‘Storm in a teacup’ – Nottingham Forest treatment criticised, questions being asked

Officials in Utrecht have been criticised after creating ‘a storm in a teacup’ for nothing about Nottingham Forest.

Utrecht Fans cover comments from Appie Boonen and Paul Pessel on RTV Utrecht’s Pessel & Boonen today.  They’ve been left less than impressed by the way Nottingham Forest were treated.

Sean Dyche’s side headed to the Dutch city eight days ago in the Europa League. They ran out 2-1 winners in that game, with goals from Arnaud Kalimuendo and Igor Jesus sealing all three points.

It was a big evening for them and while there was plenty of drama on the pitch, thanks to Jesus’ 88^th minute winner, there wasn’t any off of it.

Fan issues around Europe

There have been numerous clashes between fans over the last few months across Europe, with British fans seemingly targeted wherever they go at this moment in time.

That’s led to increased warnings, dire predictions and a general heavy handedness from European police that’s often completely unwarranted. It certainly wasn’t necessary in Utrecht, where fans got along fine and incidents were non-existent.

That’s at least the experience Pessel and Boonen had. And they were left unimpressed by the behaviour of officials beforehand as a result of those experiences.

“That match in Seville was a publicity stunt for football. And then Nottingham Forest came here… Our mayor received information, high-risk supporters, medium-risk supporters. A battle ensued,” said Boonen.

“Actually, the city would be demolished if we believed everything we read,” added Pessel.

“The mayor was there; the police chief was there. It became extremely dangerous. You really had to watch out on the streets.

“I do want to say, for the mayor… I assume she’s getting information from that police chief. She wouldn’t make it up herself, that there’s so much risk. And then I wonder: How does a police chief get that information? Because nothing happened.”

Warnings over Nottingham Forest fans unwarranted

In fact, Pessel had nothing but positive things to say about Nottingham Forest, having spoken to groups before the game.

“The groups I was with went everywhere Nottingham Forest was,” he concluded.

“I asked: Are there that many hooligans coming? They say: They’re definitely not coming here. The supporters who come here know that if they do anything, they’ll never be allowed back in the stadium. They’re far too excited to go everywhere with Nottingham.

“Then I think: Guys, guys, why so overreact? Especially two days before the emergency decree was issued. I thought it was a shame and unnecessary.

“What I thought was a shame was that the mayor didn’t say the next day: I want to go back on my warnings,” questioned Boonen.

Pessel: “She did say something, I saw it happen. The police chief also mentioned that it was a storm in a teacup. But that they were still glad they’d done it. So, you first think: It’s not what we expected, but still glad we were able to nip it all in the bud. Even though there wasn’t actually a fire at all…”