Soccer: UEFA yesterday stood firm in insisting the English Football Association will have to take the rap for all outbreaks of disorder involving any England fans in Portugal during Euro 2004. FA officials are furious that they have taken detailed precautions to monitor fans buying tickets from the official England supporters club - only to have UEFA making other tickets available more freely over the Internet.
But UEFA communications director William Gaillard yesterday said there could be no distinction between "official" England fans and those who had obtained tickets from other sources. Gaillard said: "UEFA's position is that the English FA are responsible for the behaviour of all football fans from England.
"The FA and the British authorities have made tremendous efforts to keep hooligans out of Portugal and we recognise these efforts but at the same time the proof of the pudding will be in the eating."
Gaillard added that his organisation's approach was the only way UEFA could hold national associations accountable for fans' behaviour - with the ultimate threat of expulsion from the tournament in order to protect those other countries taking part. The FA has pointed out to UEFA it has sold more than 30,000 tickets for England's three group matches with each fan having to apply separately and have their name checked against police intelligence records.
However, fans have also been able to buy directly from UEFA through the Internet, with one person able to buy up to four tickets. The FA is concerned many of these could have fallen into the wrong hands or end up with ticket touts and that through no fault of its own it will be viewed by UEFA as being responsible for these people too.
The FA has also protested against plans to site large screens in popular beach resorts in Portugal, believing they could provide a focus for trouble. The worry is that the events of 2000 might be repeated when, after outbreaks of crowd violence, UEFA threatened England with expulsion from the championship.
England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has also made a personal appeal for fans to behave and has backed the FA's stance against UEFA. He said: "The FA are doing everything they can to ensure that safety and security preparations are paramount. However, the FA cannot be responsible for those fans who have bought tickets directly over the Internet."
Police estimate 50,000 fans will travel to Portugal and that a further 200,000 English tourists will also be in the country. England fans flooding into Portugal this week are advised to stock up on euros if they plan buying black market tickets. With official allocations far below the numbers of fans travelling to Euro 2004, the cheapest black market tickets for England v France in Lisbon on Sunday are now £500 (€750). The cheapest tickets for England v Switzerland will cost £325 (€487) and against Croatia £275 (€412).
Only 15,000 England supporters have official FA tickets to the France game. For next Thursday's game with Switzerland at Coimbra's Estadio Cidade, just 6,000 seats were allocated - while 13,000 made the cut to see the final Group B encounter with Croatia, in Lisbon on June 21st.
Meanwhile, Gary Neville drew on the lessons of Euro '96 to warn England's youngsters to conserve their energy during the championship - or risk mental burn-out. Neville is one of just four survivors from the 1996 squad. Like his brother Phil, as well as Sol Campbell and Ian Walker - he recalls how tiring a tournament can be.
"Let's have a quiet build-up . . . we're going to need every ounce of energy we can muster. I remember at Euro '96, I was suspended for the semi-final but I had played in the quarter-final and I was absolutely shattered. We had played Scotland and never slept for three days, then we'd played Holland and everybody was on a high and we never slept either."
Eriksson has already settled on his starting line-up - as long as John Terry proves his fitness after a hamstring problem.
