ahead of the match in Istanbul, and probably gets himself
another couple of million pounds to help cure the problem
that he over inflates in the first place. Still, the over-
time must help pay for those little luxuries whilst unfairly
banned football fans, branded as hooligans for ‘crimes’ such
as being drunk at a match, have to hand in their passports
all over the country. The Guardian reports:
‘Officers who specialise in monitoring soccer violence say
that while many troublemakers have decided not to go to
Istanbul for the Euro 2004 decider, a hardcore of up to 300
known hooligans are expected to make the trip.
'Most fans seem to have got the message but we suspect that
a hardcore of about 200-300 hooligans - real knock-on
troublemakers, the most ruthless sort of hooligan - are
going to go anyway. It would be naive to expect none to go,'
said one police officer. 'To some of these people, the ban
on going to Istanbul is like a red rag to a bull. It could
be that a particular group of hooligans sees this game as a
chance to stake their claim as the country's top crew by
going just so they can say, "We were there; we went to
Istanbul". Some mob might do that.'