Northern Ireland Manchester United season ticket holders have had to seek refunds from the club after a controversial clampdown on what the club has claimed is “ticket touting, misuse, and activity for financial gain”.
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Around 22 members of the Manchester United Supporters' Club Portadown Branch have requested – and been given – their money back for the nearly £1,000 tickets after the club imposed restrictions on how they can be used.
Portadown supporters Gary McKeag, supporters' club secretary Harry Blevins, and his grandson Sam Blevins; 22 of the club's members have now returned their season ticketsplaceholder image
Portadown supporters Gary McKeag, supporters' club secretary Harry Blevins, and his grandson Sam Blevins; 22 of the club's members have now returned their season tickets
This is despite Man United acknowledging there was no wrongdoing on anyone’s part said Stephen Blevins, one of the supporters.
The supporters’ club has described the decision to return the tickets as “heartbreaking”.
Left to right: Harry Blevins, son Gareth, Matt Busby, Harry's son Jonathan, and Harry's brother Stephen Blevinsplaceholder image
Left to right: Harry Blevins, son Gareth, Matt Busby, Harry's son Jonathan, and Harry's brother Stephen Blevins
At the heart of the issue is a common practice for fan clubs: namely, that a particular fan will sign up for a season ticket account, but will then transfer this ticket to someone else from the supporters’ club if they cannot make it to a game.
Manchester United has begun clamping down on this practice, saying that some people have been sharing their tickets in this way to make money.
It began its clampdown in July and today announced it had banned 685 accounts and imposed restrictions on hundreds more.
In a statement, Manchester United said: “The club's guiding principle around ticketing is simple: to keep our fans safe and secure, to protect fair access to tickets for genuine Manchester United supporters and to tackle ticket touting, misuse and activity for financial gain.
"The investigation identified 1,617 accounts where unusual activity was occurring and required further review.
"Each account holder was contacted and given the opportunity to provide information and explain the activity identified on their account.”
It added: “Where satisfactory explanations were provided, restrictions were removed and no further action was taken.
"In many of those cases, the cause was sharing of account details and passwords, which is in breach of our terms and conditions.
"We recognise that many supporters have shared account login details in circumstances they regarded as legitimate, and we did not anticipate the extent to which this was occurring.
"In those cases, where there was no additional evidence of misuse, no sanction was imposed.
"Bans were issued where there was significant misuse of the ticketing system for financial gain."
The Portadown supporters club told the News Letter that its members had been “effectively forced” to return their season tickets after the restrictions imposed had made things “unworkable”, including “the inability to transfer a ticket to another member of the club”.
“Many of those affected have supported United for decades and strongly reject any suggestion that their ticketing arrangements involved touting or financial gain,” the statement added.
Stephen Blevins told the News Letter: “These were not unwanted season tickets. People treasured them.
"Some had organised a huge part of their lives around travelling across the Irish Sea to Old Trafford...
“If someone is buying or obtaining Manchester United tickets to sell them for profit, the club should absolutely take action.
“But there has to be a distinction between that and genuine supporters helping family members or trusted friends manage tickets without making a penny from it.”
Sometimes even a club official logging in to help another elderly member manage their online account drew suspicion from the club.
Stephen added: “Our experience should concern every traditional match-going supporter.
“Football clubs obviously have to modernise and they have every right to protect their ticketing systems.
"But they cannot lose sight of the human beings behind those accounts and the decades of loyalty represented by them.”
Also returning his ticket was longstanding branch secretary Harry Blevins, Stephen’s brother, who first attended Old Trafford as a 12-year-old in March 1970.
“I want people to understand that we did not simply decide that we’d had enough of Manchester United,” he said.
"You don’t casually walk away from something that has been part of your life for more than 50 years.
“We were faced with conditions which, in practical terms, made it impossible for us to continue operating as we had successfully done for decades.
“I could either accept responsibility for trying to administer something I no longer believed was workable or return my season ticket.
"I genuinely felt there was no realistic alternative.”