On 13 Apr, 18:10, wrote:
I notice many where blaming the Italian police the other night for
what happened RUBBISH if people had just gone to the game without
filling up with booze first watched the game and went straight home
afterwards the police would have fallen asleep due to being bored.
There was none of this crap back in the days when I went to watch PNE
and Tom Finney occasionally on a Saturday afternoon .

I'm not going to defend football supporters that cause trouble (which,
fortunately is only a minority or it would be carnage) but from all
the reports I've read and people in the media I've spoken to, it seems
that in the case of the ManU/Roma game, it was the police that
provoked the English fans and goaded them on.

Sadly, the Italian riot police (many wearing masks and no ID) seemed
well up for a fight and acted far worse than any hooligan from any
team/country. If you were fairly low paid, got given a uniform and
riot gear with no way for anyone to identify you, would you perhaps be
tempted to act differently? The only difference between them and the
fan that was 'up for it' is the fact one is getting paid and won't be
done.

More telling is the fact that Italian football fans will tell you
about the problems they have at certain clubs on a regular basis, yet
it is only really news when English fans are involved.

Jonathan