Highest security level for the Nürnberg game
Fan-Mile for Everton fans in the inner city - English police travel to increase safety
For the FCN vs Everton game tomorrow the security levels have been raised to the highest. Thousands of fans are expected from tomorrow morning in the inner city.
The police administration has been preparing for this UEFA Cup game for weeks. Police Director Kurt Benisch states the goals of the operation as follows: "We want the English to enjoy our city as a friendly place, they should feel at home here."
The prospects look good. There are no problems between fans of the two clubs. Around 25 years ago the two clubs met as part of the preseason preparation. "Dating from that time there have been long-term friendships between the clubs and fans," says Benisch.
In co-operation with the city authorities a "fan mile" has been built between the Königstorpassage and the Mauthalle. From tomorrow morning onwards no less than eleven special charters will be flying from Liverpool to Nürnberg. Around 3000 Everton fans have tickets through the official procedures. Another 500-1000 are expected who do not have tickets. They will be looking to pick them up at the last minute.
In Liverpool there has been frustration over the hundreds of tickets which were sold directly to the fans. Then UEFA stepped in. Because the match has been classified as a "high risk" game, the fans must be separated. Thus the seats where the tickets have been cancelled will remain empty.
Along with the fans, six policemen from Liverpool are also travelling. Four of them are so-called "spotters". They will be available before the game on the fan mile along with a co-operation official and a high-ranking police officer. 44 Everton fans have already received a letter banning them from travelling for previous violent conduct. Beisch is happy about the close co-operation with the "bobbies": "It's working perfectly." And he is also happy about the amount of email traffic he has to deal with. "It's helping my English to get better, I still have to look up a few technical terms."
The big unknown is exactly how many Everton fans will show up in Nürnberg. In Liverpool the demand for tickets was immense. And the police believe that a good number of fans are travelling to other German airports on cheap flight operators.
All other boardies who´ll make it to Nürnberg are wellcome. Looking forward for this.
