October 08, (THEWILL) – Manchester United have issued an apology to supporters after a large number of Galatasaray fans gained access to corporate hospitality tickets for the recent UEFA Champions League match at Old Trafford. The Turkish club won the game 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Initially, United believed the match would be low risk as Galatasaray were only allocated 2,200 of the 4,000 away tickets available. However, it became evident during the game that many Galatasaray supporters had purchased hospitality tickets.
The club says bots tricked them into thinking the tickets were bought by official members, when in fact many were sold to Turkish fans and under 16s. United’s chief operating officer Collette Roche acknowledged this was “unacceptable”, explaining that while this sales policy has not caused issues for decades, the volume of tickets purchased by non-UK residents who turned out to be Galatasaray fans was concerning.
Roche apologised to affected supporters and said they are working to avoid a repeat of this situation.
On the pitch, United managed to bounce back from their UCL disappointment by securing a dramatic 2-1 English Premier League win over Brentford on Saturday. Scott McTominay netted twice late on to earn the Red Devils their fourth league victory of the season as THEWILL reported.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
