Club officials snubbed by Lille authorities

"Surrender Monkeys"

First up it was Groundskeeper Willy, and second it was "cheese eating surrender monkeys."

DÂ’oh!

France, Italy, Spain, Turkey... different countries same shithouse fans and police. Even our own government canÂ’t wait to stick the boot in on its own kind..

Makes me chuckle everytime is see that episode.

But IÂ’d have worked that out within a week.

Roll on Bern and another experience to savour.

I went to Lille and had a great time. Was just around the corner from both incidents and knew nothing about them until later. They would not have got anywhere near that level of publicity in the 70s or early 80s. I got home and wondered if I had been at the Storming of the Bastille.

Of course, attacking a small group of fans in or outside a bar is to be condemned. Firing a plastic bullet, or whatever it was, in the circumstances, has to be condemned.

The firing of tear gas was probably an over-reaction. I cannot say as I did not see the scene at that moment in time. But I had wandered through the square before and it was good-natured.

I did walk through the square afterwards though and it was strewn with rubbish. As a group, we can perhaps do better on that score. But were there any bins to put the rubbish in? Nowhere near enough, I thought. Something for the club and authorities to think about for Berne? Especially with the price of beer in the bars there.

I was grateful to the police that they were on duty at the top of the escalators at the metro station near the main square. If they were not there, stopping too many people going down the escalator at once, there could have been an awful accident.

Yes, after the game, the queuing for a metro back to town could have been better handled. But at least the police stopped too many people getting up to the platform at once.

Basically, the metro system was overwhelmed by the number of Evertonians wanting to use it, especially in the three hours before the game. And because of us, many locals could not get on it.

The club was right to write to the authorities in Lille, asking for an explanation of the two incidents. It's disappointing if there has been no reply. Embarrassment? Local, internal politics? Incompetence?
What I do know is that the French people we came across in our 48 hours there were sound.

My bottom line though is:
I don't think the Lille authorities really expected that many supporters there. They had probably been warned, but thought: "We've had 'bigger' clubs here, Manchester United and Liverpool, and they never brought anywhere near that many."

As a result, they were taken aback. Perhaps even got a bit jittery.

So it's just as well that the vast majority of our support is in fact good-natured and well behaved. Come on you Blues.

On three occasions now we have urged the powers that be to have a "Fan Embassy" that could assist and advise supporters in just the same way that The FSF do for England fans prior to internationals.

Sadly, and in spite of having support on the coal face we are ultimately given short shrift the higher up the food chain. The real losers in all of this is us, the fans who travel to these games. Unfortunately we aren't afforded the help, advice and assistance that England fans enjoy, courtesy of The FA & The Home Office because of the intransigence of one or two of the senior management team.

Whilst we continue to enjoy the support of the Football Supporters Federation on this, but hopefully we will, at some time in the future.