Newcastle United official announcement – Explains why Scottish schools got coachloads of tickets | OneFootball

The Newcastle v Barcelona tickets scandal has now been explained, Newcastle United revealing how coachloads of tickets were ending up in the hands of kids at Scottish schools.

Indeed, it wasn’t just a one-off thing, as the official Newcastle United announcement explains below.

A bit like a Scooby Doo mystery, when the mask is torn off to reveal who the villain is, it turns out to be…Mike Ashley!

The Newcastle United owners explaining that a decade ago, Mike Ashley and his minions sold a load of season tickets to ‘tour organisers’, who would then sell them on to schools.

The club say that they have only recently been made aware of this, that those in control of these season tickets were selling them on at a ‘higher package price’ to schools.

The announcement detailing that now 103 season tickets have been cancelled for breaching terms and conditions.

At least two schools in Dundee had got access to a coachload of Newcastle v Barcelona tickets each.

However, many NUFC fans knew that this was a regular occurrence in the Leazes/Milburn corner, large groups of (invariably Scottish) kids with accompanying adults.

All very bizarre that this hadn’t been flagged up previously by NUFC staff working on matchdays, to those in charge.

A positive outcome anyway, that 100+ extra tickets each match will be going to Newcastle United fans, as opposed to neutral fans, plus those in control of these season tickets having been making a profit selling match packages for years.

Newcastle United official announcement – 15 September 2025:

‘Following further investigation into unauthorised re-selling of tickets for matches at St. James’ Park, we have now cancelled a total of 103 season tickets in recent days for breaching terms and conditions.

This instance does not relate to individual supporters re-selling their tickets, but to a batch of season tickets sold to a small number of tour organisers during the 2015/16 season for the benefit of school groups.

The club terminated any third-party ticket provider agreements shortly after the club’s change in ownership in 2021, including some hospitality sales and a small allocation of match tickets for a former commercial partner.

However, with no formal contract in place for the tour groups, the continued use and unauthorised resale of their season tickets at a higher package price was not detected until recently.

Upon being made aware of this issue, the club took immediate action.

At a time when we are doing our utmost to protect legitimate access for Newcastle United fans, we want to be fully transparent and apologise for this oversight.

The club has not received any funds above the face value price of these season tickets and has immediately returned the seats for sale to supporters who have entered the official ballot for upcoming fixtures.