Not liking the reports coming out from Athens

[Revo]

like redblood said, its all scouse nouse and irish charm

[Red_Al_77]

and headaches

[Red_Polo]

****ing spot on Insider, agree with pretty much every word.

[alunevans]

Insider, I loved your long post. top stuff

[Insider]

Thanks! It made me feel better getting it off my chest.

[disco]

Great post Insider.

If you were referring to me re. Hillsborough you probably missed my initial post. I can see in isolation how my second post might suggest I thought that. If you weren't, then move along nothing to see here

This might seem trivial to some of you guys but one (more!) thing has really pissed me off about it all.

I've spent quite some time educating very cynical fans of other teams about Hillsborough. Some people find it very hard to accept that it wasn't partially or in some people's views significantly the fault of our fans.

How are they going to believe me/take me seriously after last night?! ('me' being the reports blaming the police about Hillsborough)

These aren't bitter people on a wind-up, these are sensible intelligent people, albeit people who hadn't read much about the findings.

Having seen all the reports from people on here, and the reports on the news, anyone condoning 'bunking' needs to rethink their view. Over 120 people were arrested for 'bunking' - that implies hundreds more got in, not a small ****ing minority.

The only thing I think you underestimate is the number of people bunking, and the extent some of them went to (jumping fences, charging gates etc.). Plenty of people who were there feared for the worst.

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

Bunked on to a plane?! How the **** do you bunk on to a plane????

It happened in the first series of Aufwiedersehen Pet.

[Red Star]

Can't say I saw a lot of trouble while getting in but we did get to the stadium early so looks like it went wrong after that.

Saw virtually no tickets for sale at all through the day, one ticket shop offered some for between 2000 and 5000 euros

Unfortunately the two lads ended up watching the game on TV.

Met two lads who had bought tickets for £500 each that did not look good. They got in on them though and compared notes with the other FOUR people who all had the same seat...

One guy in front of me had a fake and the steward tried to hold him back but had no chance with the size of the crowd behind so the guy just ran past.

I was in the lower tier behind the goal and can't say I noticed much overcrowding. Great atmosphere though.

Was gutted afterwards but proud of the fans who stayed behind and sang the players names and waited for them to give us a walk by. George Gillett joined them, what was that plaque he was carrying? Is that what the losing finalists are given?

Got back to the airport to find out our flight was delayed 5 hours...but we joined the bus to an earlier flight to Gatwick and had no problems. No one was turned away either so it must have had empty seats on the outbound flight.

[JRC]

Great post, Insider.

UEFA themselves suggested that there could be 5,000 forgeries in circulation. I'm sure they were worried that this might affect the prices that their Officiallly Sponsored Touts could get, but would have been better advised to ensure forgeries couldn't get past the checks. As there was a very heavy market for Black Market tickets/Fakes, and the price didn't drop significantly nearer the game, most of those 5,000 forgeries would have found a buyer; as you would not then say I'll not bother trying - even if you knew it was a fake, which is not necessarily going to be the case - a high proportion would have gone to the ground - where 120 were ejected for having forgeries. So it's entirely possible that a significant number inside invalidly were in this category, one it is less easy to condemn, as you argued.

I agree with your definition and tales of bunking, it has always been one of our sources of 'War Stories', (also for ManU fans I know - everyone had a Barcelons without a ticket story), and Family Entertainer Tom O'Connor even had a cosy routine about it in the '70's. Prior to yesterday, no-one was suggesting anyone who was going to try bunk in was scum as they are now being called; and when I hear stories of Toilet blocks with a door in one side of the cordon and a door out on the other, I find it hard to condemn any individual - maybe with 500 Euro reluctantly intended for a tout in his pocket - who chances their arm and gets away with it. But maybe that is a part of our History we should now re-evaluate, and accept that 'bunking in' can no longer be so casually romanticised - for every enterprising bunker-in, theres now a dozen others trying to storm the gates or rush the stewards or push down barriers, and as a consequence, fellow Reds missed out.

[Fiddy]

Is this a crazy idea or what - why not ship each team's stewards or something out and have them helping the foreign security at the ground. That way not only can they report anything back to the club but will also be better at dealing with any ***** like those acting up last night

[Red_Polo]

We did have stewards there, thing is they are always pretty much powerless to do anything.

[Nicey]

Just seen pictures on BBC World of Fans rushing the gates and kicking off afterwards. Disgusting ... These ****ers should be banned for life

[Howard_lfc]

Just seen pictures on BBC World of Fans rushing the gates and kicking off afterwards. Disgusting ... These ****ers should be banned for life

How do you know these fans didn't have valid tickets?

Would you just walk away if you were told you couldn't get in - and were in possession of a valid ticket? I don't think so fella.

[Guest]

How do you know these fans didn't have valid tickets?

Would you just walk away if you were told you couldn't get in - and were in possession of a valid ticket? I don't think so fella.

But it would be foolish to go in if you knew the stadium was overloaded.

[Revo]

had a great kip les, its not worth arguing with someone who wasent there. like sean said earlier, some of these people wanna news of the world everything. let them crack on with it, it probably brings them that little bit closer to their pastors.