Read about our approach to external linking. The Football Associations David Davies said playing the game was the least worst option. Bits of Istanbul werent in control. This led to 19 injuries, including 4 stabbings, and 60 arrests with similar events occurring in England and Turkey in the aftermath of the riots. Nigel Martyn has exclusively told LeedsUnited.News that playing against Galatasaray in the first leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final in 2000 - just 24 hours after the murders of two Leeds fans - is to this day, his biggest regret in football. They ordered us to pump up the volume, so we did," said Mr Dedeler, 24. George understands why but wishes with hindsight that he had been there. Me and the security team tried to create a bit of a cushion between them so the players werent worried about getting batoned, Fallows says. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Its 20 years now but I dont think Ill ever get over it. The police were knocking everyone about, says Paul Holmes, a friend of the Loftuses who was in Taksim Square when the violence broke out. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. Even then, it was meant to be closed to the press but loads of them were there and they were being really intrusive, Fallows says. Gray, a Glaswegian, was in the Celtic end with his wife Linda on the day of the Ibrox disaster in 1971. There was the time when the pub opened its doors early to allow the locals to catch an early kick-off between Leeds and Manchester United. "There's a lot of anger. Disgusting. The setting was Turkeys biggest city, on the banks of the Bosphorus, and the game was the first leg of a UEFA Cup semi-final. The problem shouldn't have been Alioski or his next club, it's how Galatasaray dealt with that tragedy By Phil Hay Jul 24, 2021 In the early hours of the morning after the death of two Leeds. Ali Sami Yen was in a league of its own in atmosphere terms, aggressive and ferocious for visiting sides. The Turkish side are hated by those at Elland Road after two travelling fans were stabbed to. Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight were stabbed in Istanbul on the eve of Leeds' Uefa Cup semi-final tie against Galatasaray in April 2000. Because I was so young and the memories arent clear, I get times when I ask myself if it really happened. Holly, as a two-year-old, was left with no memories at all. 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[35] In response, Prime Minister Tony Blair stated: Hopefully this threat will bring to their senses anyone tempted to continue the mindless thuggery that had brought such shame to the country.[35]. After travelling to the Turkish capital to follow the club, Mr Speight and Mr Loftus were attacked with machetes when a row broke out between rival fans. Amid the fall-out and a world of shock in Leeds, Ridsdale suggested that the second leg at Elland Road would be safer without away fans. A couple of lads came back to the hotel on their own and when I asked where the rest of them were, they didnt know. Galatasaray wanted me from the start. Galatasaray 2-1 Trabzonspor MORE. And worse things too. [17] This came after Arsenal had warned the police before the final that there could be hooligans travelling to Copenhagen. Ill be careful here but I have to say that I felt uncomfortable welcoming Galatasarays delegates to Elland Road. Further information on the Istanbul violence: "Tragedy that awaited two fans on a journey to hell", "16 Hardcore Hooligan Firms, Ultras Groups We Wouldn't Want to Mess with", "Soldiers join hooligans to attack Turks in Cup clash", "Town in fear as drunken English pour in", "Arsenal-Galatasaray, sous le signe de la violence", "English, Turkish fans clash on eve final", "Copenhagen police overrun as soccer fans cause mayhem", "Folkefest endte i vold og masseslagsml", "Surprise attack by Arsenal fans seeking revenge sparked battle", "Violence erupts again as English and Turkish football fans riot in Copenhagen", "Danish police fear more brawls after European soccer final", "Violence overshadows historic soccer victory", "Charleroi lobby yet to learn lessons of Heysel", "Turkish and English fans clash at airport", "Galatasaray Wins UEFA Cup After Day of Rioting by Fans", "England told: more rioting and you're out", "Piers Morgan On Arsenal, Foreign Ownership and Twitter Rants", "SPORTS - The shadow on the UEFA Cup triumph", "How long until Turk fans cause another death on the pitch? [22] The riots did not spread to the stadium, although there was an attempt to pull down the fences by fans heading towards the Arsenal area of the stadium before police stopped them. Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight were stabbed during street clashes the night before Leeds played Turkey's Galatasaray in the second leg of the Uefa Cup semi-finals in April 2000. [38], In 2013, Arsenal invited Galatasaray to compete at their annual Emirates Cup tournament. The Ali Sami Yen was in a league of its own in atmosphere terms, aggressive and ferocious for visiting sides. The Loftuses had travelled to Turkey on the same flight as David OLearys players. Arsenal qualified for the final by defeating French club Lens in their semi-final. Spencer interrupted dinner to advise Ridsdale that they should return to the hotel immediately. Everything was muddled. You dont get it.. In the early hours of the morning after the death of two Leeds United supporters in Istanbul, Peter Ridsdale met with a delegate from UEFA at one of the citys police stations. Gray remembers OLeary going out of the team hotel to visit a barbers for a shave beforehand. The blood had to be sourced externally and to do that, someone had to pay. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. Galatasaray beat English team Leeds United but their matches were marred by violence: two Leeds United fans were stabbed to death before their semi-final first leg at Galatasaray's Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul on 6 April 2000. He just happened to run into some tossers with knives., George was so young that the aftermath almost strayed into boyhood adventure. Outside, Leeds fans reportedly taunted Turkish men. Give our social media channels a follow . Within a year, however, Demir, following an appeal, was a free man after his conviction was quashed and a re-trial ordered. Four men were arrested and charged with their murders. [34] The Copenhagen riots followed a long line of similar events involving English football fans, and in June, UEFA's executive committee listed the Heysel Stadium disaster, disorders in Charleroi and Brussels, the killing of the two Leeds fans in Istanbul, and the Copenhagen riots and warned the British government that if there was any more rioting then England would be expelled from Euro 2000. The story goes that he and his wife Susan got together after he offered her a lift on the back of one. Tributes began to cover the gates and the Billy Bremner Statue at Elland Road. Association with the tragedy can be difficult. Ridsdale agreed to send his wife and other officials back but instructed a car to take him and Spencer to Taksim Hospital. My mum always says the same: Hed gone out there for the football, nothing else. This caused a severe riot in the city square, with several restaurant facilities used by fans to fight each other, with iron bars and knives also being used. Even then, it was meant to be closed to the press but loads of them were there and they were being really intrusive, Fallows says. [5] As a result of the stabbings, Leeds United banned Galatasaray fans from attending the second leg at Elland Road, claiming that the safety of fans could not be guaranteed. But eventually the issue of what to do about the game had to be addressed. They then broke into an apartment building to threaten Kosovan refugees with a knife, mistakenly believing them to be Turkish. [7] The ban was supported by UEFA and only 80 tickets were issued to Galatasaray for officials and representatives of the Turkish government. [28] In Turkey, nine people were accidentally shot and injured by Galatasaray fans firing guns in celebration despite police warning them not to. It was a lad from Shipley who I knew, Andy says. OFFICIAL DONATION CAMPAIGN FOR THE VICTIMS OF EARTHQUAKE MORE. [47] Michael Doherty, the chairman of the Communication Workers Union, and his brother Tom took Royal Mail to an Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal claiming they had been acting in self-defence. The cause of the fighting which broke out after dark in Istanbul was a subject of fierce contention in the weeks after the stabbings. [18] Arsenal fans congregated in nearby bars. He had been involved in the plane crash which Leeds players and coaches escaped from on the way home from a Premier League game at West Ham United in 1998. The police were doing nothing to stop them. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. A lot of what the police were doing was pure intimidation, Fallows says. Leeds supporters in Istanbul were told to stay in their hotels. Past present or future..', A second added: 'Would much rather see one of the u23s get a chance at lb than Alioski for the rest of the season. Twenty Leeds fans, witnesses to the fight, were interviewed. They knew there had been trouble but the club made an effort to hold back some detail on the basis that if the game went ahead, they would need to concentrate on it. If someone could have shown me those levels of intimidation, Id have refused to play the game unhesitatingly. I spent the whole night thinking, What are we doing here? And when the Leeds fans turned their backs to the pitch, total respect to them because the football meant nothing. At the hospital, Ridsdale encountered absolute chaos. Surprise me? After a long legal process in Turkey, four men were jailed in 2010. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Any time I think about what happened, I ask the same question. Andy Loftus had flown to watch the match with his brother. Within an hour of the stabbings in central Istanbul, some of David OLearys squad emerged to speak to him. Ridsdale can visualise it all 21 years on: the lay-out of the hospital, the chaos inside, the panicked confusion. The fan responded: "If you did not know then fair enough but your club certainly did and they should be ashamed of themselves. The deaths led to an angry reaction in England with Galatasaray fans . Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Leeds United. Some claimed the English sparked it by throwing beer glasses at passing women pedestrians. I had no idea where we were going or why we were going there, he says. Summarize this article for a 10 years old. He visited his fathers body in the chapel of rest across the road, bringing pictures he had drawn for him with felt tips. But the Leeds fans do not see it that way. "When you see a man having to identify the body of his brother with a massive stab wound in his chest it just isn't what you'd associate with football.". The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. He was taken to identify the other, Chris Loftus, in the morgue after doctors mistook him for a family member. And others, like Eddie Gray and Ian Harte, have moved on with their lives. They stressed as delicately as they could the importance of staying indoors. The first I knew of it was when they came out to tell me. On the 21st anniversary of Kevin Speight and Christopher Loftus' deaths on April 5 2000, Martyn also recalls the immediate reaction of the Leeds squad . Leeds supporters who were present denied causing trouble and the UK coroner who presided over the inquest, David Hinchliff, stated in unequivocal terms that Speight and Loftus were the innocent victims of a deliberate ambush. In contrast, what Leeds saw in Galatasaray was a baffling lack of sympathy. Turkish Prime Minister Blent Ecevit also made a call for fans to avoid violence after the riots, stating: Sports should be an initiative for friendship, not for fighting. Without his help, my mum would have been a bit lost, George says. Loftus had been stabbed five times and Speight twice. The bodies were repatriated a few days later, beginning the process of mourning and funerals. Another picture, taken by the Yorkshire Evening Posts Mark Bickerdike, shows Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate stepping from the tunnel with tangible shock on their faces. But it was common sense. The complication here is that football has no right to dictate how people manage a grievance that goes so far beyond standard rivalry. It triggered something and I ran into the ward. Later in the day, Galatasaray fans occupied City Hall Square before heading towards Arsenal fans in bars nearby. But where Galatasaray failed, and where Ridsdale specifically felt resentment, was in grasping the scale of the tragedy and in refusing to accept that violence on the streets and a UEFA Cup tie could not be classed as unrelated events once the worst had happened. Holmes says Andy was the life and soul of the party before Istanbul but the impact of Chriss death was severe. Some Arsenal fans reacted negatively to the news, claiming that there was still bad blood between the two sets of supporters and were concerned that there would be a resumption of hostilities between them.[51]. One of 13 Turks arrested in Istanbul has confessed to stabbing Leeds United fan Christopher Loftus, whose body is expected . They reported that as one of them tried to give the kiss of life to Mr Loftus, he was set upon. At the hotel, Phil went up to his room. Can you list the top facts and stats about 2000 UEFA Cup semi-final violence? He sees it now as a necessary shock to the system. If you ask me now if I made the right or wrong decision by playing it, I still dont know, Ridsdale says. They will never be forgotten.. I went off the rails, he says. They carried beer glasses outside, we couldn't stop them, and others followed." How the violence started is unclear. I dont know why.. Right up to the attack, I didnt see any trouble. Other fans in Istanbul spoke of isolated incidents here and there but nothing serious. Read about our approach to external linking. Spencer stepped in and paid with his personal credit card. A streetwise Mancunian, he has looked after Oasis, Noel Gallagher and Take That and on the morning when we speak hes at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, organising staff for a gig by The Script. 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He was on the scene as the club grieved and as much as any other of David OLearys players, he was in a position to fully comprehend both the impact of the killings and Galatasarays response to them. Former club legend Harry Kewell previously soured his relationship with Leeds fans after moving to Galatasaray from Liverpool in 2008. It was totally deliberate. It is wrong to presume to tell those who were affected by the events in Istanbul how to feel or how to react to a player taking Galatasarays money. Peter Ridsdale, the Leeds chairman, had been dining with directors from Galatasaray when reports of trouble came through. Ridsdale still struggles to accept Galatasarays indifferent reaction to the stabbings. galatasaray leeds deathashtoreth worship practices. Bitexen Giresunspor 0 - 4 Galatasaray MORE. The pair were met by angry, upset and bewildered groups. They felt we were overreacting. In all the many layers of anger, that was one of them; the apparent inability to adopt some common decency. Galatasaray accused him of trying to gain an unfair sporting advantage. The day after the riots, FA Executive Director David Davies, issued an apology for the violence. If you're Leeds, you don't move to a direct rival, simple. The away supporters responded with songs about two Leeds fans who were stabbed to death in Istanbul prior to a fixture against Galatasaray in 2000. . Hello Hell, We Are Leeds, read one banner carried by fans piling through Istanbul airport on Wednesday night. ", Get the FREE Mirror Football newsletter with the day's key headlines and transfer news straight into your inbox. On each trip he would set up a desk in the corridor where the team were staying, a point of contact in case of any problems. The way the police and the authorities were with us. The only thing I could compare it to is the One Love concert in Manchester (held after the terrorist bombing at the Manchester Arena in 2017) and thats purely because of how difficult the logistics of One Love were, he says. Several fans offered to foot the bill. I am just trying to come to terms with the fact that I have seen a dead body for the first time in 10 years. Football and Leedss financial collapse made Ridsdale persona non grata at Elland Road but George says his mums face lit up when she heard that he was being interviewed for this article. And many have voiced their opinion on social media following a report by Football Insider that Alioski has agreed a pre-contract to join the rivals in the summer. I went for some counselling and didnt go through with all of it but the charity work helped. Wed heard that Istanbul could be a bit dangerous but we never thought anything of it, Andy says. Follow Phil on Twitter @PhilHay_, George and Holly Speight with Peter Ridsdale after their fathers death. The families of the victims will tell you that. The 2000 UEFA Cup semi-final violence in Istanbul, Turkey, between fans of English football team Leeds United and Turkish team Galatasaray before the first match of the UEFA Cup semi-final on 5 April 2000, led to two Leeds fans being stabbed to death by Galatasaray fans. Ill be honest, by the time we were kicking off I had no idea why we were playing. My mum struggled massively with it all and she still does now, George says. Trust us, this is only going to get worse., It didnt go down well, and I got that. pleasant grove high school / staff directory; dr omar suleiman wife esraa; ontario road trip summer; song baseball apple; waltham athletic club tennis schedule; galatasaray leeds death. I respect the Loftuses for fighting, 100 per cent. When they landed at Leeds-Bradford airport, a Leeds United club car was waiting to pick them up from the runaway, avoiding the cameras waiting inside.
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