High security prepared for Turkish match

FANS who attempt to travel to Istanbul for England’s game against Turkey next month face the most stringent anti-hooligan measures ever put in place for a football match.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and captain David Beckham have also been told to avoid any inflammatory statements or behaviour before and during the game on October 11.

Supporters face being turned back at British airports and Istanbul airport, and if they do manage to get through then they face three police cordons around the Sukru Saracoglu stadium.

Fans will be asked to produce Turkish ID cards and anyone identified as an England supporter will be detained in “secure holding areas” for the duration of the match.

Both associations now appear to be in agreement and Turkish FA president Haluk Ulusoy said: “If people do try to come in they will be stopped at the airport.

Then there will be the police cordons around the stadium and even if there are three or four people inside the stadium we will recognise them and the police take them out.”

There are fears that the match will be a magnet for troublemakers who follow England, especially given the history of antipathy between fans of both countries, and that they will buy black market tickets.

The FA is worried that any more outbreaks of hooliganism will see England kicked out of the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal next summer.

FA chairman Geoff Thompson said: “We urge English fans not to travel to Istanbul. There is a clear threat of being banned if there is any further serious misconduct by English fans.”

Meanwhile, an attempt by the FA to set up a joint press conference with Eriksson and Turkey coach Senol Gunes in Istanbul next week has bitten the dust.

Thompson said: “We did discuss it but time is against us and it is not now possible for that to happen,” he said. The summit has succeeded in bringing together the sides, both of whom have been offended by recent utterances.

Many in Turkey took umbrage at Eriksson saying earlier this month that fans risked their lives by going to Istanbul, with Ulusoy retorting that Eriksson “has forgotten the Heysel disaster”.