Violence outside Villa Park

[Stevo985]

Looked like there were Legia fans all over the home sections. Lots of people getting escorted out. I'm 99% sure the group in front of me in the Trinity were Legia fans but they kept their heads down.

It looked like something kicked off outside the north stand about 20 minutes in. Looked like maybe some of the Legia fans tried to get in

[Vive_La_Villa]

There was loads in the Doug Ellis. Some got thrown out. Others kept their head down. Vibe in the concourse at half time was weird. Definitely not like league games.  Shows how easy it is to get tickets in the home end.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Vive_La_Villa

[Mic09]

I'm polish and spoke with a couple of "hard" (bleugh) Legia fans on the way in. They were well behaved, other than drunk. They said they travelled in from Poland and they still didn't know if they would be let in. That was around 6pm. 

So I guess UEFA/Police messed up. If fans knew they weren't being let in, why would they travel? 

That's not excusing the police trouble, but they clearly were mislead at some point. 

[NurembergVillan]

1 hour ago, avfc1982am said:

Must be nothing worse than trying to act all hard and then making an absolute turkey of yourself falling on your mush while throwing a bottle of mustard. 

 

WELCOME TO HELL-MAN'S

[OutByEaster?]

Their allocation was reduced almost a month ago, lead by UEFA and the various safety authorities and police and based on the behavioural record of Legia's supporters.

Legia's support, and crucially it would seem, the club itself, felt that this was very harsh, and fans were seemingly encouraged to travel without tickets on the idea that they'd 'find a way'.

We then have 2,000 people all mixed up in a car park, some of whom have legitimate tickets and some of whom don't - this group has been encouraged to mix to make it difficult to separate them, with their plan being that WMP and Villa would be forced to let them all in and Legia, the club and it's supporters, would get what they wanted - a way around a UEFA action that they didn't agree with.

Faced with 2,000 people in a small space and no straightforward way to separate those with tickets from those without tickets, WMP were faced with a bit of a pickle. (I'm not sure, but I have heard talk that none of the tickets had actually been issued at that point as Legia (the club) were refusing to issue them as some sort of protest against the ticketing restriction and again hoped that by not doing so they could force Villa into a situation where they'd have to allow more fans into the ground).

In a co-ordinated and planned action, those 2,000 people were then driven to attempt to force entry into the ground, this attempt was thwarted by WMP who then took the brave, and absolutely correct decision that, if they couldn't separate out those with tickets (who had submitted passports and were identifiable) from those that didn't have tickets (and could be anyone) then they'd allow no fans at all inside the stadium.

I'll admit I was surprised that we kicked off at 20:00 with no away fans inside Villa Park, but given the situation outside, I think it's the right decision.

The Legia fans then ripped up everything they could find and threw it at the police - there are rumours of a stab wound and burns to police officers as a result - those fans were then able to spread around the neighbouring streets where they found a way to throw bottles into the Holte End, briefly forced their way into the Lower Grounds, vandalised cars and attacked locals, passers by, families and staff that were leaving Villa Park.

It was a night that Legia and it's supporters should be ashamed of.

They're not and the reason they're not is that this behaviour seems to be culturally ingrained in both the support and the football club - tonight's criminality had at its heart the club itself -subtly encouraging its supporters to try to get into the ground as a way of protesting the actions of UEFA. In denial of their problem to the extent that they cannot accept the punishments that arise from it.

For me, the fans of Legia and the club itself should be facing the most stringent of punishments from UEFA, and, given that this is the third time they've behaved like this in the last year or so, personally I don't think a ban for a season or two from all European football would be overly draconian.

It was horrible tonight - there were things happening everywhere - people scared at the full time whistle as to what was waiting for them outside - a gang of vicious thugs masquerading as football fans roaming the streets looking for victims, orchestrated by a club that has a very serious problem at its core. It can't be allowed to happen again.

 

 

[UpTheVilla26]

Just got back to Somerset. 

Crazy night. 

As someone said earlier, we went passed a load of them near the Tesco roundabout. They were swigging bottles of neat vodka. 

We were in the North Stand upper and when they scored 2 of them cheered. I think a few Villa tried to get to them and they eventually got turfed out. 

We spent most the game wandering what we'd come out to but other than a heavy police presence, they'd managed to get rid of them all. Though the road was a mess, broken glass and shit everywhere. 

They ruined it for themselves at the end of the day. They knew what their allocation was and turned up in bigger numbers, without tickets. 

None of this is on Villa, the police advised the club not to allow any away fans in. 

Least we did them on the pitch so their entire night was a worthless one. 

[OutByEaster?]

2 hours ago, sidcow said:

I think they **** up and should have just let the ticketed fans in. 

It had become impossible to pick out only those with tickets - and that wasn't accidental on behalf of Legia.

 

[FLVillan]

Just listened to a clip from a phone-in from a UK-based Warsaw fan who is angry because he showed up at Villa Park without a ticket and was then "caged" into a car park with thousands of others.  What is wrong with these people?  This guy on the phone-in literally believed if they showed up in big numbers that authorities/Villa would cave and just allow them in.  And he's angry because their "plan" didn't work....

I hope ALL of those who caused a disturbance, got drunk and disorderly, threw projectiles, assaulted police and any other offence, however minor, get to spend some time behind bars and have their passports confiscated.  Is Winson Green prison still open?

Kudos to the local police who 100% made the correct decision and put themselves in harms way to protect the Villa fans and local residents.  The legitimate Legia fans with tickets who are angry have every right to be angry, but direct your anger to the morons who claim to be supporters of your club and the utter morons running your club who failed to cooperate and passively encouraged this situation.

Don't blame Villa

Don't blame UEFA

Don't blame the Police

Edited December 1, 2023 by FLVillan

[meregreen]

1 hour ago, Mic09 said:

I'm polish and spoke with a couple of "hard" (bleugh) Legia fans on the way in. They were well behaved, other than drunk. They said they travelled in from Poland and they still didn't know if they would be let in. That was around 6pm. 

So I guess UEFA/Police messed up. If fans knew they weren't being let in, why would they travel? 

That's not excusing the police trouble, but they clearly were mislead at some point. 

Legia fan said on the radio, they are used to turning up to stadiums ticketless in large numbers, and intimidating the local cops into letting them in. That doesn’t work in England. Long way to come for an evening in a car park.

[spiezels]

Sounds like police played a blinder then. 

[FLVillan]

2 hours ago, Mic09 said:

I'm polish and spoke with a couple of "hard" (bleugh) Legia fans on the way in. They were well behaved, other than drunk. They said they travelled in from Poland and they still didn't know if they would be let in. That was around 6pm. 

So I guess UEFA/Police messed up. If fans knew they weren't being let in, why would they travel? 

That's not excusing the police trouble, but they clearly were mislead at some point. 

Mislead by their own club, maybe.  But the concept of traveling to another country, then going to stadium without a ticket when it has been made clear what the TICKET allocation is (you need one of those to get in to an event believe it or not) is, at best foolish, at worst dangerous (as has now been proven once again by Legia fans - see Leicester, see AZ Alkmar).  

It was published a month ago what the ticket allocation was....

It's been somewhere close to 30 years since you could go to matches without tickets and just "pay at the turnstile." 

Trying to pin blame on police or UEFA or anyone other than the people themselves who showed up without tickets is ludicrous. 

[delboy54]

I was there, I didnt see much to be honest walking towards the Holte End, but I could see stuff kickimg off at the far end of the DE stand.

I think it was expected there would be trouble.

Was very odd having no away fans and the atmosphere was also strange, even the PA announcements were quiet......for a change, so quiet I couldn't even hear it!

Been going to football since the 1960s and seen loads of violence, I think the police did a good job and hopefully none of them got hurt. In these days this sort of behaviour is unacceptable and UEFA should ban them from competing 

Shame we never got that third goal

[WallisFrizz]

Amazing that some people even on this thread manage to find a way to criticise the police.

Villa fans kept safe from harm

No disorder inside the ground

No ticketless fans allowed entry into the ground.

WMP have already released a statement in which they say that Warsaw didn’t distribute their ticket allocation outside the ground as they were supposed to.

Police did a good job. 

[Pongo's Socks]

5 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Looked like there were Legia fans all over the home sections. Lots of people getting escorted out. I'm 99% sure the group in front of me in the Trinity were Legia fans but they kept their heads down.

It looked like something kicked off outside the north stand about 20 minutes in. Looked like maybe some of the Legia fans tried to get in

The North stand thing was because of a Legia fan celebrating their goal. One villa fan pushed him up the steps towards the exit, then a few more villa joined in when they realised what was going on. He had to run towards the bars/exits and we lost sight of him then (sat in mid trinity B7 with the lad). Loads of villa went after him. Then looked behind us and the same thing was happening in our block, Legia fans getting dragged out after celebrating. Stewards were slow to react.

[Pongo's Socks]

6 hours ago, avfc1982am said:

Must be nothing worse than trying to act all hard and then making an absolute turkey of yourself falling on your mush while throwing a bottle of mustard. 

 

Clearly been on the sauce 

[WallisFrizz]

14 minutes ago, Pongo's Socks said:

The North stand thing was because of a Legia fan celebrating their goal. One villa fan pushed him up the steps towards the exit, then a few more villa joined in when they realised what was going on. He had to run towards the bars/exits and we lost sight of him then (sat in mid trinity B7 with the lad). Loads of villa went after him. Then looked behind us and the same thing was happening in our block, Legia fans getting dragged out after celebrating. Stewards were slow to react.

I was also sat in B7, a couple of their fans stood up when they scored and a couple of Villa fans shoved them towards the nearest steward (who wasn’t particularly nearby as it is the family block). They got escorted out. That’s about as much trouble as I saw to be honest, it was only because of Twitter I knew about anything that happened outside, didn’t see anything outside the ground before or after.

[Rugeley Villa]

Blues fan I know text me saying they took the piss at Villa big time in and outside ground and it wouldn’t have happened at the blues as they would at least made an effort to give it them back. “ How very Villa “ he put at the end 

[Demitri_C]

8 hours ago, sidcow said:

From The Holte you could see all the senior Old Bill in the control panicking about what to do. They were all standing over a table which I assume had stadium or street plans clearly all arguing with each other. Much waving of arms, pointing, forthright views being aired. 

What was abundantly clear was that there was no plan and they had no idea or agreement what to do. 

Considering they were completely expecting this, they had police vans from Stoke and the Mounted Police from Thames Valley I find it very surprising that they had no preconceived plan about what do do in the event they kettled the fans in the coach park and weren't going to let them in. 

I think they **** up and should have just let the ticketed fans in. 

I would be furious if I was an everyday fan looking forward to my overseas game, at a a Premier League ground and I was kettled with a bunch of hooligans, not allowed in the ground and missed the game after all that expense. 

I think you are being abit harsh. Some of these officers probably never experienced anything like that last night. Last time there was serious trouble like this was against blose where we lost and that was mainly inside the stadium 

No villa fans were injured, and they were not lurking around at full time either.  I think the police should be applauded for a well done job keeping the villa fans safe.

The police can be shit,but last night they wernt in my eyes 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Demitri_C

[rjw63]

12 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

Blues fan I know text me saying they took the piss at Villa big time in and outside ground and it wouldn’t have happened at the blues as they would at least made an effort to give it them back. “ How very Villa “ he put at the end 

Hope you replied “how did you type that with all the extra fingers, you word removed”.

[mattyvilla]

15 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

Blues fan I know text me saying they took the piss at Villa big time in and outside ground and it wouldn’t have happened at the blues as they would at least made an effort to give it them back. “ How very Villa “ he put at the end 

He's absolutely right , there is no way it would happen down there , they are too busy conceding 4 goals to Blackburn to have time for big European nights