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Man United fans confront Berrada over ticket touting crackdown

ยทBy Paul Lindisfarne
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Man United fans confront Berrada over ticket touting crackdown

Manchester United/X.com

Manchester United fans challenged chief executive Omar Berrada in person over the club's ticket touting crackdown, during last week's pre-season trip to Sweden.

The exchange took place in the hospitality area of Gothenburg's Ullevi Stadium before United's friendly against Paris Saint-Germain last week.

Berrada listened to the supporters' concerns, and a club official took down their email addresses with a promise to review individual cases, though it is understood the supporters involved are yet to hear back, says The Sun.

Sources stressed there was no confrontation between officials and fans during the exchange, which came as United's pre-season tour continued through Scandinavia.

The approach came amid growing anger among United's fanbase after thousands of season-ticket holders found themselves locked out of their online accounts as part of the club's crackdown on touting. United say the measure targets fans who use multiple logins on the same device, activity the club regards as a "red flag" โ€” in one case, a single device had been used to access 1,088 separate accounts.

However, some genuine touts have avoided detection thanks to more sophisticated methods, raising questions over how effectively the system is targeting the right people rather than penalising ordinary supporters.

In a lengthy statement published on its website last week, United acknowledged the process had "caused significant concern and distress for some supporters" and thanked fans for their feedback in challenging the club's approach. One supporter described the experience as having "caused so much stress," saying seven members of their family currently have no access to their season tickets.

Berrada, who joined Manchester United from Manchester City in 2024, has made fan engagement one of the stated priorities of his tenure.

He has previously written to the club's Supporters' Trust promising to work closely with fan groups including the Fan Advisory Board and Fans' Forum, but the Gothenburg exchange underlines the scale of frustration the touting clampdown has generated just as the new Premier League season approaches, with United still working through a backlog of affected supporters awaiting a resolution to their cases.