CL Final

[Guest 70400]

BOOZE? UEFA LACK BOTTLE TO FIND REAL CAUSE OF VIOLENCE

 

 

 

Brian Reade 14/04/2007

 

WHAT a hoot, no make that a crate of Hooch, is UEFA's plea to Manchester United fans to cut back on their drinking when they visit Milan next month.

"United has to tell them what is appropriate. There has been a problem with drink and it would be nice if the supporters were told not to do it," said Salvation Army War Cry salesman, sorry UEFA spokesman, William Gaillard.

So by how much should they cut back? One Peroni? A vat of valpolicella?

And how would it have halted all that violence in Rome? By making them think quicker, so they could have leapt out of the way before an Ultra on a Vespa plunged a knife into their buttocks?

Would it have let them see more clearly the bottles flying at them as they sat in their seat? Would they have been less likely to fall into a coma when their skull was cracked by a police baton?

It's a novel idea that football fans visiting Milan should spend the day sipping coffee in cafes outside Il Duomo, debating whether da Vinci had finer strokes than Caravaggio. But it's slightly flawed.

If drinking by Englishmen automatically leads to ugly violence, how do UEFA explain away all the hundreds of trips by our club's supporters in recent years where no trouble has occurred?

How do they explain the riots, knifings, coin-hurling, bloody ambushes and cop killing that have led to the cancellation of entire fixture lists thanks to those peaceful, non-drinking Italian fans this season? How do they account for Italian police turning into power-drunk Nazi thugs?

Surely UEFA should be calling on the Italian government to force their people to cut back on espressos. Because too many of those caffeine-hits are clearly lethal.

While we're at it, maybe FIFA should order those crazy Central Americans who get games abandoned through riots and shoot their own players, to cut back on their taco intake. Of course many followers of English clubs consume more ale than they should on foreign awaydays. So do most English holidaymakers. And maybe their GPs should advise them to take it easy.

But when UEFA dish out the advice you know you're staring at a huge smokescreen. Without hitting the Italians hard for what happened in Rome, they cynically point the finger of blame at a universally accepted myth. All Englishmen turn up to football matches drunk.

The bottle gives them a ready-made scapegoat, and stops them examining the real concerns over spectator safety. And there is a huge one on the horizon that's being ignored. If Liverpool and Manchester United make it to the final in Athens there will be trouble. These are two sets of fans whose mutual loathing knows no bounds. They are also two of the best-supported clubs in the world who will probably take 35,000 fans each to Greece for a couple of days.

And it won't need a drop of ouzo in a single vein for bad blood to be spilt. UEFA have already fanned the flames by allocating a mere 17,000 tickets to each finalist, in a 64,000-seater ground.

Which means tens of thousands of resentful Mancs and Scousers will be snarling at each other in the streets, pushed about by some of the most trigger-happy cops in Europe. While inside the stadium UEFA's delegates and sponsors carry on getting sozzled on the finest wines known to man. (There's less chance of THEM cutting back on the booze than Johnny Vegas).

Imagine the centre of Athens after the game, when one set of fans who've just lost the biggest grudge match in their clubs' history are being taunted by the others? If UEFA understood the reality of football - and did its job properly - there would be plans in place when such an explosive scenario presents itself, to move the game to a safer option. Wembley should be lined up with a compensation package in place to keep the Greeks happy. Because if Liverpool and United get to hold a three-day festival of loathing in sunny Athens, everyone over there and back home will suffer.

But UEFA are guaranteed to arrogantly ignore reality. Why? Because the five-star hotel suites and the corporate freebies are already booked. And if there is a bloodbath outside the ground while they're inside sipping their claret, well they've always got their fall-back.

They can blame it all on the drink.

[Cobs]

agree with that 100%

[muleskinner]

I know the safety subject has to be talked about but their is so much supposition going on about an us V Mancs final it's getting ridiculous.

[Mike]

the way we played today we'll be nowhere near the f***ing thing

[RP]

I know the safety subject has to be talked about but their is so much supposition going on about an us V Mancs final it's getting ridiculous.

 

"If Liverpool and Manchester United make it to the final in Athens there will be trouble."

Edited April 14, 2007 by RP

[Ostrich Man]

chelsea v milan.

 

 

chelsea wont sell all their tickets.

[muleskinner]

"If Liverpool and Manchester United make it to the final in Athens there will be trouble."

 

If if if if if if if.

[Koller49]

Don't agree with the bit that seems to absolve the mancs of all blame in Rome when ive seen their fans in action in and around Anfield before and they're a bunch of scummy b******s who dont need any alcohol to give it the biggun.

 

Agree with the rest of it though. 17,000 each is a joke. And if us and the Mancs get through it should be moved to Wembley for safety reasons and for bigger allocations.

[Mike]

Don't agree with the bit that seems to absolve the mancs of all blame in Rome when ive seen their fans in action in and around Anfield before and they're a bunch of scummy b******s who dont need any alcohol to give it the biggun.

 

Agree with the rest of it though. 17,000 each is a joke. And if us and the Mancs get through it should be moved to Wembley for safety reasons and for bigger allocations.

 

correction - they've got some scummy b******s who follow them - as have we unfortunately.

[Paul B]

correction - they've got some scummy b******s who follow them - as have we unfortunately.

 

 

Aye, especially "rat boy" who stood in front of me for a while yesterday. What despondency breeds such low-life scum as this?

[Woodsyla]

"If Liverpool and Manchester United make it to the final in Athens there will be trouble."

 

and English teams will get a 5 year ban again. If we both reach the final the ONLY sensible course of action is for UEFA to dip into it's pockets and hand out massive compensation to the Greeks and to hold it at Wembley. A day trip for the fans who can then skulk off home when they lose rather than being 4000 miles from home and surrounded by gloating fans. It's a f***ing nightmare scenario to have a game with this much animosity held on forign soil. Could you imagine an Olympiakos v AEK Athens match held in Rome ?

 

I pray that both sides don't make it because UEFA will do f*** all.

[NWR]

"If Liverpool and Manchester United make it to the final in Athens there will be trouble."

 

Is that a threat?

 

But I fear you are 100% right.

[ManxRed]

Maybe UEFA DO understand the potential problem and are having a word with the two semi final referees as we speak...

 

Milan v Chelsea anyone?

[Woodsyla]

Milan v anyone?

 

Slight amendment to your post gives exactly what UEFA will want

Edited April 15, 2007 by Woodsyla

[Knox_Harrington]

Slight amendment to your post gives exactly what UEFA will want

Think both us and United will be playing the referee.

 

Agree that United may have a harder time of it but if they are looking good after the first leg then when we play on the Tuesday before their second leg then it could well be damage limitation time for UEFA.

[San Diego Red]

Slight amendment to your post gives exactly what UEFA will want

 

Well, you can't have the Mancs in there. Apparently they can't get along with Italian people.

[mally]

"If Liverpool and Manchester United make it to the final in Athens there will be trouble."

 

that's a big if

[Will]

If we met in the Final, what on earth makes people think there wouldn't be loads of trouble if it got moved to Wembley anyway?

[Ostrich Man]

oh thered still be trouble, just think it would be better handled/stewrded in england and means both sets of fans wouldnt be milling about for a few days before and after, with that potential for causing trouble.

[Kvarme Ate My Food]

oh thered still be trouble, just think it would be better handled/stewrded in england and means both sets of fans wouldnt be milling about for a few days before and after, with that potential for causing trouble.

 

spot on

[surf]

that's a big if