Manchester United has admitted that its crackdown on ticket touting has caused "distress" to fans who felt they were "treated harshly".
United took action last month, notifying thousands of supporters, including one as young as six years old, that their accounts had been suspended due to suspicious activity. The club warned that their season tickets could be revoked unless they provided a satisfactory explanation.
The club now accepts that it "underestimated" how many fans shared accounts and passwords, which led to them being investigated.
Fan groups push back
United has faced criticism over the purge. Groups including The '58, Manchester United Supporters' Trust and The Red Army issued a joint statement accusing the club of making fans feel they were being "treated as suspects" and urged more leniency. Fan representatives also confronted United directly at last week's Fans' Forum.
United brought in an external agency that used automated monitoring to detect signs of touting. The club has been criticised for casting the net too wide and targeting innocent fans.
United acknowledged that a "satisfactory explanation" had been given in a "substantial number of cases". It also defended the clampdown, saying it had "uncovered significant and organised touting", including one case where 1,088 accounts were accessed from a single device.
Club's statement
In a statement, United thanked the supporters, fan representatives and supporter organisations who shared their views over recent weeks. The club said its intention throughout the process was to protect fair access to tickets for genuine supporters and tackle organised touting and abuse of the ticketing system.
United said it intends to share its findings and supporting data once the process concludes, but wanted to provide additional context now in the interest of transparency. The club said it had listened carefully to feedback received through formal meetings, emails and calls, and acknowledged the issue had caused "significant concern and distress" for some supporters.
United said the process had uncovered significant and organised touting, which would allow it to remove tickets from touts and return them to genuine fans. The club said it recognised that some supporters who saw their actions as legitimate, and who made no financial gain from tickets, may have felt they were treated harshly.
United said it intends to reserve the most severe sanctions, including cancellation, for cases where evidence indicates organised touting, systematic misuse or activity for financial gain. Where that is not indicated, the club said season tickets will not be cancelled. Any cancelled season ticket will be offered to a supporter on the waiting list, as a season ticket.
