Manchester United have banned a supporter from attending matches for three years for making a homophobic comment about Chelsea on social media.
The Premier League club issued a three-year suspension to the fan, telling him that he had breached ground regulations.
The supporter reportedly referred to fans of the west London club as ‘rent boys’, a slur that has been used for decades and which has been deemed a hate crime by the Crown Prosecution Service.
He also joked that officials had tried to throw him out at a recent game after he referred to United full back Diogo Dalot as ‘a gay ****’.
In a screenshot the fan posted of a letter sent to him by the club, United say ‘it has recently come to our attention that you may have breached our official terms and conditions. Specifically, we understand that you have used homophobic written communication or online (sic) towards Chelsea and their supporters’.
It adds: ‘This offence contravenes ground regulations and is an offence under the club’s official sanctions document. For a first offence, this carries a three-year suspension (home and away).’
Ahead of their fixture with Chelsea at Old Trafford on September, United issued a statement to fans specifically to address the ‘rent boys’ chant.
‘We want to be absolutely clear,’ they said, ‘this chant is offensive, inappropriate and has no place at our stadium or within our game.’ They added that the CPS and FA had confirmed the chant was discriminatory and classed as a hate crime.’
A spokesperson for United said: ‘Manchester United has zero tolerance of discriminatory language or behaviour of any kind.’