Fergie confident in travelling fans

Alex Ferguson is confident Manchester United’s Champions League trip to Rome will pass off peacefully.

Over 4,000 Red Devils fans are expected at the Stadio Olympico for the quarter-final clash with AS Roma.

It is the first European away day for United since trouble flared during the knock-out phase with Lille in Lens, when the host club were fined 100,000 Swiss francs by UEFA for crowd disturbances and player misbehaviour, and also the first visit to Italy by an English team since a police officer was killed prior to the Catania-Palermo Sicilian derby.

Travelling supporters have been sent official letters from Old Trafford warning them of the potential for danger and advising them in the most severe manner not to make their way to the stadium independently for fear of attack by Roma’s hard-line ’Ultras’.

Yet Ferguson claimed the letters were not out of the ordinary and expressed confidence in the Italian police force to deal with any issues that do arise.

“We always issue a letter for every away trip,” said Ferguson.

“More importantly, the Italian police have been very communicative with our people.

“Hopefully, everything will be okay tomorrow. I don’t anticipate trouble but the Italian police are very experienced and I think they can deal with it.”