Manchester United fans arrested for racism more than any other club in England in last four years

Home Office figures reveal that 27 United supporters were arrested from 2014/15 to 2017/18 where racism was an aggravating factor, 12 more than second-worst offenders Leeds United and Millwall

Manchester United supporters have been involved in more football-related arrests where racism was an aggravating factor or a feature than any other club in England in the four seasons up to 2017/18, data from the Home Office shows.

Data released under a Freedom of Information request by the Press Association shows that 27 individuals recorded as United fans by police were arrested during the seasons 2014/15 to 2017/18.

Championship clubs Leeds United and Millwall each had 15 supporters arrested, while Leicester had 14 and Chelsea 13.

The 2018/19 season in England was marred by a series of racism-related incidents and arrests. Data for the season just ended is set to be released later this summer.

Where racism has been recorded as a feature of an incident, it requires the arresting officer to tick a box, which is why the Home Office says the overall accuracy of the data cannot be guaranteed.

The data shows 107 arrests in this category overall during the 2014/15 season, rising to 114 in 2015/16. The figure then dropped over the next two seasons, with 94 arrests recorded in 2016/17 and just 75 in 2017/18, totalling 390 for the four-year period.

Other clubs with arrests in double figures are West Ham (11), with Barnsley, Manchester City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland all on 10.

In 2018/19 England forward Raheem Sterling alleged he was racially abused during a match for his club Manchester City at Chelsea. The Crown Prosecution Service announced in April that there was insufficient evidence that the words used by a Chelsea fan were racially aggravated.

England's black players suffered abuse during a Euro 2020 qualifier away to Montenegro in March, while a Tottenham supporter was handed a four-year football ban and a £500 fine for throwing a banana skin towards Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in December last year.

Anti-discrimination body Kick It Out reported last November that there were 520 reports of discriminatory abuse during the 2017/18 season, an 11 per cent increase on the previous campaign and the sixth year in a row where the figure had risen.

Sterling alleged that he was racially abused by a Chelsea fan last season (Getty)

Fifty-three per cent of those reports concerned alleged racist abuse.

PA