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Manchester United’s recent effort to identify possible ticket touts has triggered a major backlash from supporters, with ‘thousands’ of fans having their season tickets restricted before the new season begins.

After several supporters were told that their season tickets could be taken away, a number of fan groups responded strongly against the club, amid claims that United are being too forceful in their attempts to tackle touting.

FourFourTwo looks at the protests and explains why the club has taken these steps.

Like every club, Manchester United have a set of terms and conditions attached to every season ticket, including rules on how and how often holders can pass their tickets on to other people.

The Red Devils’ terms state that season tickets can be cancelled if holders do not either attend or pass their tickets to approved family members or friends for at least 16 of the club’s 19 Premier League fixtures each season.

With physical season tickets no longer in use, the club relies on automated third-party software to spot suspicious accounts, and the first batch of restrictions has now been sent out.

Manchester United sent a message to their fans’ forum last week defending the move; it said: "Our recent operation focused on instances where multiple accounts displayed patterns of activity indicating they may have been centrally controlled, coordinated by the same individual, or operated using automated software.

"We are confident that the vast majority of accounts identified for misuse have been correctly flagged with the appropriate action taken."

This came after a crackdown at the start of last season, when 22,000 tickets for the club’s first five games were cancelled, with the club also saying that they believe roughly 10-15% of season tickets are controlled by touts, according to the BBC.

Even though Manchester United supporter groups accept the need to act against touts, they want this approach to be changed.

"The club and its supporters share the same objective: ensuring tickets are used fairly by genuine Manchester United supporters while protecting the integrity of the ticketing system," said a group of club supporter organisations, fan clubs and fanzines in a joint statement.

"That objective will only be achieved through trust, transparency, proportionate enforcement, better-designed systems and meaningful engagement.

"Taking time to review the current approach, engage with supporter representatives and restore confidence is in the interests of both the club and its supporters."