Manchester United say around 2,000 Galatasaray fans watched their side’s win from home sections at Old Trafford earlier this month.
Pockets of Turks were spotted in all sections of the ground as they celebrated Galatasaray’s 3-2 win over United. It was their first victory on English soil.
While the club previously apologised for their own conduct in all of this, an exact figure of how many made it into the home end has emerged following the club’s latest fans’ forum which was held on October 10.
The figure of 2,000 Galatasaray fans has been confirmed by United’s director of supporter services Sam Kelleher, as per the Daily Mail.
Chief operating officer Collette Roche added that some Galatasaray fans were denied entry to the stadium, however, those that made it in were not forced to leave because such ejection ‘can pose risks’.
I have been on Euro away trips in the past and this isn’t something security elsewhere worry about.
The club are also trying to shift the blame on ‘bots’ for snapping up dozens of seats in the South Stand, which were then redistributed via ‘ticket touts’. Hmm.
Am were supposed to believe the bots deceived the club into believing they had in fact been purchased by official members, many of whom were under the age of 16.
“As such, our system showed that these tickets were predominantly sold to long-standing official members who have attended other matches in recent seasons, with a large percentage being to those under the age 16, and therefore did not appear in pre-match checks to pose any risk,” Roche told members of the fans’ forum.
“In reality, those who turned up on the night were adult Galatasaray fans.”
United also accept that their own sales policy was at fault and that the entire episode was unacceptable.
Roche added: “Whilst this hasn’t presented issues in the last couple of decades, the volume of tickets accessed by non-Turkish residents who transpired to be Galatasaray fans was unacceptable.”
United need to ensure that there isn’t a repeat of this when United take on Newcastle in the Carabao Cup and Copenhagen in the Champions League. And, by doing that, they cannot make life harder for the ordinary United fan.
For security reasons alone, United cannot afford a repeat of this.
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