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Manchester City have underlined that the club currently has "no plan in place" to press ahead with adopting facial recognition technology at the Etihad Stadium in order to facilitate access to the ground.

Widespread media reports in the last few days had said that the club was "considering" using the tech - a suggestion that had led some civil advocacy groups to suggest that Manchester City were in danger of "normalising a mass surveillance tool."

But speaking to the Manchester Evening News, a spokesperson from the club clarified that the idea of using facial recognition technology at City's home stadium - which would replace ticketing or cards in certain dedicated 'lanes' - had merely been pitched to the club, and discussions had gone no further.

The spokesperson added that City were always seeking to enhance the experience on match days, and Blink Identity - the Texas-based start-up behind the tech - was one of numerous companies that had pitched ideas to do so.

"It's not going ahead," City's spokesperson made clear.

Facial recognition technology at football grounds was labelled a "disturbing move" by civil advocacy group Liberty, which added, "It’s alarming that fans will be sharing deeply sensitive personal information with a private company that boasts about collecting and sharing data on each person that walks through the gate, and using this to deny people entry."