Riot police on standby in Manchester

[PeteTheMusicGuy]

I guess with all big games you get hangers on. Lets hope with some of the vids on you tube somoneone shops a few of those muppets

[harmitage]

I'm a Celtic fan (as some will have gathered by some of my previous posts) but have total sympathy for those people who went down there, many with children, to enjoy a carnival type atmosphere. Even before the muppets kicked off in the evening it was clear that Manchester City authorities were ill prepared for so many people. Some of my friends who were there (Rangers fans but nobody's perfect ) said it was quite clear by early afternoon that there was insufficient basic facilities laid on. Not enought toilets, no litter bins, accidentally broken glass on the street at that stage without any signs of their being any attempts to clean it up. The Manchester authorites were quite happy to boast about the £25 million pounds the final was bringing to the local economy. They might have used a small fraction of that to provide decent sanitation facilities.

There are also some reports that a large section of the 200 baying mob who attacked the lone PC had Mancunian accents!!

[PeteTheMusicGuy]

Originally Posted by harmitage

I'm a Celtic fan (as some will have gathered by some of my previous posts) but have total sympathy for those people who went down there, many with children, to enjoy a carnival type atmosphere. Even before the muppets kicked off in the evening it was clear that Manchester City authorities were ill prepared for so many people. Some of my friends who were there (Rangers fans but nobody's perfect ) said it was quite clear by early afternoon that there was insufficient basic facilities laid on. Not enought toilets, no litter bins, accidentally broken glass on the street at that stage without any signs of their being any attempts to clean it up. The Manchester authorites were quite happy to boast about the £25 million pounds the final was bringing to the local economy. They might have used a small fraction of that to provide decent sanitation facilities.

There are also some reports that a large section of the 200 baying mob who attacked the lone PC had Mancunian accents!!

I would not have been suprised if there was a few local hangers on

Celtic fan here too but as I remember we took near the same amount of fans to our UEFA Cup final and there was not a problem . I guess with it being so close to Glasgow and Belfast (both Rangers and Celtic have big a Irish support) It was easy for the pondlife to get there

[Russ B]

I wonder how many of the foreign press will blame English football supporters....

I have to say though, that clip of the officer falling over and those brain donors swarming all over him was pretty upsetting and I was amazed to see him get up from it.

[punky]

I wonder how many families of coppers saw that and had memories of PC Blakelock all over again

[harmitage]

They've just discovered the cause of the screen problem. Former Celtic legend spotted in Manchester at 7.45 on Wednesday night.

[PeteTheMusicGuy]

Originally Posted by harmitage

They've just discovered the cause of the screen problem. Former Celtic legend spotted in Manchester at 7.45 on Wednesday night.

Attack of the "Green Men" I thought it was gremlins that broke it

[Derek S]

Originally Posted by PeteTheMusicGuy

I would not have been suprised if there was a few local hangers on

Speaking to people who are coming back from it there were quite a lot of English accents in the crowd. Still no excuse though, the TV clearly shows 'fans' in Rangers tops involved.

Originally Posted by Russ B

I have to say though, that clip of the officer falling over and those brain donors swarming all over him was pretty upsetting and I was amazed to see him get up from it.

And not badly injured as well.
Once the adrenaline wore off it would have been nasty for him. I hope the people involved in that get screwed to the wall by the courts.

[Russ B]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/7404185.stm

This man, like most police officers has SERIOUSLY big cahoonas.

[Derek S]

There is an interesting piece in the Daily Record today.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/sc...6908-20418966/

Originally Posted by Daily Record

The trigger had been a small number of "fans" who goaded the police by going eye-to-eye with them or chucking a bottle.
And it was remarkable that almost none of the ringleaders wore club colours or spoke with a Scottish accent. There were, however, many English and Northern Irish accents.
.
But there were too many people. Even at that stage there were too many, causing bottlenecks and potential for crushing.
It struck me police had badly misjudged numbers of fans. There seemed to be double the anticipated 100,000.
.
Manchester City Council had told us they were used to huge sporting events and could cope.
Fan zones with a combined capacity of 22,000 just didn't stack up.

[Shadow Demon UK]

It's funny to read all the excuses about and how the Scots are trying to worm out of it, 'oh it was the English mainly' and 'the city wasn't prepared'. I'm sorry but none of these can excuse what happened and the majority were quite clearly Rangers fans in all the videos i've seen causing the trouble. I can't see how and why they are trying to clear their name, i hope UEFA has a look at this and dishes out a punishment to Rangers.

[PeteTheMusicGuy]

Thats just typicial they blame it on the Irish fans . If it had been the "Irish fans" they would have known all about it. I'm sure there were many "accents" there as Rangers has a world wide fan base.

[harmitage]

Originally Posted by Shadow Demon UK

It's funny to read all the excuses about and how the Scots are trying to worm out of it, 'oh it was the English mainly' and 'the city wasn't prepared'. I'm sorry but none of these can excuse what happened and the majority were quite clearly Rangers fans in all the videos i've seen causing the trouble. I can't see how and why they are trying to clear their name, i hope UEFA has a look at this and dishes out a punishment to Rangers.

You must be reading a different thread from me. I don't see anybody making excuses for the pavement scraping minority who caused the trouble. I'd be quite happy for Rangers to be punished as my team would probably benefit from it but that wouldn't actually deter the low life that were responsible. Uefa have already stated that what happened is not their problem. They were perfectly happy with the security and behaviour of the support at the Stadium.

Rangers do have a large worldwide support and do have official supporters clubs in every major town and city in England. I don't see anywhere in the thread a claim that it was "mainly" English but there is a strong indication that there was a signicant contingent of supporters or hangers on from England and Northern Ireland.

The Manchester authorites should have visited the city of Seville which only a few years ago played host to an unexpected influx of 80000 Celtic fans for the Uefa Cup final. Now that was a party. Organised by people who undertood the needs of a large crowd and attended by people who know how to party.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Russ B

I wonder how many of the foreign press will blame English football supporters....

I have to say though, that clip of the officer falling over and those brain donors swarming all over him was pretty upsetting and I was amazed to see him get up from it.

He didn't fall he was tripped up deliberately.

[Shadow Demon UK]

Originally Posted by harmitage

You must be reading a different thread from me. I don't see anybody making excuses for the pavement scraping minority who caused the trouble. I'd be quite happy for Rangers to be punished as my team would probably benefit from it but that wouldn't actually deter the low life that were responsible. Uefa have already stated that what happened is not their problem. They were perfectly happy with the security and behaviour of the support at the Stadium.

Rangers do have a large worldwide support and do have official supporters clubs in every major town and city in England. I don't see anywhere in the thread a claim that it was "mainly" English but there is a strong indication that there was a signicant contingent of supporters or hangers on from England and Northern Ireland.

The Manchester authorites should have visited the city of Seville which only a few years ago played host to an unexpected influx of 80000 Celtic fans for the Uefa Cup final. Now that was a party. Organised by people who undertood the needs of a large crowd and attended by people who know how to party.

I wasn't refering to anyone in this thread, more to what i've read in the media like this-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...rs/7403546.stm

and the earlier link given.