Manchester United have issued an apology to one of the club’s supporters after incorrectly accusing them of racist abuse.
The fan in question, Ryan Butler, was accused of making derogatory/racist remarks on social media back in April.
United banned six supporters over online abuse aimed at Tottenham Hotspur forward Heung-Min Son in the same month.
The club confirmed they had instigated proceedings against three season ticket holders, two official members and one person on the waiting list for a season ticket.
They informed Mr Butler that he had his access to Old Trafford, ability to book tickets and club membership all suspended.
He told Armagh I: “They emailed me at 4:30pm on a Friday (April 30). It was closed for a bank holiday, so I couldn’t even call anyone to see what was going on.
“I then rang them so many times for about a month but was basically told you can’t talk to them about appeals, you have to email them, but they weren’t replying to my emails, that was all a bit mad.
“I don’t know how else to sort of prove it wasn’t me but the appeal got rejected. Then I had to appeal again, so I sent them everything; screenshots of my social media, but this was probably going on two months at this stage.”
Butler then lodged a GDPR access request, and was shown a screenshot of the offending tweet in question.
The social media account shown was in fact not Mr Butler, but somebody else with the same surname.
He said (via the Belfast Telegraph): “I don’t even have Twitter. They were unwilling to give me any other information than what was shown in that screenshot.”
United have since apologised to the supporter, stating: “In this case, we regrettably made a mistake and the ban was revoked. We apologise to Mr Butler.”
The supporter also said that his lifelong support of the club had been “really affected” by the incident.
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