Worst fans in Europe

[Tin basher]

UEFA says sorry

UEFA says sorry

According to the Times it seems Michael Platini head UEFA bod (French bloke) says it's all been a mistake and Liverpool fans are okay after all. Bet Mr Gailliard was chuffed when his boss anounced this. DT_Xtremez_06:

"Uefa staged an embarrassing climbdown in its row with Liverpool last night when Michel Platini, the president of European football’s governing body, distanced himself from a slur on the reputation of the club’s supporters by one of his colleagues. Asked whether Liverpool fans were to blame for the trouble at some of the entry gates at the Olympic Stadium before the final against AC Milan, Platini said: “No, we cannot say that. We cannot point the finger. And, no, they are not the worst behaved in Europe"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article1890443.ece

 

[mad_collie]

Was he surrounded by a bunch of blokes in shell suits, with dodgy perms & 'taches who were holding stanley knives to his throat when he made that statement?DT_Xtremez_42:

 

[mad_mo]

Was he surrounded by a bunch of blokes in shell suits, with dodgy perms & 'taches who were holding stanley knives to his throat when he made that statement?DT_Xtremez_42:

 

[firestorm]

DT_Xtremez_30: Class MM! Class!DT_Xtremez_30:

....and yes, they still are the worst.DT_Xtremez_32:

 

[propersplitbrainme]

Hmm,

As a lifelong Liverpool supporter and match-goer I thought it about time I chucked my 2p worth in here. Not making excuses here, just offering some personal views.

Liverpool FC have been in 10 Euopean finals having been on the European campaign trail for over 30 years. Have a look at your own teams record (if it is English) and you'll find that its nowhere near that. As a result our supporters have written the book on how European match nights work, how the security operates and how to bypass it. If an English club's supporters are going to be involved in problems at a major European final it therefore stands to reason that its more likely to be Liverpool's because we've simply been there more often.

Comparisons with Hillsborough are utterly spurious; that tragedy could have happened to any club's supporters as a result of failures in crowd management. It had previously happened on a smaller scale at other grounds IIRC.

UK football authorities have learned a hell of a lot about controlling crowds at major events; our European counterparts are still way behind us in this resepect. If you ask for trouble you get trouble; holding the final at a ground with no turnstiles invited trouble.

Ticketing arrangements throughout the campaign were a major source of aggravation. At the semi-final at Anfield there were people being interviewed by TV outside of the ground for whom this was their FIRST ever match at Anfield. This sort of thing infuriated supporters who had been to a number of previous CL matches but had failed to secure a ticket for the semi because of the way tickets were allocated. The same thing spilled over into the final and fuelled anger in a nucleus of supporters who would like to lay the blame for their failure to get tickets on 'Out Of Towner' supporters. In their minds these OOTers are affluent middle class people from the likes of Somerset and Northampton who swan in to Liverpool on matchdays riding on the back of the club's success and ignoring their own local team, taking tickets off 'genuine' scouse supporters and not caring about the club's traditions. This undercurrent is getting nastier, and there were some incidents in Athens where 'scouse' supporters turned on fans who didn't have Liverpool accents. Some even saw the stealing of tickets from OOTers as 'liberating' them for the genuine fans such as themselves DT_Xtremez_25:

Personally I was saddened by the whole thing, not just the result. The sight of our fans storming the gates and tales of ticket thefts left me sick - there are some real scum out there. But in general Liverpool supporters have led the way in Europe, supporting the team in an enthusiastic but generally aceptable manner; the sound of You'll Never Walk Alone at half time in Istanbul is said to have inspired the team on that night.
It would be nice to think that an event could be held which morons would not attend, but until then these things have to be organised and policed properly. Stadia large enough to hold as many fans as possible, easy access to airports, and proper security on the gates and in the ticketing.

Thanks for listening DT_Xtremez_06:

 

[firestorm]

Hmm,


Personally I was saddened by the whole thing, not just the result. The sight of our fans storming the gates and tales of ticket thefts left me sick - there are some real scum out there. But in general Liverpool supporters have led the way in Europe, supporting the team in an enthusiastic but generally aceptable manner; the sound of You'll Never Walk Alone at half time in Istanbul is said to have inspired the team on that night.
It would be nice to think that an event could be held which morons would not attend, but until then these things have to be organised and policed properly. Stadia large enough to hold as many fans as possible, easy access to airports, and proper security on the gates and in the ticketing.

Thanks for listening DT_Xtremez_06:

Fair play for sticking up for your lot in a fairly balanced way, but to say your lot "lead the way" doesn't really wash too well. It would stick in the throats of your average Juve fan.

 

[Hammer and stillson]

What happened with the Juve fans was also a dark night for all football but they are no saints themselves. I remember a report a couple of years after C4 had started showing the serie A games, Juve were playing away and so were Lazio, both sets of fans passed each other on their trains, noticed each other and pulled the emergency stop cords and started fighting each other on the tracks. Now before anyone starts I don't commend any of the behaviour shown by Liverpool fans in Athens or Hysel but there are far worse fans than us and a lot more organised in their actions.