MANCHESTER UNITED have been shamed after Home Office figures revealed they had more fans arrested for racism offences than any other club.
Racism in football became a major talking point again last season with a string of high-profile offences which showed the issue is creeping back into the game.
And Sky News have revealed United were the worst club in terms of supporter behaviour, according to government figures covering four seasons between 2014 and 2018,
During the campaigns from 2014/15 through to 2017/2018, they had 27 fans arrested for football related offences involving racism.
Leeds and Millwall of the Championship were second on the list, with both seeing 15 fans held by the authorities.
Then come Leicester on 14 and Chelsea on 13 – showing that clubs across the country are all having issues with behaviour of their supporters involving racism.
In the 2014-15 season there were 107 arrests, which rose to 114 the following campaign.
In fairness to clubs, the figures dropped to 94 in 2016/17 and down further to 75 in 2017/18.
But that was before a dismal last season, for which figures are not yet available, which saw a string of problems throughout the game.
RACISM
Raheem Sterling was racially abused by Chelsea fans, and the London club also dealt strongly with supporters involved in anti-Semitic chanting during a Uefa Cup game.
They then took tickets off others who were filmed signing songs about Liverpool star Mo Salah.
Millwall supporters sung racist songs at Everton fans during an FA Cup match, while a West Ham fan was heard racially abusing Salah at the London Stadium.
Then Liverpool were in the dock after some their fans were heard taunting an Asian member of the public in Barcelona by calling him "Mr Miyagi".
And a Tottenham fan was dealt with after shaming the club by throwing a banana skin on to the pitch at Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
A United spokesperson said: "There is no place for racism within our game, or in society as a whole, and we are committed to working to make football free from all forms of discrimination, whether through our own 'All Red All Equal' campaign or in support of Kick It Out and other organisations.
"This statistic applies to 0.0004 per cent of our match-going fanbase. It does not reflect the views or behaviour of our fans as a whole in any way.
"We continue with monitoring and liaison with authorities to try and identify and eradicate any forms of discriminatory behaviour, and we take appropriate action if it occurs."
Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out said: "These figures show racism is a nationwide problem shared by clubs of all different sizes in all parts of the country.
"We support them in challenging racism and other forms of discrimination, and will continue our programme of education in the game to help reduce this problem."
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