcastle United to charge fans £71 a game to use seats which were at the centre of a protracted legal battle with supporters has been called ridiculous.

The move has been criticised by a member of the Government's football task force, who accused the club of trying to double its money by charging sky-high prices for a seat in the Milburn Stand.

The seats were the subject of a legal battle after fans, who paid £500 for a bond, believing them to be guaranteed for ten years, were forced out to make way for corporate seating.

The club offered 2,000 seats in the Milburn and Sir John Hall stands at prices ranging from £995 to £1,350.

But with barely two weeks before the club's first home game of the season against Derby County, more than 500 of these seats remain unsold.

They will be sold on a match-by-match basis, along with a further 2,000 match day tickets on sale to the public.

Newcastle United chief executive David Stonehouse said if visiting fans did not take up their allocation of 3,000 tickets, there would be even more seats available for supporters.

However, Government football task force member Dr Adam Brown accused Newcastle United of trying to double its money on the corporate seats.

He said: "The club already took £500 from the supporters in bond money before moving them elsewhere in the ground.

"Now it is charging ridiculous prices for the same seats."