No away fans

[Smithy]

Just wondering when West Midlands Finest (now in special measures) were holding planning meetings and they decided to restrict the ticket alication for Legia fans; did anybody stand up and say:

Being as intelligence tells us at least 2,000 are travelling what do we do if they all turn up at the turnstiles?

From what's happened tonight it looks as if nobody did.

Their intention was obvious, they were going to force entry, as they did at Alkmaar. WMP stopped them, so they attacked the Police.

That's my suspicion, too.  Also, because the police took action based on what they "thought" the fans were going to do, they can't use that as justification.  The Legia fans kicking off and injuring police made it a VERY easy decision to prevent them all from getting in.  I do feel sorry for the genuine fans interested in the game, not in aggro (of which there must have been quite a few), but I also think it was the right decision to stop them all getting in the moment they turned violent, and it became clear ticketless fans were part of the group trying to gain entry to the ground.  Having done it in the Netherlands, they have previous in that respect.

Also bear in mind Villa Park is a ground for the 2028 Euros, so UEFA will have been looking VERY closely at how this was managed. Especially given the issues at the Euro final against Italy with ticketless fans forcing entry.  Only time will tell if preventing entry to a violent groups of fans (even if it's not 100% of them) is considered the correct move.  I suspect it will be.

[sid1964]

Hopefully no women and children were kettled by WMP - IF we get to the final, how many of us are going to travel without tickets to Athens, it will be interesting to read the reactions on here if we are treated the same by the Greek police.

The further into this competition we go the more likelihood is of us drawing another club with a big away following, are WMP and Villa going to ban their fans as well?

[Smithy]

Hopefully no women and children were kettled by WMP - IF we get to the final, how many of us are going to travel without tickets to Athens, it will be interesting to read the reactions on here if we are treated the same by the Greek police.

The further into this competition we go the more likelihood is of us drawing another club with a big away following, are WMP and Villa going to ban their fans as well?

My view on last night is that this wasn't a case of "this is how we treat away fans", but rather, "this is how we treat fans that stormed the Alkmaar stadium, attacked Dutch police officers and were banned by UEFA from one game in this tournament already."

[Nev]

There's a difference with being in the same city and trying to jib in to the ground. You saw that last night. Whenever there are big finals, fan parks are set up, that wasn't really an option last night and the match was on TV anyway so there was no excuse. A mixture of entitlement and being twats led to what was saw.

The Condiment Battle of Trinity Road will live long in the memory though....

[Clampy]

What I don’t get is the club saying they limited away tickets because they could not get Legia to co-operate concerning their fans turning up without tickets.
What the hell were Legia supposed to do?

Cooperate?

But you can not stop people traveling.

No, but you could advise them not to. Instead they just had a pop at the number of tickets we gave them. That can't have helped.

[AV82EC]

Hopefully no women and children were kettled by WMP - IF we get to the final, how many of us are going to travel without tickets to Athens, it will be interesting to read the reactions on here if we are treated the same by the Greek police.

The further into this competition we go the more likelihood is of us drawing another club with a big away following, are WMP and Villa going to ban their fans as well?

There’s quite a major difference as most Villa fans who travel without tickets don’t try to storm the ground or go any where near it, if they can’t get a ticket they tend to behave like a grown up and watch in a bar on a telly. See Warsaw and Alkmaar.

And if we draw another club with a big following and they try the same trick I hope they get dealt with exactly the same way.

We don’t see a lot of large scale trouble in England these days so fair play to WMP in dealing with it. If I was a normie LW fan with a ticket and just wanting to watch the football I’d be fuming.

[Ads]

There's plenty the club (LW) could do. There's plenty the Polish police could do too, whose policing of us was dire.

Legia Warsaw were content to let their gum shield roid heads attempt to dictate proceedings. Content to let them refuse to go into the ground, so en masse they could congregate and then storm the turnstiles to force entry. Fair play to WMP who were prepared for them and taught them choices have consequences.

[AV82EC]

There's plenty the club (LW) could do. There's plenty the Polish police could do too, whose policing of us was dire.

Completely agree Ads.

[PeterWithe]

https://twitter.com/MrAndyPowell/status/1730365085808263240

Don’t mess with us, we’re the Daddies.

[sid1964]

Hopefully the Police dogs and horse that were injured are okay

[PeterWithe]

There is a Twitter pic of a young fella in the Holte absolutely covered in mayonnaise from one of the bottles thrown over.

[AV84]

39 arrests apparently.

[FrankyH]

There is a Twitter pic of a young fella in the Holte absolutely covered in mayonnaise from one of the bottles thrown over.

Another moral victory for the Blues, Mayonnaise is so middle class. I am sure if it was at the sty , working class condiments would have been the chosen weapon like Daddies sauce or HP !

[SaddVillan]

From The Athletic

This puts a bit more meat on the bone as regards Legia's involvement. They don't appear to have been too co-operative, or to have been prepared to take a conciliatory approach.

Four police officers injured and 39 arrests after crowd trouble before Aston Villa vs Legia Warsaw

Four police officers were injured and 39 arrests were made after crowd disorder outside Villa Park before Aston Villa’s Europa Conference League fixture against Legia Warsaw.

Legia supporters were not allowed into the away end at Villa Park due to the trouble. Birmingham Police confirmed missiles were thrown at officers and a “significant policing operation” was required.

Members of the public were advised to avoid Witton Lane, where the Villa Park away end is located.

A statement from West Midlands Police stated: “We were faced with disgusting and highly dangerous scenes as trouble flared ahead of the fixture between Aston Villa and Legia Warsaw. We had a significant policing presence in place because of safety concerns. This stemmed from visiting fans having been involved in previous match day disorder.

“Tonight’s disorder is believed to have sparked when tickets were not distributed by the away club to supporters outside the ground, as had been anticipated.

“During the disorder, four officers were injured – with one taken to hospital – along with two police horses and two police dogs as missiles including flares were thrown towards them. Thankfully their injuries are not believed to be serious.

“We’ve so far made 39 arrests on suspicion of offences including violent disorder and assaulting a police officer and they have been taken into custody for questioning. We will further review all available footage to identify perpetrators.”

Legia released a statement 30 minutes before kick off claiming Villa’s decision to reduce their away allocation had “unnecessarily exacerbated the atmosphere”.

Legia’s ticket allocation for the fixture was reduced due to concerns after previous incidents of crowd trouble. Legia were fined €15,000 by UEFA and away supporters were banned from attending their Europa League group stage fixture against HSK Zrinjski Mostar following crowd disturbances at October’s match against AZ Alkmaar.

Legia claim their Villa Park allocation was reduced to 890, while Villa claim it was 1,002.

UEFA regulations state home clubs must make at least five per cent of their stadium capacity available exclusively to visiting supporters — this would amount to 2,100 seats at Villa Park.

A Legia statement read: “Instead of relieving potential pre-match tensions, Aston Villa FC’s restrictive measures as the host club unnecessarily exacerbate the atmosphere. In our opinion, such measures are counterproductive and baseless.”

An Aston Villa statement read: “Aston Villa Football Club can confirm that no away fans were allowed into Villa Park for this evening’s UEFA Europa Conference League fixture with Legia Warsaw on the advice of West Midlands Police following large-scale disorder outside the stadium caused by visiting supporters.

“The UK safety authorities, UEFA and Aston Villa, communicated on November 2 that the ticket allocation for away fans for this fixture would be reduced to 1,002 on the advice of safety authorities as a result of previous large-scale disorder caused by Legia fans last month at AZ Alkmaar.

“In spite of numerous requests for cooperation from Legia Warsaw concerning their travelling supporters, especially in the last two days, no assistance on the serious safety matter of away fans attending Villa Park was forthcoming from the visiting club. The club has repeatedly, including this morning, raised concerns in conjunction with UEFA and all the relevant authorities to Legia that ticketless away supporters were attempting to attend Villa Park.

“Approximately an hour before kick-off, Legia fans engaged in planned and systematic violent acts against West Midlands Police officers and a decision was then made by West Midlands Police to exclude all Legia supporters.”

The Athletic has contacted UEFA for comment.

[Clampy]

I presume their fans who had tickets were mightly pissed off at not getting in so who knows, in the long run it might change the mindset  of a few of their fans who normally tolerate the Ultra/Pet Shop Boys mob who follow them. Even their club might wise up a little as well.