‘Could be thousands of investigations!’ Newcastle fan banned over gender-critical posts ‘not an isolated case’

Smith, who is gay and champions lesbian, gay and bisexual rights, was the subject of an 11-page dossier compiled by the Premier League which included details such as where she lives and walks her dog.

The Newcastle United fan told Nigel Farage that she ‘loves’ the club and the investigation, which she compared to a ‘Stasi’ operation in an interview with the Telegraph, left her ‘broken’.

“It was my Dad who got me to love them”, she said.

“No matter where I’ve lived in the country, whether I’m down south or in Grimsby, they’re my team.”

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Smith went on to describe the course of events that saw police showing up at her door, telling GB News she was sitting down with a cup of tea at the time.

“It was terrifying”, she said.

“I was shaking. Sick to my stomach. I’ve never so much as had a warning off the police, so to have two police show up at my door threatening to arrest me was mortifying.”

Asked by Farage whether she has any right of appeal against the ban, Smith confirmed that her worst fears were compounded when the expulsion was upheld.

“We gave a very detailed appeal on the areas where they have breached their own policy with respect to timing”, she said.

“They said they would let the person being complained about know about the situation within a reasonable amount of time.

“It took them nearly four months to tell me and I only knew because I got an email saying I was under investigation for a hate crime.”

Toby Young from the Free Speech Union waded in on the discussion to warn Linzi Smith is “not an isolated case”.

“I fear that this surveillance unit set up by the Premier League might have been investigating possibly 1,000s of people’s social media accounts for wrong think”, he said.

“This isn’t racism. This is merely for disagreeing with radical orthodoxy on subjects like trans rights.”

In October, Smith was told by Newcastle United that she was being investigated by Northumbria Police for a possible hate crime offence and that her membership had been suspended.

She was visited by two police officers at her home days after and she agreed to be interviewed under caution about her tweets for 25 minutes.

Two hours later, Smith received a call from police to inform her that no further action would be taken.

Smith’s appeal against the ban was upheld with the club saying her tweets ‘constitute harassment’ and go against the club’s Equality Policy.

She had made tweets comparing trans ideology to Nazism.