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Violence outside Villa Park


Demitri_C

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As soon as the advising body " recommended" a reduced ticket allocation Villa had nowhere to go other than follow the guideline. And then again when WMP said " no away fans allowed in " after their officers had been injured they had no choice. 

A crap night for true fans who had come to follow their team and for the officers, horses and dogs injured. 

But when the ultras have so much control over a club this is what happens. They are an organisation , not a gang.

 

 

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40 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Not sure how true but I heard the right wing government is quite lenient on hooliganism as they need many of them to stay in power ! 

Nah the right win government already lost the elections so there isn't anything in this

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1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

Legia fans started to arrive at the ground at around 15:00 and my understanding was that there were several hundred there in the afternoon, by about 18:00 it seems like the vast majority were there - by 18:30 the disorder had started. I got there at about 18:20 and went to have a peep out of curiosity, by that time, i seriously doubt that the group behind the police fans was in the mood to line up and show tickets.

The stewards are briefed and in position in the away end at around 18:15 I believe - that really doesn't give WMP the opportunity to do much in terms of finding out who does and doesn't have tickets in those 15 minutes before bits of wood start coming over the fence. I believe that Paul Tyrell and some of the Villa staff went down to speak to the Legia fans, but weren't able to find a way to negotiate for only those with legitimate tickets to get in - I may be wrong on that, but it's something I heard and ties in with the idea that the Legia ultras were operating an all-or-none policy in terms of what they wanted to do with tickets.

The key police learning will be about how they process ticketed and ticketless fans at these games in future - for me, the best way to do it would have been to have Legia fans collect tickets in Birmingham City centre at lunchtime, then be bussed from the city centre to the ground prior to kick off - a bus that took them to the away car park, then a police escort, one bus load at a time, walking them across the road and into the stadium - if they'd done that, any other away fan anywhere near the ground could have been rounded up and taken away under a dispersal order.

The big problem with that is that in order to co-ordinate it, you need the away club - only Legia can organise the distribution of Legia tickets.

It would appear that Legia didn't want to do that, it would appear that Legia wanted a full allocation and it would appear that Legia were quite happy to support the illegal, forced entry of a thousand ticketless supporters in order to achieve it. The allocation was set, weeks in advance of the game - and Legia refused to accept that decision.

On the night, for the police in the situation they were in, it's hard to see any other option for them - if they'd let all the fans in, there could have been widespread disruption and violence within the stadium, carried out by a group of unknown and unidentifiable individuals. Policing of UK football grounds is centred around the idea that the police can pick out a seat and find out from the club the name and address of the person in that seat - they aren't going to let in a thousand ticketless fans - let alone a thousand ticketless fans that are already involved in serious disorder. WMP deserve a lot of credit yesterday for their bravery in thought and action - they kept Villa fans safe.

Yes totally, it would've made sense that Legia could've got the fan coaches from Birmingham City Centre.

I got the train (around 3pm) from New Street to Perry Barr and yet again this morning.

I was looking out of the train window when I stopped at Witton this morning and it looked clear.

I certainly ruined my enjoyment of course but was good when the Warsaw broke into the North Stand lower, our fans were well behaved and didn't intervene. Where they broke in, that's near the family stand and for kids to see that is not great!

For AZ's sake I hope they stuff Legia.

Didn't Mostar get organised fan coaches to/from Villa Park?

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39 minutes ago, meregreen said:

Krakow is better. But the reconstructed centre of Warsaw is impressive.looks like they need to reconstruct their club now.

Well apart from them building one of the houses in the main square back to front :D 

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I think we need to be quite clear to the national media over what happened yesterday. ' Trouble at Villa' is a bit misleading. Ticketless Legia Warsaw fans trying to get into Villa Park whilst assaulting the police is more accurate. Legia Warsaw FC  failing to allocate the tickets to their own supporters, whilst not communicating with Villa, is ridiculous even if you disagree with the reduced allocation.

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12 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

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.

 

 

Great write up although it was written last night and just wondering if any of the bit in bold has since been substantiated?  

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16 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I mean, look at how English clubs were treated when we had a big hooligan problem. Banned for 6 years. Why haven't this lot? 

 

They should be seeing some serious sanctions, but it wasn't exactly the Heysel disaster. 

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