Neil SQUIRES
cocaine and a flare up their backside.
Gareth Southgate noted ahead of last night’s re-match that it wasn’t all football fans involved in the trouble and of course he was right.
Genuine football fans would have been just as embarrassed as the England manager by what occurred.
But it would be naive to pretend the game – and national team – does not still act as a moron-magnet.
Southgate went out of his way this week to praise the 4,000 travelling supporters who gave the side throaty backing in Munich in midweek and, by and large, behaved themselves.
But there were still 13 arrests, including some for making Nazi salutes, and a city centre stand-off between a group of around 300 – singing that tasteless ‘Ten German Bombers’ ditty – and riot police, which could easily have gone wrong but for some intelligent policing.
There were 880 banned England ‘fans’ who had to hand in their passports to ensure they could not travel and add to the mix.a rump of numpties endures.
Thankfully they were nowhere to be seen last night.the arrival of the England team bus drew an orderly grown-up crowd of a couple of hundred outside the stadium but once inside this was a kids zone.
Their support for England was partisan – they gave the Italian corner-takers a hearty booing – but comfortably the right side of the line.
Both sides were applauded for taking the knee before kick-off – unlike the Hungarian children in Budapest last weekend.
Partly because of the backdrop, partly the two sides’ selections, the feel of last night was more of a trial match despite its competitive status as a Nations League Group A3 game.
It would be wrong to describe it as a friendly as the first-half tackle from Manuel Locatelli on Mason Mount that earned the Italian midfielder a yellow card proved and there was action enough yet the oddity of the night was never far away.
When Davide Fratessi spooned a shot high into the Sir Jack Hayward Stand it took a ball boy the best part of a minute to retrieve it. Fortunately Wolves had plenty of spares.
Molineux will have its chance to enjoy the national side properly on Tuesday evening when there will be a full house for the visit of Hungary.
But the absence of a proper crowd last night pulled the plug on what should have been a great homecoming.