MANCHESTER United topped the fan misbehaviour table last season – as banning orders across the country reached a decade high.
The latest Home Office statistics found that there were 1,803 football-related arrests involving supporters of clubs in the top 6 tiers in English football in 2024-25.
Manchester United topped the fan misbehaviour table last season
That represented a 12 per cent decrease compared with the 2,043 arrested in the previous campaign.
But the 121 United fans arrested was the highest tally of any club, followed by the 94 Manchester City supporters and 77 from West Ham, whose supporters have racked up 112 banning orders – the most from any club.
And the 685 new banning orders – requiring those on the list to report to police at match times and ranging from three to 10 years – handed out by magistrates in the course of the year took the total in operation to 2,439, the highest number since 2013.
According to the figures, compiled from police reports, nearly a third of the arrests were for public disorder, a fifth for violent disorder and 19 per cent for possession of Class A drugs.
But arrests for alcohol offences fell to just eight per cent of the total, while the warnings over pitch invasions saw a new low of just three per cent.
In total, incidents were reported relating to 1,583 club and international matches in England and Wales during the season, representing half of the total number played and up from 1,341 games in 2023-24, although three quarters of them were viewed as “low severity”.
The most common incident type reported was hate crime – at 420 matches – followed by 363 games where missiles were alleged to have been thrown and 319 where fans displayed pyrotechnics.
They included 287 claims of racial-related abuse and 140 of homophobia.
But online hate crimes fell, with 212 recorded offences compared to 322 in the previous season.
Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said: “Police up and down the country work incredibly hard to ensure football stadiums are safe, so we can all enjoy our national game.
“The statistics show that these efforts are paying off and strong action is being taken to stop violence and disorder from ruining football.
“We are continuing to make football safer for the millions of dedicated fans, funding the UK Football Policing Unit and expanding drug testing on arrest at football matches for certain offences.”
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