Newcastle: Newcastle United have vowed to hand out lifetime bans to those “deplorable” fans involved in the violence after Sunday’s North-East derby.
The 29 people arrested for public order offences in Newcastle and Sunderland, following the 3-0 victory for Paolo Di Canio’s side at St James’ Park, have all been released on police bail.
Police are continuing to examine CCTV footage for culprits and on Monday the club put out a strong statement saying that they were “embarrassed and appalled” by the violence.
Four police officers were injured in violent scenes across Newcastle city centre after groups went on the rampage following Sunderland’s first victory on Tyneside since 2000.
“These deplorable individuals have no place at Newcastle United and bring shame on the club and the vast majority of its law-abiding fans,” said a club statement.
“The club will take the strongest possible action against those involved in the disturbances and will impose immediate lifetime bans on all those found guilty.
“Newcastle United have been working with Northumbria Police, and will continue to do so, in order to identify all of the individuals concerned.”
Officers were attacked with bottles and bricks, and rubbish bins were set on fire as police tried to keep Newcastle fans separated from departing Sunderland supporters.
Last night Northumbria Police threatened to name and shame troublemakers.
They issued a plea for witnesses and more information as it emerged many of the hooligans may not have been at the match but had started to congregate in bars and pubs in Newcastle as early as 8am.
The kick-off was brought forward to 12 noon, and televised by Sky at that time, so large groups of supporters would not turn up at the match drunk and disorderly.
The 29 arrested includes one 45-year-old man who was arrested for punching a horse during skirmishes in the shadows of Newcastle’s stadium.
The West Yorkshire Police force horse Bud is recovering near Wakefield and expected back at work later this week.
Newcastle’s hard line on their own “deplorable” fans comes as sports minister Hugh Robertson urged football authorities to “throw the book” at yobs who marred last weekend’s football matches.
Less than 24 hours before the scenes in Newcastle, Millwall fans were seen fighting among themselves during the FA Cup semi-final loss to Wigan at Wembley. The MP (right) said the scenes were “incredibly disappointing and quite depressing” and urged the FA to look at the way it policed Wembley after stewards were slow to react to crowd trouble in the Millwall end.
Robertson said: “It needs to be dealt with, toughly. We want to absolutely make sure this doesn’t snowball and become fashionable. Should they be banned from football? Yes. What the weekend shows is that the moment you take your eye off it (football violence), it pretty quickly re-appears. You never entirely put the lid on all of this. But I don’t think this is a moment that marks a return to the 70s or 80s. It appears to be these were two unconnected events, both involving a certain amount of alcohol.”
Millwall chief executive Andy Ambler agreed that alcohol was largely responsible for the Wembley trouble, holding talks with the FA yesterday.
Ambler reassured the FA that the club are taking a pro-active approach towards identifying the culprits involved in Saturday’s fights and reinforced the club’s stance that the 5.15pm kick-off slot was a factor in Saturday’s trouble. The man in charge of the North East police operation, Chief Superintendent Steve Neill, said: “We need to send a message, whether it’s in or out of stadium it’s unacceptable.”
