Why Europe's officials must take blame for UK fan chaos

French police's violent treatment of Newcastle supporters on Wednesday is hardly new, but experts believe they should look at their conduct and take responsibility for the trouble

- WILL CASTLE

After 39 fans lost their lives at Heysel in 1985, a perception began to take hold that English football supporters were hooligans. This blanket stereotype should have expired before the turn of the millennium. Instead, 40 years on from that tragic day in Brussels, it has become transgenerational.

Travelling Newcastle supporters are the latest to endure the trauma. The club will issue an official complaint to Uefa over the treatment of its fans following the team's Champions League defeat in Marseille, when they were allegedly attacked by batons and pepper-sprayed by the French authorities in a bid to subdue the seemingly cooperative away contingent who were trying to get back to their hotels. The Independent has reached out to Uefa for comment.

The supporters, moving in groups of 500 at a time, were said to be waiting “patiently and without incident” as they were held in the Stade Velodrome for up to an hour to ensure their safety when leaving the stadium. But after the first group was released, police began to “indiscriminately assault” supporters to stop the remainder of the fans from moving any further. Visible fan distress led to “crushing becoming apparent” in the upper concourse area of the away sector – an incredibly dangerous situation that, as history has taught us, can turn fatal. are learned and this behaviour is not repeated,” a Newcastle statement read. Such a plea has been made before. But this four-decade-old problem feels no closer to being solved.