Local safety advisory group that includes the police are unwilling to start the Premier League, Man City vs Liverpool match at its designated time. The Manchester City match was set to be held on 25th November at 5:30 PM. However, the police could ask them to swap the timing with the Brentford vs Arsenal match at 12:30 PM on the same day. Local authorities are ready to ban the match from its designated time slot due to the violent behaviour shown by both teams’ fans in the past.
The Premier League clash of the giants, Man City vs Liverpool was set to be held on 25th November at 5:30 PM. However, if history is any indication, then it will surely lead to violence between the fans of the two teams. Last year, a 15-year-old girl was struck on the head with a pint cup filled with coins. This resulted in the little girl being scarred for life. Both clubs appealed to their fans to stay away from violence or disrespectful behaviours toward their opponent prior to that match.
Both team’s fans have shown extremely uncivilized behaviour on occasions. Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp requested his fans to avoid disrespectful chants saying, “We do want the noise; we do want the occasion to be partisan and we do want the atmosphere to be electric. What we do not want is anything that goes beyond this and this applies especially to the kind of chants that have no place in football. If we can keep the passion and lose the poison, it will be so much better for everyone.”
As English legend Bobby Charlton passed away on 22nd October, some Man City fans had no shame in chanting disrespectful chants about him the next day. Man City released a statement saying, “Manchester City FC are extremely disappointed to have learned of reports of offensive chanting from a small number of individuals about Sir Bobby Charlton… The club condemns these chants in the strongest terms and apologises unreservedly to the family and friends of Sir Bobby, and to all those at Manchester United.”
Hence, it seems, both club’s previous requests fell on somewhat deaf ears. Reportedly, over 50 missiles were also launched from the away stand on the day. Thus, the local safety advisory group which includes the local police want the match time to be changed. Saturday evening’s slot on Sky Sports was booked for the match. However, that could not change to a 12:30 PM slot. The authorities are asking for the match time to be exchanged with the Brentford vs Arsenal match scheduled for the afternoon slot that same day.
The Gunners’ match was set to be broadcasted on TNT Sports. Even if the timings for the matches switch, the broadcasters will stream their respective matches following the switched timings. The police are trying to avoid any civilians getting harmed in any probable altercation between the fans. Even discussions over how many tickets are to be allocated to the away Liverpool fans are ongoing. Reportedly, it had been cut down by 20%. Hence, the Reds will be given 2400 seats instead of their regular 3000 seats.
Editors pick
