Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a £75,000 fine for two instances of homophobic chanting during their Premier League victory at Manchester United in September last season.
A statement from the FA claimed that Spurs were fined the amount “for two breaches of FA Rule E21 in relation to crowd control misconduct at its Premier League match against Manchester United FC on Sunday 29 September 2024.”
The statement explained further that: “It was alleged that Tottenham Hotspur FC 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 around both the 49th and 79th minutes.
“Tottenham Hotspur FC admitted both charges, and an independent Regulatory Commission imposed an action plan, £150,000 fine and warning. An independent Appeal Board reduced the fine to £75,000 following an appeal by the club.”
The documents surrounding the case refer to receiving reports from Kick It Out as well as media reports of two incidents of homophobic chanting during the 3-0 win at Old Trafford. The first came in the 49th minute with chants from the crowd towards Mason Mount about his Chelsea background after a foul on Rodrigo Bentancur.
Then in the 79th minute, two minutes after a goal from Dominic Solanke, chants from the crowd regarding the Spurs striker included references to Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
Spurs were initially asked for their observations in October and attached a report from their Safety Officer with the response: “Tottenham Hotspur’s Safety Team contacted Manchester United in advance of our fixture (as is normal practice) and arranged to send six THFC Stewards to the match. There was no specific intelligence to suggest that there would be any behavioural problems from our visiting supporters.
“All of the THFC Stewards that travelled to Old Trafford are experienced and have attended away fixtures on several occasions. Tottenham Hotspur were made aware of the alleged chanting via Proud Lilywhites on the day of the match and the club also released a statement that same day that stated the chanting was “simply unacceptable, hugely offensive and no way to show support for the team”.
The club then made plans with Brighton for their next away fixture to proactively deal with anyone singing such chants, with stewards wearing body cameras. With a statement beforehand explaining to supporters what would be happening and that it would take the strongest possible action over any incidents, there were no such chants captured on camera.
Spurs were charged on November 5 with the two breaches of the rules at the United game and in February 2025 after evidence and documents from both sides, a verdict was reached.
The regulatory commission found that “the misconduct was aggravated by the fact that there had been two separate incidents of chanting and that he chants were particularly harmful, given their nature and contents”.
Their findings went on: “This harm was aggravated by the fact that this was a Premier League match, televised live to a worldwide audience. On balance, it was not persuaded that THFC had taken all reasonable steps in its preparation and planning for the fixture, dealing effectively with the incident and trying to identify those responsible.”
After giving examples of where they felt the north London club had fallen down in those respects, the commission determined that “THFC’s culpability was medium, and the nature of the harm was between medium and serious”.
Spurs were fined £150,000 but on June 6 had that amount halved by an appeal board that determined their culpability was in fact “low” after finding that some of the statements made by the commission had been contrary to evidence provided by the club or were not relevant.
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