Black market ticket England fans 'will be allowed into match'

Macedonian police will allow England fans who have bought tickets on the black market into the Euro 2004 qualifier in Skopje.

Meanwhile, David Beckham says he understands that the England fans who are coming to the match are die-hard supporters who bought their tickets before the FA advice not to travel.

David Swift, deputy chief constable of Staffordshire Police, the most senior British officer advising the Macedonians, said: "My understanding last evening from the Macedonian Police is that, based on the behaviour we have seen so far, that will occur."

Fewer than 300 England supporters are in Macedonia, he said, and there have been no incidents. Another 200 are expected to arrive during the day.

The FA have pleaded with fans not to travel, fearing England could be thrown out of the tournament if there is any trouble, and is distributing the 2,500 ticket allocation to needy Macedonian children.

Mr Swift said segregating the England fans from locals would not be possible, which meant they would be sitting among the Macedonians.

Asked if he was happy with the situation, he said: "Happy would not be an appropriate choice of word, I would rather they were in England, but yesterday at the England under-21 game, at another stadium, there were a few British people there and there were no flash points or hostilities.

"The Macedonian police have the capacity to deal with incidents as they occur. Fans were drinking alongside each other yesterday with no problems, so you ask yourself, why should there be an issue?

"Hopefully the people that have turned up are the people we would like to be associated with anyway."