West Ham to ban fans involved in Manchester United bus attack for life as David Sullivan dismisses incident
Sullivan claimed that there was no attack and criticised United for arriving late to the match
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Your support makes all the difference.West Ham have backtracked on co-chairman David Sullivan’s claim that there would be no damage to Manchester United’s team bus and have promised to ban for life anyone found to have been involved in the disgraceful attack before the final game at the Boleyn Ground.
United were delayed in arriving at Upton Park after fans flooded the streets surrounding the stadium, with the match representing West Ham’s final home game before they move to the Olympic Stadium next season. The Hammers went on to win the match 3-2 to dent United's top four hopes, but the game has been overshadowed by the unwelcome scenes before kick-off.
Video footage revealed that the team bus was targeted with bottles and other missiles, causing the players inside to lie in the middle of the aisle in fear of being hurt as object crashed against the windows – causing some of them to smash.
The club issued a statement early on Wednesday morning that read: "It was an extraordinary night full of extraordinary moments in front of extraordinary fans. 99 percent of whom behaved impeccably and were a credit to the Club.
"We have already had thousands of tweets and emails from fans to say how proud they were to be a part of such a special evening in West Ham's history.
"However, we are aware that there were some supporters outside the Boleyn Ground who didn't act in an appropriate way when the Manchester United team bus was damaged.
"That was not acceptable and we will work with the police to identify those responsible and ban them for life."
United captain Wayne Rooney revealed the attacks upon his arrival at the ground, with kick-off having to be pushed back 45 minutes to 20.30, and the Football Association has said it "strongly condemns the unsavoury incidents".
A police statement confirmed that one officer and one member of the public suffered minor injuries during the unsavoury scenes, and added that no arrests have been made.
"We are aware that a number of items were thrown towards Manchester United's coach this evening, Tuesday, 10 May,” read a Metropolitan Police statement. "There have been no arrests. An appropriate policing plan is in place."
The decision by West Ham to ban any fans that are found to have had an active role in attacking the United coach comes after co-chairman Sullivan criticised United were arriving late and claimed that they were over exaggerating the damage caused.
He told BBC Five Live before the match kicked off: “It’s depressing really for the supporters that have buses to catch and trains to catch. It’s going to be a late night and some of them won’t be able to stay. We’ve got a great celebration at the end of the game and I just don't understand why Manchester United didn't get here at 4 o’clock. They knew it was our last game. They knew there would be congestion. We came here at 4 o’clock and there was no trouble at all so they should have come earlier.
There was people around it, and people were being pushed in all directions but there was no attack on the coach
“They did it at Tottenham a couple of weeks ago and I just can’t understand why the game hasn’t been allowed to kick off. They were here at 10 past seven, they could have kicked off at 19.45, why give them an hour and a quarter? It’s crazy.
“There was congestion in the street that wouldn’t let the coach in, and the players didn’t want to walk for health and safety reasons from the coach. They were surrounded by supporters, but they should have been here really at 4 o’clock.”
Asked if the coach was attacked, Sullivan replied: “No. There was people around it, and people were being pushed in all directions but there was no attack on the coach.
He added: “If you check the coach there won’t be any damage. It’ll be over-exuberant behaviour.
"There is jealousy towards Manchester United because everybody feels they get treated specially. They've been treated specially again here tonight. If we had arrived at Old Trafford when they did they wouldn't have put the kick off back 45 minutes."
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