Football: West Ham fans dispute Uefa misconduct charge
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Your support makes all the difference.WEST HAM have been charged with misconduct by Uefa following crowd trouble during their Intertoto Cup final-round win against Metz on Tuesday.
"We have until Monday to respond," said the club secretary, Graham Mackrell, yesterday. "In the meantime, I will have a meeting with our security people as we formulate our response."
Fans have claimed "incompetent" Metz stewards sprayed them with foam from fire extinguishers to turn a glory night sour as their team sealed a spot in the Uefa Cup draw tomorrow with a 3-1 win on the night for a 3-2 aggregate success.
Uefa, European football's ruling body, was waiting for reports from its official delegates before deciding what measures to take after trouble erupted when Nenad Jestrovic scored for Metz in the 68th minute.
When police sprayed tear gas into one section of the Hammers' 3,000-strong travelling support, some fans tried to tear down a partition separating them from home supporters. But the incident which prompted the Uefa charge was the Metz midfielder Frederic Meyrieu being struck by a coin thrown from the crowd in the second half.
"We obviously condemn any violence at a football match," said a Uefa spokesperson. "If an incident has occurred the case will be immediately referred to our disciplinary committee. They have the power to fine guilty clubs or, in serious cases, they can ask for future matches to be played behind closed doors."
There were claims that West Ham fans had threatened to cause trouble during the match and suggestions that tear gas had been fired into the crowd. But a Hammers' fan who was in the thick of the action has revealed how supporters were turned on by both Metz fans and stewards.
Shane Barber, the editor of Hammers fanzine On A Mission, explained: "We were just enjoying the game, especially after we went 2-0 up. Then a Metz fan in the section next to us threw a lighted firecracker into our fans which went off.
"I think that just caused some of our fans to panic, and they were very upset. But the stewards thought we were trying to cause trouble and so they picked up the fire extinguishers and started spraying us with foam. It was lucky that Paulo Wanchope scored at that moment because we just started celebrating and it took the heat out of the situation."
Barber insisted there was no trouble from West Ham fans, and that they were well received by the locals in the French town, where they were celebrating until 2.0am.
"The stewards didn't know how to handle the fans properly," Barber claimed. "When we arrived at the stadium there was nobody checking tickets - it was a shambles. They catered for 1,700 of our fans and didn't know what to do when 4,000 turned up, and the segregation was very poor."
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