Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani has hit out at Bristol City on Twitter amid claims that two young supporters were ejected from the home end at Ashton Gate on Saturday.
A father of the two children who were kicked off wrote a social media post which read, “Leeds United my 2 young son, my brother in law and I were ejected from the family area of Adhton Gate Stadium before kick off, as my sons have their Leeds United socks on.
“We booked tickets through the Bristol box office and told them we were Leeds fans, which they said is fine. It was my boys first game as we live down in Cornwall. We travelled for 3 hours to watch Leeds and my eldest son is absolutely devastated. All he wanted to do was watch the team he loves. Absolutely gutted.”
PLEASE CAN ALL MY FOLLOWERS RETWEET!!!! REALLY @BristolCity pic.twitter.com/jx7YTYo3Lj
— Philip Joel (@PhilipJoel) March 9, 2019
The fans' post caught the attention of the Leeds owner who also took to Twitter to say: "This is unacceptable and we will invite the family at Elland Road as guests. what can you expect from a club whom request points deductions for no reasons and didn’t accept our documentary crew to access at the ground and follow our team. Focus on Reading now #mot"
It comes just a day after a fan was banned from attending the league clash because he supports both teams with his ticket withdrawn by officials at Ashton Gate and gave him a refund.
His ticket has been withdrawnhttps://t.co/VGDz0vUXeo
— Bristol Live (@BristolLive) March 8, 2019
He hasn’t been to a game in years because he’s watched them on the television but due to past incidents in matches between the two sides, the clubs are determined to comply with the rules which state that there should be no away fans in the home ends of the ground.
Hundreds of Leeds fans were found to have done so, City provided a list of who bought tickets when they went on general, and he came up on a list of people who never bought tickets online for Bristol City games. The fan last went to Ashton Gate in the 1980s.
That list cross-references with Leeds United’s database, his name showing up that he attended a match at Elland Road.
He said, as quoted by Bristol Live: “I am from Stockwood, I am a Bristol City fan, and I am also a fan of Leeds United.
“But I haven’t seen Leeds since God knows when, for years and years.
“I’ve just come out of hospital after having surgery, I’ve been having a really bad time of it this year, and I thought I would get a ticket to kind of celebrate being discharged from hospital.
“I got a ticket in the Dolman Stand – I was really lucky because there were only 54 tickets left at the time I bought one.
“I wanted to take my daughter, as she is a big Bristol City fan, but when I went back to get another they’d sold out.
“If Leeds scored I wouldn’t do anything. If Bristol City scored I’d applaud them.
“I just thought if they had any evidence of me being a hooligan, or been involved in any kind of trouble before, then fair enough.
“But I haven’t been to a football match in years. I just watch it and support them from my armchair usually.
“I couldn’t work it out. I did tweet something about the fact I’d got a ticket, so maybe they saw that.”
He believes Bristol City searched his Twitter profile and found him replying to tweets of Leeds United about the fixture, which said: “I will be at Ashton Gate on Saturday but in with the City fans I will have to be discreet.”
A Bristol City spokesperson said that is wasn’t the tweet but just the database cross-reference, he was on Leeds but not the Robins: “Our head of safety and security received credible intelligence that several hundred Leeds United supporters had managed to purchase tickets in the home end of Ashton Gate.
“We provided a list of people who had never purchased tickets here before at Ashton Gate to Leeds United. They then cross referenced this with their database of supporters.
“Once Leeds United had confirmed these people were on their database a decision was made to revoke all tickets attached to those bookings in accordance with English Football League (EFL) regulations.
“The decision to revoke tickets for any match is not one which is taken lightly and we only do this once we have positive confirmation from the opposing club that individuals are indeed on their database.
Over 12,000 football fans 'liked' and praised Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani's tweet hitting out at Bristol City on Twitter amid claims that two young supporters were ejected from the home end at Ashton Gate on Saturday because one of them wore Leeds socks, despite Bristol ticket office stating it was fine - check out what social media users had to tweet on the next page.
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