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The head of English football policing, chief constable Mark Roberts, has urged Tottenham and Manchester United fans not to travel to Bilbao if they do not have a ticket for the Europa League final on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of ticketless fans are expected in the city and Roberts says Uefa, local organisers and police share a “real desire” to make the event work for supporters after the chaos of recent Champions League finals in Paris and Istanbul.
“We’d really encourage fans without tickets not to travel,” Roberts told the Guardian. “I know people like to go and enjoy the atmosphere and that’s fair enough but while Bilbao is a great city, it’s not a big city. The cost of flights and hotels is fairly astronomical. People are not going to be able to get anywhere near the stadium and without that ability to stay places, people really need to think about it. They’re probably better off staying at home and watching it at one of the big venues in Manchester and London.”
Roberts said fears of a possible 80,000 English fans being in the city were “not unreasonable” and that the 53,000-capacity ground would be full of Tottenham and United fans despite allocations being capped at 14,700. “There will be plenty of people out to get there and British people tend to be very good at mopping up tickets for any sporting event,” he said.
“So I can imagine that it’s going to be a real high contingent of United and Spurs fans in there. There’s a real desire on behalf of everyone, and particularly Uefa, to have a very successful final.
“There is recognition of the issues that everyone had in Paris, with the way the Liverpool fans were treated. Then you move on to Istanbul, which was really secure, but where the logistics made it a very challenging event for the City fans. The transport to and from the venue was not acceptable for a major tournament. So everyone wants this to be a successful one. There’s no lack of will on that part; everything is teed up.”
Uefa issued a warning that tickets bought through secondary markets would not be accepted at the ground. Ticket resale sites are offering tickets to the final from about £400 but Uefa will only accept tickets bought directly through its “mobile tickets app”, though purchasers are allowed to transfer ownership of a ticket within the app. Uefa also warned ticketless fans not to travel to the ground, and said tickets had been cancelled, with ”further cancellations … likely to follow”.
Roberts says relations between English officers and those in Bilbao are strong, with a shared approach to policing that focuses on fan engagement and the de-escalation of tension. He said a visit from Basque officers to Wembley had led to extra safety measures being introduced at the perimeter of San Mamés stadium.
“We want everyone to go to Bilbao and have a great time first and foremost – it’s a big event people should enjoy it,” Roberts said, arguing that English fans are beginning to shed the reputation as troublemakers that has preceded them for a generation.
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“We still go to some venues where people’s automatic reaction to an English team is: ‘Hooligans,’” he said. “We have to then respond that it’s an old image, that we don’t generally see people travelling with the intent to cause violence.
“When we do have issues it’s usually because there’s a massive following of people who tend to drink quite a lot. With that you tend to get at worst antisocial behaviour. When you compare and contrast us with some of the hooligan groups you see on the continent who are intent on causing serious violence then the spotlight really needs to go somewhere else.
“The more big events we can get without issue it makes it easier to reassure police forces around Europe that treat the England well because generally they’re going to come and spend more money than most and they’re not going to cause you the sort of serious issues that a lot of other fan groups cause.”
