Banned football fan raises £15,000 to sue

Linzi Smith was banned from St James' Park over comments she made on social media

A football fan banned by her club from its grounds has raised more than £15,000 to take legal action.

Newcastle United (NUFC) supporter Linzi Smith was investigated by the Premier League after the club received a complaint about comments she made on social media.

A lawyer assisting Ms Smith claims the club's actions were a "huge overreach" in to matters unrelated to football.

Both NUFC and the Premier League declined to comment.

The 34-year-old's posts on X (formerly known as Twitter) expressed critical opinions about transgender people.

She said she did not know who had complained about her and the situation had left her feeling "claustrophobic".

The Premier League had collected images from her social media showing where she walked her dog, she added.

"They took a street image of the very park that I walked him around," she said.

"They have basically used the ultimate spying power of the Premier League to delve so far into my life."

Linzi Smith says her tweets were nothing to do with the club

NUFC said it had received a complaint about the posts and referred it to the Premier League.

The club said its privacy policy explained it would share fans’ details with the organisation if they carried out what it called "prohibited activity", including discriminatory conduct.

The Premier League said it had looked at Ms Smith's online activity after being told a supporter had complained, and sent copies of what it found to NUFC, but had no involvement in deciding on a ban.

The club said it had imposed the ban based on the Premier League's published guidance, which recommends a three-year exclusion for "prohibited activity" directed at a club, club employee, staff, player, official, or fan.

A lawyer with campaign group The Free Speech Union, Jill Levene, said Ms Smith did not post from the ground and the recipients of her messages were not known football fans.

Ms Smith said she was questioned by the police to establish whether she had committed a hate crime.

Northumbria Police confirmed she was interviewed as a "voluntary attender" but was later told she would face no further action.

'Gender critical views'

Ms Smith plans legal action to seek damages, alleging the club and the Premier League breached data protection laws and the Equality Act in sharing and using her personal details.

Ms Levene said she had been "treated unfavourably because of the gender critical views" she expressed on social media, adding these were "protected philosophical beliefs" in law.

"I think it is just a huge overreach into people's private lives and their rights to enter into exchanges with people about all sorts of subject matters," she said.

"There shouldn't be this scenario where you have a conversation entirely unrelated to something and someone else chooses to make something of it."

She added Newcastle United should have ignored the complaint as "it's not related to football".