Tottenham Hotspur have been fined £75,000 after homophobic chants were heard from a section of their fans during a match against Manchester United last season.
The Red Devils fell to a 3-0 defeat against Spurs at Old Trafford after a red-card for captain Bruno Fernandes before half-time swung the game in favour of then-manager Ange Postecoglou’s side.
But a minority of the Lilywhites’ away support directed homophobic abuse towards United midfielder Mason Mount on two separate occasions during the second half of the match – in the 49th and 79th minutes.
The Football Association charged Spurs for the incidents with the club accepting the decision, as The Standard reports.
“Tottenham have been fined £75,000 after homophobic chanting was heard from a section of their fans during the Premier League match against Manchester United last year.
“Spurs were charged by the Football Association (FA) with two breaches of FA Rule E21 in relation to crowd control misconduct during their 3-0 win at Old Trafford on September 29, 2024.
Spurs were alleged to have “failed to ensure its spectators and or supporters (and anyone purporting to be supporters or followers) conduct themselves in an orderly fashion and don’t use words or otherwise behave in an improper, offensive, abusive, indecent, or insulting way with either an express or implied reference to sexual orientation”.
Initially, Spurs were fined £150,000 but that was “later reduced to £75,000 on appeal,” the report states.
To their credit, the North London club were quick to condemn the chants in the aftermath of the match, vowing to take the “strongest possible action against anyone identified as having taken part” at Old Trafford.
“The club is aware of abhorrent homophobic chanting from sections of our away support at Old Trafford today,” they said in a statement.
“The club will be working closely with the Police and stewards to identify anyone instigating or joining in with the chanting – we shall take the strongest possible action in accordance with our Sanctions and Banning Policy.
“Supporters in attendance today can report anything they’ve seen or heard in confidence to supporterservices@tottenhamhotspur.com. We shall be continuing our work with our LGBTQ+ supporters’ association, Proud Lilywhites, to ensure a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans on matchdays.
“We are justly proud of our superb and loyal support, home and away. However, we all have a responsibility to act as ambassadors of Tottenham Hotspur and discrimination of any kind has no place at our club.”
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Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
