In the war zone that was central Leeds, with riot vans at every vantage point, a group of fans charging a double decker bus said everything about the current reality of trying to maintain order in football.
It was the biggest security operation the Premier League has ever known — 900 West Yorkshire police officers, working on orders that Manchester United fans, who were funnelled out of the main railway station in buses, should be segregated.
But one of the buses became briefly stranded in a logjam on Victoria Road, allowing a Leeds group to race towards it, in front of traffic, their faces contorted as they hurled the taunts about Mason Greenwood’s rape arrest, which have been washing around social media for weeks.
900 police officers were on hand to try to control the crowds at Elland Road on Sunday
From inside the bus, the Manchester United contingent were delighted to give it back, with hand gestures and taunts before a window was pushed open and beer poured sloshed through it. That the Manchester taunters seemed to be boys — no more than 16 — bears out what police have been saying about the current generation of football hooligans for more than two years now.
There were challenges elsewhere across the city centre, too. At a Wetherspoon’s pub, rival fans tried to fight each other. Police intervened.
At 10 minutes before kick-off, this military-level operation threatened to turn nasty.
The exit from the Elland Road underpass, a few hundred yards from the ground, was blocked by a line of stewards, to allow the last of the Manchester United buses to pass before it.
The underground cavern became rammed with 200 Leeds fans, at risk of missing kick-off. ‘Charge the line,’ someone shouted as boos echoed around the place. ‘What’s the problem?’ ‘Run through the line.’
Mounted police arrived in support and the buses safely proceeded to their fortified parking area. The buses were certainly a potential incitement.
Fans hammered on the windows at Leeds supporters.
At least two buses paraded a Turkish flag. That’s their way of glorifying in the deaths of Leeds fans before a European tie in Istanbul, 22 years ago. The last time Manchester United played here in front of a full house — a
