According to The Athletic, Manchester United has banned 685 season ticket holders following an investigation, along with 464 other fans receiving lesser sanctions or final warnings.

Manchester United stated that its review identified suspicious activity across 1,617 accounts requiring further investigation.

After contacting the account holders (each was given the opportunity to provide information and explanations regarding the activity found on their accounts), 499 cases were upheld upon appeal. 73 cases resulted in bans without appeal, and 113 additional season tickets were banned due to multiple unanswered information requests.

226 accounts received final warnings, while initial bans for 238 accounts were reduced to restrictions on home fixture ticket transfers and ineligibility for away fixture ticket registration.

Manchester United stated that following the review, 468 cases were resolved after explanations for the identified activity were deemed satisfactory.

"Those who seriously abused the ticket resale system for financial gain have been banned. This includes organized ticket resale networks that manipulated, sold, and distributed tickets from hundreds of accounts," the club said in a statement on Friday.

"These actions undermined fair access to tickets for genuine supporters and have no place at Manchester United. Our focus now is ensuring these tickets are returned to our fans. All season tickets issued through this process will be provided to supporters on our season ticket waiting list."

"Banned season ticket holders have received or will receive refunds."

Earlier this week, prominent supporter group The 1958 announced they would organize a protest before Sunday's derby against Manchester City to demonstrate opposition to these sanctions.

The club faced criticism for using aggressive communication methods when notifying supporters of potential sanctions, which caused some fans to worry about losing their seats.

There was also online backlash regarding text messages sent to season ticket holders demanding payment to attend Thursday's Champions League opener against Shakhtar Donetsk, with the threat of losing their seats for the next Premier League match.

However, others pointed out that this policy has been in effect for over 20 years and only applies to supporters who agreed to the relevant terms and conditions.

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