I think there has been a ridiculous amount of complacency from both the organisers and the FA, Russia were under a threat of a ban which expired on the last qualification match which was imposed following the 2012 Championships. There was always the likelihood of clashes and the way the games have been scheduled has given them plenty of opportunity helped by some seriously poor security and a police response that seems to be 'catch-all'. Wednesday could be a bloodbath if the more Neanderthal England fans go looking for revenge...
I see that the Germans and Ukrainians have kicked off in Lilles now. The MSM will probably accuse the English of dressing up as Germans and Ukrainians and fighting themselves.
Connor looked dangerous. Personally I am very happy that he did not score in this match. May he score many in the next matches.
Is there a chance of a Russia v Ukraine match in this tournament? Or a city where both sets of fans may be staying? I sincerely hope not.
One for the 'conspiracy thread' I tell you what...... I have watched some of those incidents and the Russians don't look like your normal thugs. Take the English, you get a good mix of fat blokes with beer bellies, young wannabe thugs and drunken idiots. The Russian lot seemed to look about the same age and well built (almost military). I noticed they seemed to do a lot of high kicks (like in karate/military). They were too well organised. Seriously they had three main attacks on the English and all were quick and organised. It wouldn't surprise me if it ends up being something organised from Moscow.
Russia is full of paramilitary groups Ellers, as long as they are nationalist they are encouraged. I doubt Putin would sanction or organise this crap, but it wouldn't surprise me it these attacks were organised.
Spot on. Vardy doesn't play for Spurs so no chance of being picked in front of St Harry. Remind me. Which team actually won the title this year and which team choked? And half of them are now playing in our starting line up.
This is what my friend (QPR fan who was outside the pub on the last game of the season) who was out in Marseille wrote ... ''Unless you were in another suburb in France it was hard not to get caught up in it, in the old port from 4 in the afternoon onwards it was carnage, we have some idiots but **** me them Russian were like a military outfit hoods balaclavas tools the lot, and believe me they must have planned it. Me and John are pretty savvy so manage to get away and to the ground safely but even then other fans said they were attacked outside the ground and we just missed it all. It wasn't policed very well at in fact they were piss poor. Oh well at least I'm safe and sound.''
Someone on the radio last week who knows about these things said Mixed Martial Arts is massive in the 'Eastern Bloc', add that to the gangs that have sprung up across Russia where this type of thing happens regularly and that is sowing the seeds for what has happened this week. I certainly wouldn't put it past Putin to have some influence but then again, with the World Cup coming up it would be lunacy to have a major incident at this tournament. I think the police and security services have been so pre-occupied with the threat from ISIS fanatics they've taken their eye off the ball somewhat...
