Resources will be found to police Tel Aviv fans - Nandy

U-TURN IS EXPECTED ON CONTROVERSIAL BAN

- JANE HAYNES News Reporter

GOVERNMENT chiefs have given their strongest indication yet that the ban on fans from Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv will be overturned and the game will go ahead as planned in front of both sets of supporters.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the House of Commons on Monday that the decision to 'exclude fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv' was wrong and 'every resource' would be made available to ensure they are welcomed.

But she said that 'bad faith' outsiders who might seek to visit Birmingham to 'create strife' would not be welcome.

Talks are under way between the government and West Midlands police and Birmingham city council to ensure people were not excluded from attending the game on November 6 'because of who they are or where they are from, she said.

"This fundamental principle, that nobody in our country will be excluded from participating in public life because of who they are, must be upheld."

While claiming it was for local agencies to take safety decisions, the government had stepped in because the ban was 'unprecedented' and had 'wider implications, she said.

She accepted that there were concerns about the behaviour of 'a minority' of Maccabi fans, whose behaviour she condemned.