A significant number of supporters recently received sanction letters, with alleged wrongdoing that centred around the manipulation of NFC passes, and or the use of software to facilitate buying tickets.

We immediately contacted the club to understand better what had happened and raise concerns of the dozens of impacted supporters who contacted us.

Following recent events, we have now been able meet with the club, who told us that approximately 700 supporters have received sanction letters – around 75% of these relate specifically to allegations on NFC passes. 

Some 270 supporters have replied to the club, and they are working through responses to their emails.

We raised concerns about the timing of the letters and, in particular, the potential impact on 13+ sales for supporters, and the club have told us they have brought in extra capacity to deal with these cases. 

Given the dates have changed for the upcoming members sale, we asked that they expedite cases, and they say they will look into ensuring supporters get replies and outcomes as soon as possible. We will continue to monitor this in the weeks before the sale and seek regular updates.

We also asked about the evidence of allegations of software use, which they said came from their external providers. We queried some of this, as the volume and strength of responses we have seen to the allegations left many questioning its accuracy. Our questions were centred around innocent or accidental circumstances that might have led to accounts being identified or any other reasons. The club said they will look to follow up with the questions we asked about the accuracy of the data and come back to us.

Regarding the impact on supporters while investigations are being carried out with matches coming up and sales imminent, they confirmed that supporters who have purchased tickets for the Preston game will be able to attend, and those who are found not to have done any wrongdoing will be able to buy tickets.

We will be following up with the club ahead of the members sale to check the progress of investigations and will pick up the impact on member sales if issues remain unresolved.