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The club have revoked over 100 season tickets and said sorry to fans for an “oversight” following seats sold to external groups ten years back were “unnoticed until now”

Newcastle United acted decisively in response to a detailed inquiry into the illegal resale of passes for games at St James' Park.

It comes after a educational institution nearly 200 miles away managing to acquire seats for the extremely popular Champions League match against the Spanish giants on Thursday night.

Newcastle United explained that when the new owners took over four years ago, they terminated arrangements with third parties that allowed them to trade tickets.

That included the arrangement established a decade ago with a small group of travel agents “supporting school groups” - but the club did not realise they were still selling tickets because there was no formal deal with the organisers.

“At a time when we are doing our utmost to ensure proper access for supporters, we want to be fully transparent and apologise for this oversight,” officials said.

45 tickets for the Barcelona match were acquired by the High School of Dundee in the very period that 110,000 fans had been in an digital line for the available seats for the highly anticipated fixture.

A spokesman for the school said they bought them in good faith, after being “approached” by a provider, but the tickets were later revoked by the club.

Newcastle have now terminated a combined of 103 memberships in the past week for breaching rules.

The club states the current situation does not relate to individual supporters reselling their tickets for home games in “this instance”.

The tour organisers bought the memberships in the 2015/16 campaign.

The club stressed that the ongoing usage and illegal distribution of memberships at a “premium rate” was remained undetected because there was “no written deal in place for the tour groups”.

“Once notified of this issue, the club took immediate action,” a release read.

“Newcastle United have not obtained any money exceeding the original price of these passes and have promptly released the seats for purchase to supporters who have registered for the lottery system for forthcoming fixtures.”

Supporters representatives previously “welcomed” the club “implementing clear measures to deter and sanction those who may be exploiting from other fans”.

“Besides the hike in admission costs, as per our recent poll, one of the major issues for followers is reduced seat access because of, not only popularity, but the distribution of tickets through unauthorised platforms or further improper methods,” it added previously.