The number of banning orders against fans of a club may rise and fall at any time as order expire, but as of September 2013, Chelsea (110) and Cardiff City (121) each had more than 100. Third came Manchester United (91) and fourth West Ham United (65).
For the stats visit the gov.uk website.
Can we read anything into the 2012-13 arrest statistics for football clubs, recently released? Manchester United, the winners of last season’s Premier League, were second in the table for total of arrests, with 145, out of a total of 1007 for the 20 clubs. In the relegation places of this table were, with a mere nine arrests, Fulham and Reading (who as it happens were relegated for real) and West Bromwich Albion. Also of note is that Reading and Wigan (also relegated) each had one fan arrested at home games, all season. It makes some football grounds sound as well-behaved as shopping malls or libraries. But given that Queens Park Rangers, the other relegated team, had only 11 arrests at home games all season, should fans get more arrested, on the statistical off-chance that it will help their team?!
