Eye witness from Wembley: How the police, UEFA, idiots, media and politicians let England down

The worst face of English football wasn’t just apparent in Leicester Square and online yesterday. And it wasn’t just post-match after the penalty shootout loss when online racists took to their keyboards.

The scenes around Wembley were alarming and had been more than five hours before kick-off.

As early as 3pm, there were inebriate young males throwing lit flares into in the air disinterested in where they landed. Empty beer cans were reckless enough but a full can of Stella landed two feet away from me. As it hit the ground, beer fizzled out the top but had it landed six inches in any other direction, it would have resulted in something infinitely more serious.

A not so young England fan who accompanied me thought he had seen it all until a lit flare landed centimetres from his right foot and told me “we’re turning back. This is too dangerous”. This was 4pm. And these people had four hours more drinking to do.

Wembley Way was packed by 4pm. This did not feel like a 65,000 crowd. It felt like full capacity or even more. I’d estimate it was three times as busy as the same area had been two hours before the Denmark kick off.

The atmosphere was toxic and so different from the earlier games at Wembley. Whereas Danish and England fans had mingled peacefully, any Italy fans had hidden their colours. Wisely as it turned out. Even the Scotland game was far more peaceful and less tense than this.

There were 30 fans standing on the canopy that shelters those at the front of the queues of the Box Park entrance. It looked likely to collapse under the weight. Had it done so, the occupants would have fallen on at least 30 other people below. It was a miracle that it was cleared of idiots in time before a tragedy occurred. Drunks were climbing traffic lights and street lights.

Masks were very rare. One moron actually violently tore mine off my face. What kind of mentality does that? His self satisfied glee disappeared sharply when I (mischievously) told him I had Covid and he needed to get tested immediately.

As we moved away from the stadium entrance, we sat at the foot of Wembley Park station and observed. Around 6pm, an odd thing began to happen. It became apparent that more people were heading into the station to leave Wembley than arriving to watch the game.

It became clear that thousands had descended on Wembley ticketless. Were they heading home to watch the game in peace? I originally thought so. However many were heading to Leicester Square and other Central London public gatherings to cause havoc a second time.

The fans emerging from the station by 6pm had a different hue to those who had been gathering since 3pm.

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I told an ambulanceman “people are going to get hurt.”

“They’re already getting hurt,” he told me as he ran off to tend to another incident.

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The choruses of “Football’s Coming Home” had a distinctly southern accent around it, whereas the fans drinking as early as 3pm were very much northerners if accents and the towns on flags are the guide. There were more women and families emerging whereas the 4pm throng was very much young, male and drunk.

That thousands of ticketless fans had been allowed to descend and gather outside Wembley during a pandemic was now obvious. That many had travelled a long distance to do so was equally apparent.

The police approach nationwide had let ticketed fans and Wembley residents down. There will be a COVID-19 spike nationally and especially locally very soon.

Around Wembley Stadium, it became clear that the police numbers were insufficient. They were forming a line down Wembley Way that did not appear to be doing anything. Nearer the stadium, large groups were endangering other fans. Being showered with beer was the least of the threats.

Fearing the worst, I told several officers that they need to get numbers to the most toxic areas. None of them listened. Some did admit that this seemed very different to previous games but I saw no evidence of large numbers of police arriving from elsewhere to bolster those already policing the area.

There’s one exception to that. There were six large police van outside the Torch. One officer told me that fans had tried to storm in past the bouncers who had been regulating the numbers inside peacefully for three weeks. What kind of joined up thinking leads to a conclusion you’ll be served beer having forced your way in with 200 others into a packed bar, already at capacity?

So the police rightly cleared and closed the pub, depriving well behaved fans who had arrived on time of their pre-match experience. It also led to hundreds of people wandering around looking for a place to watch the game. They had done nothing wrong. As they searched, they and their children could see, as I did, youngsters snorting cocaine openly in the streets.

The worst elements had once more let the decent fans down. Few had enough local knowledge to find another pub or more sensibly get the hell out of Wembley and head to Willesden or Kilburn for a safer environment. Three doors down, the staff at the Crock of Gold sat forlornly inside counting how much business they had lost because of the closure.

Decent fans who had been looking forward to the day were wandering around Wembley bemused and often scared.

What could have been done better?

On reflection, the decision to make the final an 8pm kick off was unwise. But UEFA weren’t to know in advance England would be in the final. Had this been Italy v Denmark, we’d have been celebrating England’s successful hosting of the tournament and how Wembley saved the day.

It could have been a celebration of England’s new post-Brexit relationship with Europe.

The Police Football Intelligence Unit is usually amongst the best prepared when it comes to football, but badly let the nation and Brent down. I could see at 3pm this was going to be different to other games here. More officers should have been drafted in. There was plenty time to draw on the reserves.

Additionally someone took a decision not to form a ticket barrier further away from the stadium entrance. That police line half way between the station and the stadium would have been ideal. Someone also decided to let stewards alone guard the ticket entrances. There were few police where they were most needed by 7pm. It’s no wonder that drunk and entitled young men felt emboldened to storm the unguarded entrance to enter the stadium.

Yes poorly paid stewards are cheaper than trained officers but UEFA is awash with money and that organisation too must shoulder its share of the blame for the chaos around Wembley.

Extra funds need to be made available to help police areas where England (and maybe others like Russia) are playing, and the safety of innocent England fans and local residents now needs to be put ahead of any bad PR that facing the reality would serve up.

It needs to become safe again to watch England.

 

There was no reason for ticketless fans to be so close to the stadium on game day. A well publicised police cordon would have dissuaded many from traveling to close to the entrance.

On the day, the police presence was ineffective. They stood in line half way down Wembley Way and appeared to be doing nothing while chaos was unfolding as close as 200 yards away. Surely they could see beer cans being tossed skywards from so close?

I told at least three officers I was worried about potential injuries in other areas. Not one of them reached for their walky talkies.

I told an ambulanceman “that people are going to get hurt.”

“They’re already getting hurt,” he told me as he ran off to tend to another incident.

Large fan zones could have been set up in Hyde Park, Regents Park and even, if necessary to clear the area around the stadium, the nearby King Edwards Park. Big screens, free entry, six beers each maximum and nothing but grass to destroy. It would also have the benefit of being outdoors and minimising the Covid risk around more built up areas like Wembley Stadium and Leicester Square.

The English media, who bear some responsibility for the jingoistic hyperbole, have rightly focussed on the disgusting online abuse aimed at the players brave enough to take penalties. It’s a serious but separate issue.

Tory and pro-Brexit politicians who have fostered isolationism, English supremacy and xenophobia, and then tried to hitch their wagon to the success of the team, have been as odious as Gareth Southgate’s players have been heroes.

Angela Rayner is a Labour MP. This morning she tweeted:

Let me be clear. The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary gave license to the racists who booed the England players and are now racially abusing England players.@BorisJohnson and @pritipatel are like arsonists complaining about a fire they poured petrol on. Total hypocrites.

— Angela Rayner ? (@AngelaRayner) July 12, 2021

Many will sympathise with her view but those issues are for another article.

Lastly, the best team won Euro 2020. England went further than sides with arguably more talent such as France, Belgium and Spain. Their squad is young and there is better to come for a nation only 75% of which really deserves.

Roberto Mancini outthought Southgate as he did Spain’s Luis Enrique after being outplayed in the first half.

It’s a shame that this morning the media are more focused on those who drag football down than a tactical masterclass by a manager who should be talk of the world.

There’s anther great article by an eye witness Alan Smith, Chief football writer of Football London which I’d recommend.

 

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