Heres my experience of Saturday. All times local time, match was scheduled for 9pm.
2pm. Went to fanpark after getting off metro at Nation, funnelled into entrance by Police so they could take booze off you. No worries, someone gave me a free can to drink. Got in, made our way near the front, waited through to The Lightning Seeds boring the arse off us, then stayed for most of Jamie Webster. Fantastic , place was bouncing, time of our lives.
5pm. As the fanpark crowd was long and thin and we were furthest away from the exit we made our way out, before most others did same. This was a really good move, didn’t realise at the time though.
6pm. Got off metro at Stad De France – Saint-Denis and walked 15 mins toward the stadium where we were funnelled again at that underpass. Police vans parked to prevent access only in single file. This felt disorganised but not too dangerous, got through it. Like I said it was early, the match was hours away. But I knew this filtering was gonna cause chaos later. There was a big crowd yet to reach this stage. Tens of thousands to come through this shoddy filter. Some fans tried to ask the police what it was all about but they just said they don’t speak English.
6:30pm. Past this, 200 yards there was the first ticket check. Mostly stewards, couple of police. I’d say at most 5 lanes getting through after search & ticket check. The crowd behind built up and we were starting to get squeezed a bit. Loads of people telling people behind to stop pushing. We know better than most what this can lead to so I was concerned but never felt in danger. Some people were getting upset though, a woman in front of me started crying and we helped get her to the front of the queue by asking people to make way. At this stage nobody was stressing about not getting in the game, it was still quite early.
6:45pm. I’m still in this crowd. A few people are trying move the other way having been denied entry. This was difficult as the crowd was tightly packed. Maybe 20 young locals and 5 young scallys I saw being denied. One scouse lad as he passing answered someones obvious question why he was going the other way “Do I look like I’ve got a fucking ticket?”. We laughed a bit, we could still breathe at least.
7:05pm. We got through this. I had my ticket verified and was quickly searched. We made our way to Gate Y. There was a large crowd snaking round but Gate Y was open and we were moving forward slowly. Jason McAteer was on near us on a platform in between media duties. So old fella shouted at him and blamed him. McAteer looked our way with a face that said “What the fuck you shouting at me for?” We laughed again.
7:30pm. As we got near the gate there was a load of shouting and a few scuffles the other side. They were trying to close the gate and eventually did. We are not in yet. A few locals wandering around. One tried to steal something from someone behind me. Cue more shouting and the young lad came back to throw a bottle after being chased away. There were no security or police to be seen outside the gate, so this was allowed to go on.
7:45pm. Gate Y still closed. This is first time I think I might miss the game, I’d not been to Athens but heard stories of genuine fans being locked out. Now the crowd was starting to build up. Some just climbed over the barrier to the front of the queue, fearing they were gonna miss the game. This wasn’t helping, we were getting squeezed again and lads were shouting at each other to get back. There were loads of stewards the other side of the gates not really doing much. A single gate opened to let through this grandad and his grandson, Jack. The little lad was scared and crying. Loads of local lads hanging round near the gates. No stewards or police moving them on.
8pm. One of the stewards told us the gate would be opened in 5 minutes. We were to not push and be calm. This information was what we needed. The lack of communication was part of the problem up to this stage. The gate did open, we got through and my ticket was scanned and OK. I was relieved as I saw fans turned away shocked who looked like genuine people to me. I’m convinced the ticket scanners were on random mode. Found our seats, loads of empty seats around us, no way this game was starting in less than an hour.
9pm. Went out as I’d heard stories of tear gas. Could see Gate Y locked again and a massive queue behind the bars of the gate. Far more people there now, those people think they aren’t getting in.
Half Time. 10:40pm. Some people taking their seats at half time rubbing their eyes and swearing. We know now we got lucky.
Full Time. Dozens of riot police in the LFC end. None in the Madrid end. Still don’t know what the point of that was. A show of force ? Shows they were clueless.
My view after was the pre-game situation caused by bad crowd management/planning. I reckon the police knew that the locals, the bad ones, the ones robbing, fighting, rushing the gates were organised and would be out in force. Easy pickings, a snatched bag here, a snatched ticket there. This was the real reason for this flimsy ticket checkpoint. If you are going to set up an impromptu ticket checkpoint, make sure it can handle 30000 reds looking forward to the game of their lives.
I have seen other people’s stories since. Fans could have died getting to the game on Saturday due to incompetence. It was a close thing and we are lucky it didn’t end up like that.
The French authorities will be trying to cover their own arses now. We won’t let them though, we’ve seen this story before. This time theres plenty of photos and videos to disprove the lies that will come.
