Reds demand to see report

Last updated : 19 June 2007 By Al Campbell
Following the Champions League final UEFA clown William Gaillard blamed Liverpool fans for all the trouble and called us the worst in Europe. UEFA produced a report backing Gaillard's claims but have still to show it to the club.

"We have still not seen the much-vaunted report produced by UEFA in which they suggested our fans were the worst behaved in Europe," said Chief Executive Rick Parry.

"We have trawled through every game over the last four years and studied reports provided by UEFA and the FA during this period.

"We were extremely surprised, to say the least, at the suggestion that there might be 25 instances of bad behaviour by our fans.

"What we did find were many instances of UEFA being positive about Liverpool FC and our fan base.

"To be fair to Platini, he has come out and said: 'Liverpool fans are not the worst behaved' and that's official!

However, it has all left a bad taste and that is why we were encouraged with the stance of Minister of Sport Richard Caborn whom we had a dialogue with before and after his meeting with UEFA. We appreciate the fact that he took the trouble to contact the club, unlike UEFA's director of communications William Gaillard whom we have never spoken to.

"We have still not seen the report and I made the point to the Sports Minister that we were unimpressed with the way details had been trailed in the media. Gaillard has half retracted the contents, talking instead about minor incidents. We would love to see that report.

"At the same time, we need to reflect on those people who behaved badly in Athens at the expense of their fellow supporters. We really feel for those Liverpool fans who had genuine tickets and still didn't get in.

"To his credit, Dick Caborn is now focusing on the way ahead and the lessons that must be learned."