Brighton CEO Paul Barber demand for action to be taken over a number of incidents, a banner and gestures made by Roma fans on Thursday night.
During the Europa League clash, Brighton supporters were once again on the receiving end of deplorable attacks from Roma fans.
The incidents started the night before, with a group of fans targeted on Wednesday, resulting in two individuals being stabbed by a gang in the Italian capital.
Regrettably, the trouble persisted at the match, with a objects being thrown at the Brighton fans present at the Stadio Olimpico.
Roma fans hurled bottles, coins, and lighters during the game, while hand gestures were aimed at those in the away end.
These little sweeties were still at it 20 mins after the game ended! pic.twitter.com/GGZgBvrcha
— Paul Brown (@pablobrowno) March 7, 2024
Brighton fans stabbed by masked gang during robbery in Rome ahead of Europa League clash
AS Roma banner against Brighton pic.twitter.com/fzOr3KVurf
— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) March 8, 2024
Jim White: Brighton chief executive Paul Barber has stepped out of a meeting down at the AMEX and joins us live, Paul good morning, a bit of a sorry picture of a sorry night a night to forget Paul how did you look at it
Paul: Well I mean obviously we’re really disappointed we got a result on the pitch it’s been challenging off the pitch but you know it’s not really a night to forget because it’s still a a momentous time in our club’s history and we’re delighted to be in the last 16 of the Europa League and unfortunately last night didn’t go the way we hoped it would we’ve still got 90 minutes of football at least left to play. We’re certainly not giving up we know it’s a tall order to try and get this tie back around and and to try and win it but it’s been a remarkable season for the club and and you know we’re very proud of what the players and coaching staff have achieved and I’m very proud of the way the fans conducted themselves last night despite you know a lot of provocation at times and it’s disappointing when that happens and obviously we’re sad for the two young fans that that were stabbed thankfully the the injuries are not serious and they were able to attend the game but you just don’t expect that to happen when you go away to follow your team for the first time in Europe and you know they’re not naive we’ve given a lot of warnings about dangers and the issues and thankfully everyone eventually got home safe last night and and today and that’s the most important thing of all I mean
Jim: Back here Paul we were concerned when we started to hear stories of objects being thrown at Brighton fans by Roma supporters including bottles coins and lighters there’s Neil saying I knew this would happen Roma fans have been at it for years when Leeds played there in 2000 they were flying up and down outside the stadium on scooters attacking Leeds fans nothing’s changed, I mean did you fear there were going to go there were going to be incidents like this Paul
Paul: We certainly made our fans aware that there could be incidents like this and again the vast majority of the fans only 70,000 of them in the stadium last night were were not behaving like that you know let’s be clear about that and equally I was in the city the night before the game out and about and people were warm and welcoming and friendly so the vast majority of people in Rome you know did not behave the way sadly some people did but unfortunately it has happened for years and years and years in football and you know if I go all the way back to my England days maybe 25/26 years ago you know we were seeing hearing about and witnessing incidents like this even then all we can do and we have done is to report it to to the local authorities and the police to UEFA we actually took the UEFA delegate last night to the corner of the pitch to witness things being thrown at our fans our security staff literally led the UEFA delegate down to exactly where it was happening asked him to film and take notes and we’ll see what happens because this gets reported time and time again and yet time and time again it continues to happen I don’t know what the consequences will be for Roma you know it’s sad because their executive team their chief executive their board very very nice people very concerned about what happened last night and disappointed in their own fans certainly small small numbers of them but this happens too often and unfortunately English fans are far too often on the receiving end of it and yet the smallest discrepancy at one of our stadiums in England and UEFA come down on us like a ton of bricks it’s just disappointing that serious incidents don’t seem to carry the same sort of weight
Simon: I mean Paul I’ve already Simon I’ve already characterised it that way about the propensity for English fans to be treated in a certain way and the reaction when English fans are involved and this is on Italian clubs it’s been a repeated set of circumstances with Italian clubs but I also wanted to talk to you about the challenges it now presents for you for the return fixture given the temperature and the outlook and the publicity does it make any difference to way the way that you look at this game from an allocation point of view to Roma fans through to the policing obligations and to through to the overall responsibility you have of managing your fan base given the fact the temperature will be quite high in the return leg.
Paul: Well first of all I think it’s really important that that people don’t overreact to what happened to two of our fans and a small number that were had objects thrown at them we don’t want reprisals we don’t want people going out to get some kind of revenge that’s the first thing the second thing you know I’ve got the confidence in our security staff and and Sussex police that they all manage the stadium as they always do to create a safe environment there’s going to be around 1,500 or so Roma fans traveling you know we will know exactly who they are they will only get into the stadium you know after their identities have been checked and we’ll do our best to do that and keep people as safe as possible but we’ve got to rely on the vast majority of fans coming to watch a football match and it and it could be a really good football match you know the way we play you know Roberto will not accept a 4-0 defeat likely he will want the team to go out and and give their best and try and get back into the tie that could make for a really fantastic game and I think the vast majority of fans will want to be in the stadium for the whole 90 plus minutes to see that because anything could happen as as it as it can in any football match and I just hope that it’s a great night of football and a peaceful night and that people enjoy the occasion at the AMEX as they do time and time again when they come here home fans and visiting fans
Jim: I think probably as happens in the past, Roma will probably bring a sizeable number of security Personnel themselves will they not
Paul: Yes I think I think they will Jim and and again our our staff will lays with their club to to make sure it’s a safe environment for them as well you know we don’t want our club’s name tarnished by you know a reprisal attack of some kind that that’s not necessarily welcome or wanted we just want the the game of football to go ahead next Thursday safely and and peacefully and hopefully as I say it will be an exciting game for everybody in the stadium to witness
Jim: Paul, post-match Roberto did speak obviously about what had just happened on the field of play his boys suffering a 4-0 defeat in the first leg as you say it’s it’s not over yet but he had an interesting message with what he said have a listen…
Roberto: We know very well the situation I know very well the situation I spoke with the the owner a lot of time before the before February on the transfer market and I told him the problems we are finding but it’s the first time Brighton plays this competition Europe League final eight is a is a big level for us and so we have to improve to progress
Jim: So Paul you might not be surprised that he’s saying well I’ve spoken to the owner about how we can how we can add to the squad how you can strengthen the squad do you think that was a time for Roberto to throw that in or do you think well almost inevitably he’ll say something like that off the back of a 4-0 defeat
Paul: Of course and I think you know if Roberto’s spoken to Tony once or twice about this he’s spoken to me about 100 times so trust me I know and you know I think you have to put it into the context of where we are you know we’re not going to use injuries as an excuse for last night because you know we had a good team out and you know we didn’t perform on the night as well as we could have done but we are missing Pedro, Mitoma, March, Milner, Hinshelwood, these are key players these are Big players for us you know our top goal scorer arguably our top assist maker a young Defender that’s come all the way through and done a brilliant job this season scored goals in Europe in the Premier League and then James Milner who everyone knows would have added a huge amount of experience and and and guile to last night’s performance so these are not excuses but they’re facts and of course if those players have been available then you know adding players in the transfer window whether it was last summer or or at Christmas wouldn’t have felt quite so necessary but this is football this is the way it is you know other clubs have had injuries and and they’re getting through them and and we have to do the same you know we haven’t been out of the top nine in the Premier League all season despite nine 10 11 injuries at times Roberto has done a fantastic job players have done a remarkable job the fans have been brilliant all the way through because our form has been a little bit indifferent recently but that’s part and parcel of playing in for competitions for the first time and in Europe for the first time we’re still learning we’ve got so much more to learn about playing football at this level and you know sometimes part of that learning is taking a beating as we took last night and building resilience from it and then moving forward as a club together for what comes and that’s Nottingham Forest on Sunday and the big game in the Premier League and then four days later Roma come back here and we’ve got a mountain to climb…
Simon: Paul I mean I as you might as you might expect I take a slightly dim view of a manager using an opportunity to leverage an owner into the press about transfer fees but I won’t expect you to observe on that because of the diplomacy you might need to deploy but the expectations of Brighton now do you feel that you’re at this position with the evolution of the club where the expectations are now at a stage where there is almost a price in perspective that there’s a distinct possibility that Brighton can go to Roma and get results that Brighton are going to be at the top end of the Premier League does that wait upon you and Tony and change the direction of your thinking given the narrative that’s now being written which is Brighton a top side that produces top players other people pay top money for and keep on doing and they’ve got a top manager that other people cover it
Paul: It adds to the pressure and definitely because of the weight of expectation but I think that’s what we’ve been doing this for certainly in my case and Tony’s case for the last 12 years here you know we’ve wanted to to bring on this level of expectation and pressure it’s what we have been aiming for it’s what we’ve been working towards and now it’s about learning to live with it it’s about learning to deal with it and you know progress in in any sport that Lear Premier League football or top level football in my experience is never a straight line there’s always bumps in the road and those bumps in the road test you they require you to be resilient and you know sometimes you have to take a big bump and see how you react to it and this is one of our bigger bumps it’s disappointing and really disappointing you know we all came home on the plane in the early hours of this morning feeling pretty flat pretty disappointed with what had happened but at the same time when you put it in perspective 25 years ago we were at the the bottom of the pyramid we were almost going out of the league we had no stadium we didn’t have a training ground we didn’t have owners that at that point you know had the kind of resources that Tony’s got to put us in the position we’re in today we’re in a pretty good place right now it’s a great time to be a Brighton fan and it’s a great time to be an employee of the club and we’ve just simply got to get over last night quickly move forward on Sunday and keep going because that’s what this club you know has done now for more than a dozen Years um and we’re enjoying the ride and it’s a journey and there’s going to be those bumps in the road
SEE MORE: Footage emerges of Ajax hooligans attacking Aston Villa fans at train station before match
Twitter users reacted as Brighton CEO and his club’s fans demands for action taken over incidents, a banner and the hand gestures by Roma fans…
@wearebrighton: More chance of meeting Princess Diana outside than there is of the Italian police doing anything
@ryanadsett: Disqualify is the only fair outcome
@AdamGoldsack: The treatment of Brighton fans by Roma fans has been disgusting. I remember Boro had similar experience of Roma Ultras hooliganism back in 2006.
@PlankrtRich: I made 45p, a coke bottle, 3 lighters and a vape when sat next to the home end at the amex. Stop crying
@messageismyname: My son and I were hit by a coin.
@BrightonBubble: Are we surprised
@Mark_CPFC: If an English side did this btw it would be a 50000 year ban and £6bn fine
@ScraseFace: And the police would be all over it, everyone identified found and in court within weeks.
@jim_price: Fat chance of UEFA doing anything, stabbings and the stuff in the ground has been going on in Italy for generations. Can’t ever remember any sanctions.
@DerektheKopRed: It’s been going on for at least 40 years & UEFA have never done anything about it. I was there in 1984 & never went back. They carry knives on scooters, they threw bricks & bottles as we left the ground from a high embankment behind trees. Every English club has had trouble.
@chrisashley71: I was standing near the barrier separating the fans and I couldn’t believe the venom coming from the roma fans, some of them elderly gentlemen and they were winning 4-0. No class . Also the crush getting out was dangerous. Only one supervisor and a lot of people panicking .
@MrSiWhitworth: Nothings changed since we went there in 2008.
@umpus1974: Still waiting for a response from UEFA or the Italian Police from 2006, so wouldn’t hold your breath. Nowt but cowards. #Boro
@eideangm: No chance of the Italian police helping 👍
@scousemanblue: Absolutely disgusting. I know it was sometime ago but as an Everton fan we visited Fiorentina and after this I’ll never go to Italy to watch a game of football. I hope @tonyp_BHAlba is staying safe. Why do Brits get called hooligans when it’s worse in other countries
Regardless of the scoreline , what an experience we’ve had on these away days, it really is the stuff of dreams. #bhafc pic.twitter.com/LinubwDCNd
— Mike (@BhafcMike) March 7, 2024
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