Premier League giants Chelsea and Manchester United are facing the threat of legal action after leading clubs were told they should “hang their heads in shame” at breaking a collective promise to meet minimum standards for disabled fans.

An exclusive Telegraph investigation can now reveal almost half of all Premier League clubs do not meet guidelines set out in the Accessible Stadia Guide, despite a joint announcement more than two years ago that committed them to reaching that standard by August 2017. The pledge was made after The Telegraph exposed how only three clubs were meeting basic ­recommendations which dated back to 1998, as well as a stark government warning that there could be “no ­excuses” for inaction.

“People who believed in the clarity of the pledge in 2015 will feel they have been kicked in the teeth,” Lord Holmes, a Conservative peer and the winner of nine Paralympic gold medals, said. “They made a clear and unequivocal commitment and this is a miserable result. The Premier League shows what we can do at our best in sport and it is an extraordinary stain running through it that we are only about 50 per cent there in terms of basic accessibility.”