latest on the troubles

From the official Spurs site:

Club Secretary John Alexander is today calling for answers from the Spanish authorities as to what prompted the disturbing scenes during the match last night.

"Our supporters have been on four trips into Europe before this and have behaved impeccably so something was clearly different in the way they were treated last night to suffer this sort of response," said John this afternoon.

"We really need to get to the bottom of just what the police were trying to do when they entered those segregation lines. We have been distressed to hear about incidents involving our supporters at a time when they were showing no aggression whatsoever and also in respect of our disabled supporters being set upon by the Spanish riot police. We need to understand how we are in a position whereby we have two clearly identifiable Spurs Stewards assaulted by the Spanish police, along with our disability co-ordinator being injured too.

"Both the Club and the local authorities had worked very hard to try and respect what was happening in Seville over the Easter period and arrangements were put in place that the fans appreciated. They had a good time in the town and were mixing quite freely with no signs at all of what was to come," added John, who said fans making contact through the email address seville.report@tottenhamhotspur.com is key to creating an accurate assessment of the incidents.

"It is an important part of us building up a picture of what happened on the night. They were the closest people to it. We had observers from the Embassy, along with five police officers, our own Safety Officer with 22 stewards. We also had a representative from the Football Association.

"All of their information and feedback will be valuable to us in piecing together what happened along with statements from our own supporters."

People back in the UK having travelled home are reporting the same type of concerns. Lack of organisation outside and within the ground - having tickets stating entry to one gate only to be told to enter via another. People walking away from trouble being clubbed, including women and children.

Fact is there was no trouble before the police got heavy handed and there was no trouble after. Seems pretty clear cut to me and everyone else.

Shame all this is distracting everything away from one of the worst ref performances I have seen.


~Spooky