UEFA threatens fan ban for Spurs’ Dutch away day
UEFA have appealed against their independent disciplinary tribunal’s sentence of a suspended two-match stadium ban for Feyenoord after rioting fans caused their game at Nancy to be held up for 30 minutes.
UEFA communications director William Gaillard said: “We have appealed before on a number of occasions. In this case the prosecutor considers the sentence is not severe enough. The reasoning is that there have been so many previous incidents involving Feyenoord to just give them a suspended sentence.
“We are asking the disciplinary commission to reconsider and a more severe penalty for example could be for the sentence not to be suspended.”
The appeal will be heard early next month and the matches played in February.
Spurs and Feyenoord have met four times previously in European competition, with two wins each. Tottenham supporters rioted after the 1974 UEFA Cup final second leg in Rotterdam, following Feyenoord’s 4-2 aggregate victory.
On the field, Spurs boss Martin Jol believes Feyenoord represent a threat to his side’s progress in the UEFA Cup, despite the Dutch side losing Dirk Kuyt to Liverpool over the summer.
“I said it yesterday that we would probably get Feyenoord,” said Jol.
“It is not a bad draw for us, they are probably not as good as when they played Spurs in the final of the UEFA Cup in 1974, but it is still a big club who get crowds averaging 45-50,000.
“They are strong at home, but we’ve got the advantage of playing later at home. Feyenoord are in the top five in Holland and are normally in the top three.
“Feyenoord had to sell Dirk Kuyt to Liverpool, but they have still got bundles of talent.
“They’ve got a young squad who have done well and beat a good Wisla Krakow side but I feel if we play with confidence like we have been then we can go further.
“It could have been worse and it could have been better, but I am looking forward to going to Rotterdam.
“If you look at the teams in the last 16, Braga are strong and are the third team in Portugal with Porto and Benfica. Parma are a good team and are a contender in Europe.”
Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder was a happy man after seeing his side paired with Belgian outfit Zulte Waregem.
However, the Magpies face what should be a much harder task if they progress, with Turkish side Fenerbahce or AZ Alkmaar of Holland awaiting them in the last 16.
Roeder said: “It is a good draw — one of the first reasons would be because we have not got too far to travel. We could have drawn a team from Tel Aviv in Israel and you are on an aeroplane for five hours thinking of the return journey and the game the following weekend.”
Rangers are headed for Tel Aviv, having been paired with Hapoel Tel Aviv.
And Gers striker Dado Prso believes the Ibrox side are favourites go through.
Rangers have already beaten an Israeli team in this year’s tournament when they downed Maccabi Haifa 2-0 at Ibrox in a group game.
Prso said: “I think we are the favourites and we will try to do our job. I am happy with the draw. We have already played against Maccabi and we know the football they play in Israel.
“We could have had worse and we are satisfied. We played against Maccabi and we won and we were confident playing against them.”
Zulte Waregem/Newcastle v Fenerbahce/AZ AlkmaarCSKA Moscow/Maccabi Haifa v Livorno/EspanyolHapoel Tel Aviv/Rangers v Bordeaux/OsasunaBraga/Parma v Feyenoord/TottenhamSteaua Bucharest/Sevilla v Shakhtar/NancyLens/Panathinaikos v Leverkusen/BlackburnAEK Athens/PSG v Benfica/Dinamo BucharestSpartak Moscow/Celta Vigo v Werder Bremen/Ajax.
* First legs on March 8; second legs on March 14.
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