Ok, so I didn't want to write anything based on all tension buzzing around. I have read through this topic (mostly), thanks @sidcow decent comments with common sense!
Now, I have turned up at Christmas Market around 11'ish walking around meeting few friends, talking to some people who traveled to UK first time, etc. We meet with larger group of friends (not only fans) and head to The Shakespeare pub in town centre and this was my first impression where I had my first thoughts about what might be happening later on. I have mentioned in the ticket thread that I have been 2yrs ago in Leicester so I do have some comparison how police enforcement acting. In the pub we sat down with a single pint and had some discussion about what to expect and what is latest. As mentioned I have meet with some old friends which are professionals journalists for over years now - there was only two of us more likely fans than journalists. However me and my friend we were wearing winter Legia beanies and by looks of it someone decided to call in police. When they turned up it was somehow strange as I never had situation like that anywhere else where I traveled - Poland, England, Spain, Germany... Strange looks towards our table and questions what are we doing here and what plans do we have, as I speak (I think) decent english after being 17 years in UK they seemed been surprised. During conversation over the pint one of the guys received information that the latest meeting group with Legia, AVFC, UEFA and Police which was held on the GAME DAY at 3pm!!! was unsuccessful and Legia supporters will receive only 889 tickets for away stand.
After that pint I head back to my car to drive to the ground, where I have booked a parking on someone's driveway. I was at the back of Doug Ellis stand at 16.15 (I did call my little lad to show him Villa Park and how it looks like around). Meet with some more friends since there standing around the fence of the gardens on the corner of Station Rd and Wilton Ln. After few minutes I had to head over to collect my press accreditation from the side of Trinity Rd stand - now very helpful stewards staff outside the double gate next to North Stand it took them about 15min to decide if they let me through the car park or I need to walk around.
I have came back just after 5pm and there was already 50-80 Legia supporters around the area. Initial communication from AVFC match guide was that the Witton Ln from the aston roundabout to Holte Rd will be permanently closed for ANY traffic. 17.05 still lorries and cars driving past, 17.15 still same situation and I'm making some of my judgments that police enforcement is not in place at all. Finally around 17:40 they managed to close the Witton Ln and setup bobby van line to separate home and away fans and what I thought that's it, they will somehow setup some sort of stand to start selling tickets on first come first served rule. How wrong I was? Very wrong. From this point police decide to start "pushing" Legia fans over to the parking compound - again comparison from how police was dealing with Legia fans 2 yrs ago in Leicester BEFORE the game - this was totally opposite what I experienced - straight away with no reason aggressive behaviour mostly verbally with f*** words used instead of full stop. As I had press badge on me I had the possibility to record and move around easily but one of the billies was so abusive towards not offensive Legia fans that I asked politely for his badge number - which he replied to me aggressively that he is busy now and he will 'have a word with me' later - eventually he gave me his badge number but obviously he didn't admit doing anything wrong - I didn't have point at the time to argue about that as I started recording police behaviour after that and they were made aware through the radio to go careful.
Now, tickets part. As I mentioned the meetings between Legia, AVFC, UEFA, Police and whoever was involved at the time were held up to the game day - so if anyone thinks that Legia supporters would decide to drop already paid flights and accommodation when the situation is not fully clear, please use your common sense. Yes we were making trouble back in Leicester, yes here was some information from Alkmaar about troubles and this is my most important question here - how many Legia supporters were arrested in Alkmaar afterwards? NONE!!! Does the Netherlands police have any evidence? I didn't see any pictures of Legia supporters making trouble - and please do not throw on me the picture of the helmet and baton as this is not proof of any riots at all. One more think which I have raised about the police enforcement based on the Legia behaviour in Leicester and Alkmaar - we were troublemakers back in 2004 and 2006 in Vienna (Austria) we played there again in UECL qualifications in August 2023 and there was no troubles AT ALL - somehow they could learn the lesson but obviously Midlands Police didn't thought to get the most recent feedback from there. Now going back to what was happening before the game outside in the away fans coach parking. Legia fans were lied by the police from the very beginning about the tickets - at 18.00 police was announcing that tickets will be ready for sale in 10minutes then 10 minutes after the update was that in 15minutes and on and on. There was situation that I stood on the crossing of Station Rd and Yew Tree Rd and they said through the hailer that the tickets are ready to collect inside the car park, so I walk through the car park to hear from the otherside police announcement on Witton Ln that tickets will be there in 10min - clearly police wanted to close down everyone in the parking compound. Finally tickets were handed over to Legia fans approx. 18.45-19.00 an hour before game kick-off and you can believe me or not I saw the box with the 889 tickets to be distributed in the almost pitch dark carpark - how the hell they suppose to do it if they want to? I have no bloody idea, as police wouldn't let anyone through the bottle neck they have created on the top corner of the parking (corner of Station Rd and Witton Ln) without the ticket. At this point I have decided to walkout from the parking compound as I felt the tension is on very "thin ice". Literally 5min before all the trouble kicked-off.
And to be CLEAR and HONEST I don't have enjoyment of this what happened there and I know this was what said all the time before the game and expected by the police. However and this is my and OLNY my personal thoughts based on root cause analysis. The parking compound WASN'T swept from all potential items that can be thrown and cause harm to anyone - why? how police planned it? Was it done intentionally as Midlands Police was saying all the time that Legia fans are very violent? Then the officer being in charge should take full responsibility on the injuries of his officers, unless they wanted proof their point.
Another particular point police at the end of the "normal" situation was using force (batons) on the Legia fans walking down Witton Ln from the aston roundabout to force them through to the parking and locking the gate behind them. The only open gate was on the side of Station Road (not the one at the corner) so another hot spot to cause the trouble locking human beings inside the "cage", why? Animals in the zoo are treated better than that...
And the last point - when all this started I was taking some photos and videos on the same side of the street just outside the fence. There was an older english man with two other with official badges (Hx or something similar zone access identification) as I heard them talking they must be some sort of UEFA officials with strong non-english accent. As he saw me wearing Legia beanie and press badge, so he asked me "Why they are doing this? They've got their tickets." so I replied "They have received only 889 tickets and they are locked in 'a cage'." so he stated that Legia received 1002, so I said "No, they have received 889 as I saw the box.", he replied "Yes, but there was also 90 VIP tickets and 13 disable" (or something like that I didn't recorded that numbers for sure) so as I was a little bit fumed about his attitude I replied "And that's still not f***** enough." well maybe not acted as I should. As I found out later I have spoken to a member (director) of AVFC security. I have left the Witton Ln approx. 19.45 to get back to press box on time.
Sorry for such a long post, however I thought it might be worth to put the picture of how and what happened there.
