Europe’s governing body, UEFA, has been branded the worst sports association in the world by Liverpool supporters who were in Athens and witnessed first hand the calamitous organisation and failure to serve their customers.
Liverpool supporters have backing of Middlesbrough, Tottenham and Man United fans who have also witnessed first hand the failure UEFA have to serve the genuine supporters and introduce fair ticketing and policing procedures. Since 2003 there have been dozens of cases of mis-management by UEFA.
Not only did UEFA fail to host this years European Champions League Final at a stadium which was intended for football, they also failed to implement simple measures such as turnstiles and even more damningly they failed to ensure the police and ticketing officials even checked the authenticity of tickets for supporters entering the stadium.
Hundreds of fans were allowed into the stadium in Athens with forged tickets – or even stadium maps – whereas legitimate ticket holding supporters were tear gassed and not allowed into the stadium. One Liverpool supporter has already began court proceedings against UEFA and hundreds of others hope to follow suit.
UEFA FAILED TO SERVE IT’S CUSTOMERS – THE FANS.
Contrary to UEFA’s report which brands Liverpool fans the worst in Europe since 2003, UEFA themselves praised Liverpool in 2005 following their match with Juventus, deputy chief executive Markus Studer said then:
“Liverpool must be applauded for the way they handled the arrangements and the fans of both clubs understood the message. There was not a hint of trouble in the stadium, there was a fantastic atmosphere and both clubs must be praised. It was a very successful night for European football.”
UEFA also gave Liverpool fans an award following the 2001 UEFA Cup Final in Dortmund, and heavily praised Liverpool fans after Istanbul in 2005 – their director of communications William Gaillard said back then “Liverpool fans are wonderful people.”
But now Gaillard has produced the quote: “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.”
Despite having said this ahead of the Final “The two groups of supporters (Milan and Liverpool) have a tradition of good behaviour and at this point we are expecting that to continue.”
Gaillard also states the problems in Athens were only Liverpool supporters and not AC Milan fans. Obviously he is such a moron he cannot understand that having 5 times as many fans at a match and higher demand for tickets would result in that inevitability. Maybe if he – or one of his fellow muppets – had thought ahead then Liverpool fans would have also been given the bigger airport in Athens seeing as up to five times as many supporters flew by plane to Athens than their Milan counterparts.
For a director of communications Gaillard seems to get himself confused very easily, having said this ahead of the final, about the Olympic Stadium “..where all the games of the Greek National Team are held”. This being despite Greece having not played in Athens for four years.
UEFA’s report claims 25 incidents involving Liverpool supporters since 2003 and brands them the worst in Europe. This being despite the troubles which have continually plagued Italian football, including when AC Milan keeper Dida was strook by a flare and their match with Inter was abandonded in 2005.
UEFA seem to have forgotten the troubles in Italy, and indeed the PSG fan who was shot dead in France following fighting with Hapoel Tel Aviv after a UEFA Cup match last November, or the disturbances between Man United and Lille fans in February this year, or the three Middlesbrough fans stabbed prior to their match with AS Roma in March 2006, or the troubles again in Rome when United visited in April this year…
Or even the fact UEFA themselves threw Feyenoord out of the competition for crowd violence this season.
All these incidents of violence, stabbings, deaths, match abandonments, being thrown out of the competition and then UEFA have the nerve to brand Liverpool supporters the worst in Europe after they, UEFA, failed to do their job policing tickets and have now started covering their own backs to cover their inadequacies and failure to do their service to supporters.
