Bates disgusted by vile chanting from Leeds and Wednesday fans
Yorkshire Post 22/10/12
KEN BATES last night insisted both Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday fans deserve condemnation for the vile chants that shamed Yorkshire football.
Last Friday’s derby at Hillsborough was marred by ugly scenes as Owls goalkeeper Chris Kirkland was knocked to the ground during a mini pitch-invasion and missiles were hurled by rival fans.
The Football Association have launched an investigation into the violence that followed clearly audible chants mocking the murder of two Leeds fans in Istanbul 12 years ago and similarly sickening abuse aimed at Wednesday manager Dave Jones over the child abuse allegations from which he was totally exonerated in 2000. In the immediate aftermath of his side’s 1-1 draw, Jones branded the United fans present at the derby as “vile animals” and called for them to be banned from away grounds in the future.
Speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Post, Bates feels some of the Owls manager’s comments were made in the heat of the moment.
However, the Leeds chairman admits that such distasteful songs reflected badly on those involved among the rival sets of supporters.
Bates said: “I would like to point out that Dave Jones’ comments were somewhat intemperate. He has omitted to mention the Wednesday fans and how they were chanting about Istanbul.
“Dave should also have criticised his own fans. By not doing so, he reduced the credibility of what he said.
“I do believe that Dave said a lot of things in the heat of the moment, and in the cold light of day, he may probably regret some of them. What I will say, though, is the chanting that was heard on Friday night from both sets of fans was disgraceful.
“I have nothing but contempt for those involved. We condemn totally what we heard.” Along with the chants aimed at Jones, a section of the visiting fans could be heard singing in praise of Leeds-born Jimmy Savile, the subject of a torrent of recent revelations claiming he was a serial child abuser.
The Wednesday fans, meanwhile, also aimed derogatory chants at Leeds manager Neil Warnock and goalkeeper Paddy Kenny.
As shocking as the distasteful chanting was, however, it was the attack on Kirkland that attracted unwanted headlines around the world for Yorkshire football and led to Professional Footballers’ Association chairman Gordon Taylor calling for a full inquiry into scenes that took football “back to the bad old days”.
Police yesterday arrested a 21-year-old in the Cheltenham area on suspicion of assault.
On the incident that left him requiring treatment on the field before being able to continue, Kirkland said: “I just want the authorities to look at what happened and take the appropriate action because, sooner or later, we could be talking about something even more serious. The rest of the game flew by. Then the final whistle came, the adrenalin goes and you reflect on something like that and it was scary.
“I thought of my family watching something like that and it was not a nice feeling to think my daughter saw me assaulted like that.”
Wednesday officials were left irate by Leeds manager Warnock suggesting in a live Sky interview that Kirkland had “gone down like a tonne of bricks”.
Having now viewed footage of the incident, Warnock has issued an apology. He said: “I didn’t actually see it (the incident) and was told by a member of our staff what had happened. But, having looked at it, I was out of order.
“No one should be allowed to come on the pitch and do what they did to Chris. When I saw it, I could understand why he was mad.”
United reacted swiftly to condemn the fan who knocked Kirkland to the ground with an official statement being released before the end of the derby.
Chairman Bates added last night: “What is encouraging is that I am told the vast majority of Leeds fans were as appalled by what happened as everyone else. The idiot who ran on the pitch better not go anywhere near Elland Road again. There are a lot of people angered by what he did.
“We have been working hard as a club to improve our image over the past few years. But this guy has done so much damage to that. It isn’t fair on the overwhelming majority of Leeds fans.
“It doesn’t do any of us any good, especially at a time when we are working so hard to get this club where it deserves to be.”
Wednesday have elected to make no further comment until stadium manager John Rutherford has completed an investigation into the damage wreaked by the hooligans. He will then conduct a full debriefing with club officials.
The FA, meanwhile, are today set to step up their investigation into the matter with the report of referee Eddie Ilderton likely to have arrived at the governing body’s headquarters.
richard.sutcliffe@ypn.co.uk
KEN BATES last night insisted both Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday fans deserve condemnation for the vile chants that shamed Yorkshire football.
Last Friday’s derby at Hillsborough was marred by ugly scenes as Owls goalkeeper Chris Kirkland was knocked to the ground during a mini pitch-invasion and missiles were hurled by rival fans.
The Football Association have launched an investigation into the violence that followed clearly audible chants mocking the murder of two Leeds fans in Istanbul 12 years ago and similarly sickening abuse aimed at Wednesday manager Dave Jones over the child abuse allegations from which he was totally exonerated in 2000. In the immediate aftermath of his side’s 1-1 draw, Jones branded the United fans present at the derby as “vile animals” and called for them to be banned from away grounds in the future.
Speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Post, Bates feels some of the Owls manager’s comments were made in the heat of the moment.
However, the Leeds chairman admits that such distasteful songs reflected badly on those involved among the rival sets of supporters.
Bates said: “I would like to point out that Dave Jones’ comments were somewhat intemperate. He has omitted to mention the Wednesday fans and how they were chanting about Istanbul.
“Dave should also have criticised his own fans. By not doing so, he reduced the credibility of what he said.
“I do believe that Dave said a lot of things in the heat of the moment, and in the cold light of day, he may probably regret some of them. What I will say, though, is the chanting that was heard on Friday night from both sets of fans was disgraceful.
“I have nothing but contempt for those involved. We condemn totally what we heard.” Along with the chants aimed at Jones, a section of the visiting fans could be heard singing in praise of Leeds-born Jimmy Savile, the subject of a torrent of recent revelations claiming he was a serial child abuser.
The Wednesday fans, meanwhile, also aimed derogatory chants at Leeds manager Neil Warnock and goalkeeper Paddy Kenny.
As shocking as the distasteful chanting was, however, it was the attack on Kirkland that attracted unwanted headlines around the world for Yorkshire football and led to Professional Footballers’ Association chairman Gordon Taylor calling for a full inquiry into scenes that took football “back to the bad old days”.
Police yesterday arrested a 21-year-old in the Cheltenham area on suspicion of assault.
On the incident that left him requiring treatment on the field before being able to continue, Kirkland said: “I just want the authorities to look at what happened and take the appropriate action because, sooner or later, we could be talking about something even more serious. The rest of the game flew by. Then the final whistle came, the adrenalin goes and you reflect on something like that and it was scary.
“I thought of my family watching something like that and it was not a nice feeling to think my daughter saw me assaulted like that.”
Wednesday officials were left irate by Leeds manager Warnock suggesting in a live Sky interview that Kirkland had “gone down like a tonne of bricks”.
Having now viewed footage of the incident, Warnock has issued an apology. He said: “I didn’t actually see it (the incident) and was told by a member of our staff what had happened. But, having looked at it, I was out of order.
“No one should be allowed to come on the pitch and do what they did to Chris. When I saw it, I could understand why he was mad.”
United reacted swiftly to condemn the fan who knocked Kirkland to the ground with an official statement being released before the end of the derby.
Chairman Bates added last night: “What is encouraging is that I am told the vast majority of Leeds fans were as appalled by what happened as everyone else. The idiot who ran on the pitch better not go anywhere near Elland Road again. There are a lot of people angered by what he did.
“We have been working hard as a club to improve our image over the past few years. But this guy has done so much damage to that. It isn’t fair on the overwhelming majority of Leeds fans.
“It doesn’t do any of us any good, especially at a time when we are working so hard to get this club where it deserves to be.”
Wednesday have elected to make no further comment until stadium manager John Rutherford has completed an investigation into the damage wreaked by the hooligans. He will then conduct a full debriefing with club officials.
The FA, meanwhile, are today set to step up their investigation into the matter with the report of referee Eddie Ilderton likely to have arrived at the governing body’s headquarters.
richard.sutcliffe@ypn.co.uk