Stoke City: Apology to fans is not enough

by Michael Baggaley

THE Football Supporters Federation and civil rights group Liberty say police have not gone far enough with their apology to Stoke fans who were forced to leave Manchester before the Potters match at Old Trafford last November.

The groups have welcomed the apology and the Greater Manchester Police decision to launch a review of its use of Section 27 legislation, the powers it used to remove supporters from a Manchester pub and put them on coaches back to Stoke-on-Trent.

Police have apologised and reimbursed the cost of match tickets to a small number of supporters who were among the 80 strong group who were ordered to leave the city.

However, the federation and Liberty want police to go further by saying they won't use section 27 powers on football fans in this way again.

The groups became involved after one supporter, Lyndon Edwards from Chesterton, complained to the police about his treatment.

They are considering whether to take the case to a judicial review, in which a judge will decide whether the police acted lawfully.

They are also looking at a case of police using section 27 powers on Plymouth supporters on their way to a game at Doncaster.

Malcolm Clarke, who is chairman of the federation and a Stoke City supporter, said: "We are half-way there. There are two significant things that the Greater Manchester Police has done.

"The first is to apologise to Lyndon Edwards and the second is to undertake a review of the use of Section 27.

"Both those things are important steps forward, but the police have not yet explicitly said that what they did was illegal.

"We need to ensure that this could never happen again to any other innocent supporters of Stoke City or any other football club.

"We now want clarification that what happened was not only unfortunate but actually illegal.

"This case shows the excellent partnership between the Football Supporters Federation, Liberty and an individual supporter who has been prepared to be a test case.

"I am very grateful to Liberty for taking the case on and their recognition that this is important to football supporters everywhere, and grateful to Lyndon Edwards for willing to be the guinea pig in this case.

"We have also had excellent support from Stoke City.

"The message is don't just accept things. Where injustice occurs, it is appropriate not just to get angry about it but to do something about it."

Greater Manchester Police has defended its actions before Stoke's game at Manchester United.

It says it had intelligence a group of Stoke fans were intent on causing trouble and reacted as it did to protect the public.

Visit our Stoke City website www.whydelilah.co.uk for the latest news and to have your say on events at the Britannia Stadium