UEFA: Liverpool 'not worst fans' in Europe (after Platini update)

A post from Tony Barrett's blog. Tony is a feature writer for the Echo.

So it's official then, Liverpool fans are the worst in all of Europe.
Worse than the Italian fans who left the wife of a police officer widowed.
Worse than the French fans who held an anti-semitic rally which turned violent and resulted in the death of an officer from the Gendarmerie.
Worse than the Inter Milan fans who on one occasion launched a scooter from an upper tier of the San Siro and on another caused a Champions League quarter final match to be abandoned by hurling flares on to the pitch.


Worse than the Man United fans who clashed with riot police in Rome.
That's right, in the past four years Liverpool fans have been on the rampage across Europe and have caused more death and destruction than any of these incidents.
Except, of course, they haven't. Only in UEFA's (and the News of the World's) eyes has their behaviour been the worst in the whole continent.
Now what would make UEFA contradict everything we know to be true to come out with such an outlandish and unfounded slur?
Let me think........
Could it perhaps me that they're trying desperately to whitewash what really happened in Athens prior to the European Cup final and their own shambolic organisation?
Far be it from me to suggest it but that is what it seems like.
Apparently, they have a dossier of "25 incidents" over the last four years to prove their point but unless they can come up with incidents where the behaviour of Liverpool supporters is anywhere near as bad as those listed above then I'm afraid their dossier will be shown up to be exactly what it is - a desperately cheap shot in their increasingly nasty smear campaign.
And when their best examples of this apparently disgraceful behaviour come down to a few flags being nicked from the Olympic stadium and tickets being snatched from kids then we really are into the realms of the ridiculous.
Those who snatched tickets before the final have been condemned on this blog and by the majority of Liverpool fans. But are those who did it really worse than those who killed a police officer in Italy? Do me a favour.
What worries me most is if the roles had been reversed and Liverpool fans (or any other English fans for that matter) had killed an officer of the law then we would now be banned from Europe.
That's the way UEFA have operated for years. English fans cause trouble and they're condemned and hit with the most severe sanctions. Italian or Turkish fans cause trouble - and over a long period of time - and they're hit with petty fines.
My second big worry is while UEFA are rewriting history, no-one from Liverpool Football Club has spoken out on favour of the fans.
Now I know it's the closed season and I know everyone's entitled to a holiday but in the age of the internet and mobile phones surely it's not beyond the call of duty for some high ranking LFC official to come out in our defence.
Even from a corporate point of view - and we all know that's the one that matters most in the modern game - the Liverpool "brand" is taking a hiding.
In the absence of anything from the club, every news operation in the country is dining out on UEFA's smears. Sky Sports News - a close relative of the News of the World - keeps on running that same 15 second snatch of footage from Athens which shows about three lads bunking in as if it provides concrete evidence of what UEFA is claiming.
If Liverpool say nothing then UEFA's version of history will become the accepted version of events and it will be used against the club and its fans for evermore. Surely that provides enough motivation to provoke a response. If not, then are we to believe that Liverpool share UEFA's views of the fans?
The ironic thing is, or maybe it's not ironic when you inhabit UEFA's world of double standards, just two years ago we were being praised as Europe's finest fans in the world during the post-Istanbul glow.
That was despite the fact that this damning dossier was by then two years old and we were, as it transpires, well on our way to being named as Europe's worst.
Another irony is that just before the final our friend William Galliard was telling anyone who would listen that there would be no trouble in Athens because there was no recent history of problems involving fans of either Liverpool or Milan.
Now he's got us down as the biggest gang of rapists and pillagers since the Vikings took Europe by storm.
Could it possibly be that now he's rewriting history to cover his own arse?
All these 25 incidents that have got the Liverpool fans marked down as Europe's worst happened before the final in Athens.
So if they are so bad why wasn't this reflected in the organisation and the security for the game.
If you were told that there'd been 25 burglaries in your street then would you leave the front door wide open and turn the alarm off?
And if you did would your insurance company not laugh in your face when you told them you'd been broken into?
UEFA are having it all ways. They're now saying Liverpool fans are the worst in Europe but nothing they said or did in the lead up to the final suggested they believed this then.
The only thing that's changed since is their organisation has been shown up to be a sham and they want the spotlight pointed in another direction.
It's no surprise that they've pointed it at us because they see us as their get out of jail free card and unless someone from Liverpool FC comes out in defence of their fans then they will succeed in getting away with it.

Far more eloquently written than I could manage, it sums up my opinions perfectly, and I don't really feel the need to add anything to that.

A post from Tony Barrett's blog. Tony is a feature writer for the Echo.

Far more eloquently written than I could manage, it sums up my opinions perfectly, and I don't really feel the need to add anything to that.

Excellent post. Tony Barrett says it all.
Still no word from our club then............? Thought not. I'm feeling really let down.

UEFA ARE SCUM

If it actually hurt UEFA then we should F**k the competition off.

Liverpool Football Club should be suing UEFA for slander.  Maybe Rick hasn't received the news by that carrier pigeon our club obviously use for conducting transfer deals and the like.

I hope some of the idiots (a minority) of our support who blagged their way in to the stadium in Athens are feeling very proud of themselves.

If it actually hurt UEFA then we should fu*k the competition off.

Liverpool Football Club should be suing UEFA for slander.  Maybe Rick hasn't received the news by that carrier pigeon our club obviously use for conducting transfer deals and the like.

I hope some of the idiots (a minority) of our support who blagged their way in to the stadium in Athens are feeling very proud of themselves.

UEFA can shove it, as far as I'm concerned. Every one of us has been labeled. How can a statement like that be made without any just evidence? This isn't something small. This is something that could and probably will affect many of us over the next few months, if not longer! Looking good for anyone proudly wearing their liverpool top in europe, on their summer holidays this year, isn't it!
 
B**tards.

Was listening to this on TalkSport myself.

Thought there were good and some bad points made.

Basically we are no bad nor worse than any other fans just we have escalated more incidents as we go futher in the competition than most teams.

Although the fella who rang in claiming to be an OOT Liverpool made me laugh. I couldn't place the accent but he said it is soleley the Liverpool fans who are from Liverpool who are the trouble causers. He doesn't want to say that to loud on his next visit to Anfield.

What did make me laugh he has been a fan for 25 years and was in his mid-to late 40's. Wander who he was supporting for the first 20 odd years of his life ??

saw this today from Parry.....obviously it's late, he's just gotten out of bed, but is it enough?

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/07/06/04/SOCCER_Liverpool_UEFA.html&TEAMHD=soccer

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry insists UEFA should focus on their own shortcomings in their organisation of the Champions League final rather than trying to "deflect attention" on to Reds fans by branding them as the worst behaved in Europe.

A UEFA report which will be presented to sports minister Richard Caborn on Tuesday will brand Liverpool fans the worst in Europe.

European football's governing body, who commissioned undercover police agents to compile the report over the last four years, say there have been more incidents involving Reds supporters than anyone else.

The report paints a damning picture of the Anfield club's fans' behaviour at last month's Champions League final in Athens, accusing Reds fans of stealing tickets from their fellow supporters, charging the gates to get into the ground without tickets and causing trouble outside the stadium which ended with tear gas being used.

But Reds chief Parry believes UEFA's failure to heed the club's warnings about potential security and ticketing problems were to blame and felt they were now trying to pass the buck, having praised Liverpool fans before the final.

"The shortcomings in the management of the situation in Athens were apparent to anyone who was there," Parry told the club's official website www.liverpoolfc.tv.

"These latest comments from UEFA should not deflect attention from that reality. What is most surprising about the latest comments from Mr Gaillard is that on the eve of the final, he quite rightly commented that Liverpool supporters 'have a tradition of good behaviour'.

"Let's not forget that these same supporters who Mr Gaillard is claiming are now the worst in Europe were praised by UEFA president Michel Platini after our semi-final victory against Chelsea only last month, commended for their behaviour in Istanbul in 2005 and actually honoured by UEFA at a gala dinner in Monte Carlo in 2001 as joint Supporters of the Years with Alaves after the UEFA Cup final."

Richard Caborn, the British Sports Minister, who is meeting Platini on Tuesday, added: "I have a lot of sympathy with the Liverpool fans who paid their hard-earned money for genuine tickets but couldn't get into the ground.

"The reasons for this need an urgent explanation. We have already raised the matter with the Greek authorities through our embassy in Athens and Government officials are also talking with UEFA. I will be putting this issue high on the agenda at a meeting I am to have with Michel Platini."

Parry added: "To have a stadium with no counting system and no turnstiles is unforgivable for any standard of game, let alone a major final.

"We produced a report for UEFA a week beforehand predicting, sadly, all of the things that did go wrong. We told UEFA our intelligence suggested there were 5,000 forged tickets in existence.

"They knew and we knew that thousands of fans would travel without tickets and we stressed the need for a proper check at the outer cordon."

Liverpool's Lord Mayor Paul Clark has hit back at UEFA's claims in the Liverpool Daily Post.

He said: "UEFA appear to be trying to avoid the blame for the disorganisation of the final."

Cllr Clark, who attended the Athens match, added: "To make matters worse, instead of looking at their own faults UEFA are blaming the people of Liverpool.

"Saying this is typical of Liverpool fans is unfair and reflects badly on the image of the city."

Les Lawson, spokesman for the official LFC supporters' club, said: "This is typical of UEFA. Rather than look at their own shortcomings, they want to shove the blame somewhere else.

"The fact they are not willing to stand up and take responsibility is worrying for fans, because that means they will never learn from their mistakes."

UEFA spokesman William Gaillard had earlier said: "The incidents involving Liverpool fans have been well known to us before the trouble at the Champions League final which involved Liverpool fans last week.

"That was just the latest example. What other set of fans steal tickets from their fellow supporters or out of the hands of children?

"We know what happened in Athens, and Liverpool fans were the cause of most of the trouble there.

"There have been 25 incidents involving Liverpool fans away from home since 2003 and these are in the report - most teams' supporters do not cause any trouble at all."

Just seen this on liverpoolfc-newkit.com    http://www.liverpoolfc-newkit.co.uk/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?s=c987ddd51af776dd1675189ec51ae65b;act=ST;f=1;t=21756


Maybe we should consider this? Would anyone be interested in being a representative?

Looks like Rick's alarm clock didn't wake him up as early as we all expected him to.

I've just read his side of the story. But is it enough? Is it sh*te. He wouldn't come off the soft approach to end this. UEFA should be sued by our club because of the slander that they have published. Let's see how Platini reacts to this the diving b***ard.

Yet again,our good name is allowed to be turnished by these false acuations,uefa are looking to deflect the blame,from them to us.The club,the supporters have got to unite on this issue,take a stance,legal action if necessary and get a formal apology from these tw*ts at Uefa.We are the best supporters in the land,always was,always will be.We will always be RED,LOUD&PROUD,despite Uefas best efforts to blacken our good name.

this is a shame !! I live in Italy and I was there for the final. Except few minutes after the end of the match the supporters of both sides got drinks together. TV speakers said all the fun and supporter have to learn from LFC supporters for fair and friendly. Two day after the final in S.Siro MilanAC managers and the boss too still thanks LFC supporters. So they have sung "You'll never walk alone" as a tribute to the mighty reds. Who's the crap that wrote these f**** balls ??

this is a shame !! I live in Italy and I was there for the final. Except few minutes after the end of the match the supporters of both sides got drinks together. TV speakers said all the fun and supporter have to learn from LFC supporters for fair and friendly. Two day after the final in S.Siro MilanAC managers and the boss too still thanks LFC supporters. So they have sung "You'll never walk alone" as a tribute to the mighty reds. Who's the crap that wrote these f**** balls ??

What has the reaction to this situation been like in Italy then Paolo?

Just read Rick Parry's response.

One word sprang to mind. Spineless.

Very disappointed in his meek response.

It is very disappointing to see that UEFA doesn't recognized their part of resonsabilities for what happenned. We might have few bad apples in the basket but 95% of our fans are well behave and proper fans. UEFA want to blame us for their failure and it is bang out of order, anybody who knows a bit about football will be revolted by what UEFA is claiming, and it is a claim, we haven't seen the report (we could ask for a copy under the freedom information act, which I did I'll let you know what their reply will be, I also asked them that if they did not send me a copy to explain why not and which regulations they are using to prevent me to have a one) .

The testament of undercover agents of the UEFA claiming horrible things and we should take it for granted? I don't think so. I'm looking forward to see how the meeting with the minister of sports will go although I don't expect anything spectacular but at least some more precisions on what they are claiming happenned and why are we suddenly the worse fan in Europe when the continent is full of incidents with other clubs and countries (Italy, Turkey, Spain to name only a few) with racist chants, fight, murder with no such reports published which is just unbelievable.

The other point is where the hell is the FA? aren't they suppose to support English clubs in these matters, I'm not saying defending but to support..why the UEFA is going to meet the minister of sports (a political figure) when in all cases touching football UEFA claims that they have their own regulations.. it's not making sense, the minister of sport cannot change the rules of football or the way tickets are sold? even less having any impact whatsoever in the way fans are travelling?

We are the scapegoat and I certainly expect our Americans owner to step in with their lawyers if any ban or punitive measures are to be given to Liverpool FC.

Just bring it!!

for redkenny
no reactions because they have seen what kind of people use to follow LFC abroad. Papers never written nothing about it. In my opinion, and many friends of my said I have to be proud to be a liverpool fans, they tried to build another heysel. I really don't know the meaning of this attack. In Italy Florentine, Torin, Atalanta, Brescia, Milan and many others club of  second division love Liverpool his supporter nd they try to make a stand like the Kop use to be. Don't be afraid LFC is one of the biggest and famous club of the world.  

Thanks Paolo. I was just wondering what the reaction might have been like to this in other countries of Europe.

I'm still livid about this. And to be fair, I was hoping for a little more of a strong reaction, and, one a lot sooner, from Slick Rick.

who is the UEFA spokesman again NA... he is jealous because we got the best supporters!! maybe he is a Chelsea fan! ha5!

It seems at least the new owners are comming out and saying what they think of UEFA as Mr Hicks has called Gaillard a clown for his comments regarding our fans i personnaly like his honesty and without wanting to condone the actions of some fans regarding stealing tickets and the like i also like his understanding of your average reds desire to be at the game.

Liverpool's co-owner Tom Hicks has fired a broadside at Uefa in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News.

Hicks claims Uefa's communications director William Gaillard is a clown for piling blame on the Anfield club's fans for the problems at the Champions League final.

A Uefa dossier presented to sports minister Richard Caborn is expected to paint a dim view of Liverpool's supporters, while Gaillard has pinned the blame for the trouble in Athens squarely at the door of the travelling Reds hordes.

Gaillard said: "The incidents involving Liverpool fans have been well known to us before the trouble at the Champions League final which involved Liverpool fans last week.

"That was just the latest example. What other set of fans steal tickets from their fellow supporters or out of the hands of children?"

Gaillard's comments have stirred the fire in Hicks, as he has responded by hitting out at Uefa's handling of the Athens showpiece.

"I thought the guy from Uefa was a clown for saying that," Hicks said. "Uefa did not handle this right at all.

"To give 17,00 tickets to the two teams, particularly knowing Liverpool is going to bring 40,000 fans is insane.

"I think it is a classic case of a bureaucrat trying to take pressure off himself.

"They didn't handle it right, they didn't have proper ticketing procedures.

"Unfortunately there were counterfeit tickets and unfortunately there were Liverpool fans who paid hard-earned money and a lot of fans went to great sacrifice to get their tickets and they got to the stadium and were told there was no more room.

"Were they mad? Sure they were mad and I don't blame them."

It's good to know that we have a straight talking owner who will come out and back the fans in the way he should. I found this very refreshing and this is what the like of Parry should of done from the off considering Parry is based at the club. Nice 1 Tommy lad, now just get yer wallet out!

Both Liverpool and UEFA are to blame here, in my opinion. UEFA played the final at what clearly isn't a football venue. More planning should have went into this. More inspections of tickets etc.

But a lot of this trouble was due to the scumbag Liverpool fans (not all fans are scum). They went into the stadium with fake tickets leaving some of their fellow supporters with genuine tickets, who may have spent thousands to get there, out in the cold. What kind of fans are they?? Absoloutely no respect for others. 

Here are some videos of scenes of fans watching the match on a big screen in Athens

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bs9-9ocVUJs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xhQSuS-cmU&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=AAxBzndy8I0

Absoloutely disgraceful. What kind of fans would do this. Now UEFA are partly at fault for putting the two sets of fans side by side but the Liverpool fans did not have to throw missles and flares at the Milan fans.

Both Liverpool and UEFA are to blame here, in my opinion. UEFA played the final at what clearly isn't a football venue. More planning should have went into this. More inspections of tickets etc.

But a lot of this trouble was due to the scumbag Liverpool fans (not all fans are scum). They went into the stadium with fake tickets leaving some of their fellow supporters with genuine tickets, who may have spent thousands to get there, out in the cold. What kind of fans are they?? Absoloutely no respect for others. 

Here are some videos of scenes of fans watching the match on a big screen in Athens

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bs9-9ocVUJs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xhQSuS-cmU&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=AAxBzndy8I0

Absoloutely disgraceful. What kind of fans would do this. Now UEFA are partly at fault for putting the two sets of fans side by side but the Liverpool fans did not have to throw missles and flares at the Milan fans.

Sorry mate but who are you to comment on this
scumbag Liverpool fans - try Liverpool supporters who travel all over and didn't qualify for a final ticket and who really want to watch the match.
Keep your views to yourself you little pr**k

Sorry mate but who are you to comment on this
scumbag Liverpool fans - try Liverpool supporters who travel all over and didn't qualify for a final ticket and who really want to watch the match.
Keep your views to yourself you little pr**k

If you read my post then you will see that I said not all Liverpool fans are scum. The ones who paid good money to get there and were left out are the ones I feel for. I clearly said that I was condemning the fans who bought counterfit tickets.

It's time to take off your Liverpool tinted glasses....

If you read my post then you will see that I said not all Liverpool fans are scum. The ones who paid good money to get there and were left out are the ones I feel for. I clearly said that I was condemning the fans who bought counterfit tickets.

It's time to take off your Liverpool tinted glasses....

I notice your last post was nearly two months ago when you where telling us to “move on” from Hillsborough, now after trawling through You tube you have finally found some “extensive” footage of the serious crowd trouble that went on in Athens, now I by know means condone any sort of violence least of all because of a sporting event but does it not surprise you that UEFA haven’t gone on about your scenes from The Football Factory but have instead centred investigations around the stadium itself? Yes we have a minority of trouble makers as unfortunately do a lot of clubs and yes those so called fans let us down but if its severe enough we more than most clubs know they will take sanctions but funny enough they have already said we wont be facing any. If you had read the discussion properly you would know we are not happy with UEFA tagging us “The worst in Europe” because flags have gone missing at the ground and the ticketing arrangements for such a high powered organisation where turned into a circus by idiots who where that desperate to get in they would do anything even if it meant loyal fans who had paid in full missing out.
Now if you seriously think Athens and these other 24 incidents over four years (that UEFA have now said are “small”) are equal to shooting dead a policeman or riding the streets on scooters randomly stabbing victims or even as demonstrated at the weekend attacking a referee in the middle of a match then I am sorry but you are a lost cause and way beyond reasoning with.

Indeed mrtommo, I do think people have to realize alot of what happened was due to poor allocation, but also very poor distribution by the club. Season after season genuine fans miss out on tickets for cup finals. Just ask the Lads at the development association, the 2006 FA Cup final was also a joke. Fans had no option but to book travel as soon as we qualified for the final and before they knew if they qualified for a ticket, because if we had played Man Ure the would of put there prices up to a grand a flight and you could be sure of that. I do think the fans have to take some responsibility for their actions but first and fore most the blame should be pointed at Uefa for a poor ticket allocation, poor organization and a very poor choice of location for their show piece advent, The club for poor distribution of tickets for big games year after year and the government for allowing air lines and travel companies to charge extortionate inflated rates against what the cost of their travel usually is! I don't expect any of this to be sorted out though, as I'm too long in the tooth to believe in justice and I do expect the fans to take the brunt of the blame year after year.