No away fans

[dave.woodhall]

Were any of the Legia fans who got booted from the home sections causing trouble? I wonder if genuine fans who just wanted to see the game and avoid the trouble might have thought that was their best option? Or was it just all chancers there to cause trouble?

On that note too, how did staff know if they were Legia fans who travelled or just Polish people living locally, even if Legia fans? I saw a picture of a woman being removed and she didn't look like an obvious Legia fan.

From what I saw they were genuine fans watching their team but as we all know, nothing raises the ire of football supporters more than people like them doing what they're doing.

[Small Rodent]

Reassuring to see that the deplorable behaviour of the away fans is now taking centre stage on this thread as opposed to the initial posts inexplicably questioning the antics of WMP.

Yep found that really disconcerting last night that people still held those sorts of attitudes. Definitely balanced out today and been some really good commentary from Villa supporters!

I agree with you on this. It’s easy to jump to conclusions rather than waiting for evidence.

The people telling their stories of how the Polish police treated them in Warsaw..they do this to
all away teams. I’ve been at pre-season friendlies and they treat you like shit too.

I’ve been on a tram on the way to a game and rival fans on the tram sing their songs…but when they pass the police they all join in together chanting against the police.

Whatever you think about WMP or the police in general, this was not some  “let’s fuck off football fans” aggression.

[Pat McMahon]

Reassuring to see that the deplorable behaviour of the away fans is now taking centre stage on this thread as opposed to the initial posts inexplicably questioning the antics of WMP.

Yep found that really disconcerting last night that people still held those sorts of attitudes. Definitely balanced out today and been some really good commentary from Villa supporters!

I agree with you on this. It’s easy to jump to conclusions rather than waiting for evidence.

The people telling their stories of how the Polish police treated them in Warsaw..they do this to
all away teams. I’ve been at pre-season friendlies and they treat you like shit too.

I’ve been on a tram on the way to a game and rival fans on the tram sing their songs…but when they pass the police they all join in together chanting against the police.

Whatever you think about WMP or the police in general, this was not some  “let’s fuck off football fans” aggression.

I thought the police in Warsaw were ok and not at all aggressive. I also heard of two people who separately got cornered outside the stadium and were given a personal escort to the away end.

I was on the halfway line in Warsaw with an English mate and his British / American mates who are season ticket holders. Kept my trap shut and had no problem - they were all wearing Legia shirts so didn’t stand out. I’ve done it several times in England too and rarely let on I support the Villa and never large it when we score.

[Somniloquism]

At what point did the police say they were going to kettle the away fans in the car park and not let them out and what had happened prior to this that led them to conclude the entire support, every one of them had been involved in violent activity?

Probably at the point the Legia officials decided they were not going to dish out the tickets to the genuine fans, or did you not read that bit in the multiple statements made by people in the know like Dave W, the club officially, WMP, the independent people monitoring and probably others still to come?

[PeterWithesShin]

This is on the Beeb article

10:30 GMT: In a standard pre-match operational meeting, Legia Warsaw refuse to confirm if they will accept their allocation of tickets for the match. Aston Villa claims this is in stark contrast to normal Uefa operational procedures.
14:30: Legia Warsaw (LW) officials due to meet Polish supporters
15:00: Legia expected to communicate the decision on tickets, but advise there is a possibility that they will not accept them
16:00: Legia inform Aston Villa that they wish to receive their ticket allocation
18:16: The tickets are handed to Legia officials immediately upon their arrival at the stadium

[olaftab]

At what point did the police say they were going to kettle the away fans in the car park and not let them out and what had happened prior to this that led them to conclude the entire support, every one of them had been involved in violent activity?

What did you expect the Police to do? Maybe ask em politely one by one if they were going to cause trouble? They made the decision all or nothing when their club officials tried to supply em with about 1000 tickets. They then resorted to violence and the only safe thing to do was stop em all which no doubt resulted in some good  fans being punished  and for that the blame rests with their ultras. 

[LukeJames]

wrong post.....

[algy]

Reassuring to see that the deplorable behaviour of the away fans is now taking centre stage on this thread as opposed to the initial posts inexplicably questioning the antics of WMP.

Yep found that really disconcerting last night that people still held those sorts of attitudes. Definitely balanced out today and been some really good commentary from Villa supporters!

It's not completely out of character though. Hillsborough being the obvious one. Though you could point to Stephen Lawrence, Dalian Atkinson, that rapist fellow in the metropolitan police, ..

Don't get me wrong, I think we're very fortunate in this country that by and large the police are, and are seen to be, trustworthy. The bad apples represent a miniscule proportion. However, when you're job is to uphold the law, you can't really afford any bad apples, and any which are found will end up casting a long shadow.
--

All that said, it does look like WMP & the club tried to get the situation sorted out in the most reasonable way possible. I can't see how either can take any blame for this, it's clearly been down to the belligerence of Legia - first their club officials, then these hooligans of theirs.

[Risso]

Chuck them out of the Conference, immediately. Neither the club nor the fans deserve to be in it.

[luke95]

Seems like their Ultras have  lot of power within the club , makes you wonder if the game would've even taken place had the team no arrived before the fans

[Flamingo Lane]

Given their apparent propensity to violence, it's perhaps surprising that they allowed themselves to get locked into one car park as one large group, rather than disperse themselves into a few squads, marauding around the local streets for an hour or two before the game. As far as I've heard, this didn't happen.

[VillaTim]

Hopefully there will be some learnings from this as we might be getting the likes of Eintracht Frankfurt or similar with more of these Pet Shop Boys singing , sparkler waiving "Ultras" coming to B6 next year

[AV84]

Given their apparent propensity to violence, it's perhaps surprising that they allowed themselves to get locked into one car park as one large group, rather than disperse themselves into a few squads, marauding around the local streets for an hour or two before the game. As far as I've heard, this didn't happen.

It seems their main objective was to get into the stadium rather than to "just" cause trouble.  Roaming around the streets for an hour or two before wouldn't have gotten them in. Gathering en masse where the tickets were supposed to be given out was presumably the plan. I'd say they weren't expecting to be met with such a big police operation either.

[Jon Crofts]

WMP have charged 46 men (arsewipes) aged between 21 and 63 with various offences following Thursday night’s game. All but 1 to appear before magistrates in Brum today.

[Steve67]

I am in the camp that thinks there should be a reprisal for both club and fans as the club should have taken more of a stance, as requested by UEFA in relation to the ticket allocation.  Either a points deduction in this competition, or throw them out this season and the next. time they are in European football  Even our very own FA wouldn't bottle this decision.