Supporters group criticises police as Man Utd look into fans’ treatment in Lyon

By Simon Peach, PA Chief Football Writer, Lyon

Manchester United are looking into treatment of their fans in Lyon, with Football Supporters Europe criticising the police’s “completely disproportionate” and “unacceptable” use of tear gas following Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final.

Thursday’s first leg in France was attended by 2,800 away fans, who were required by local authorities to travel to a conference centre 13 miles away from the city centre to collect wristbands before boarding shuttle buses to the ground.

The significant expense and inconvenience of those demands were compounded by a malfunctioning public transport network and large queues at the pick-up point before being taken to the Groupama Stadium.

More issues were to follow after the 2-2 draw against Lyon, with tear gas deployed by police after fans attempted to use the toilet as they were held back for an hour before being ferried to the pick-up point.

The PA news agency understands United are looking at the issues and Ronan Evain, executive director of fan network FSE, has criticised the police response.

“It is completely unacceptable that the police would think it’s OK to stop people from going to the toilets, and then the reaction to it is completely disproportionate,” he told the PA news agency.

“It is human nature that people will lose their temper if the police take away basic elements of basic human dignity like being allowed to go to the toilet.

“There, the police is responsible for creating this tension, for escalating it instead of taking the only logical decision in this situation, which is to permit people to go to the toilet, even if it’s only small groups.

“That they’re choosing to escalate this even further can’t be justified.”

FSE are working alongside the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust to collect testimonies.

On the local authorities’ decision to make away fans collect tickets on the outskirts of the city for a third straight European game, Evain added: “This new setup with this mandatory collection outside of the city is highly impractical.

“It is even harder to justify before a game like Man United when there is strictly no high-risk fans and no record of incidents with Man United fans travelling in Europe for a very, very long time.

“So, what we see is a blanket approach to security by local public authorities with no regard for the comfort of away fans.”

MUST chief executive Duncan Drasdo posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “90 per cent of the time on Euro aways if there is aggro it’s with the police rather than local fans.

“Most countries can do this right but there are almost always problems with the French police. All too often they create the aggro they are supposed to be preventing.”

United and UEFA have been contacted by PA for comment.