FA to investigate crowd trouble at Villa-WBA quarter-final

West Brom fans rip out seats while Villa fans invade pitch

The Football Association will launch a full investigation on Monday into the ugly scenes that marred the end of Aston Villa’s FA Cup quarter-final victory over neighbours West Bromwich Albion. Fabian Delph and Scott Sinclair scored the goals that took Villa to Wembley but their 2-0 win was overshadowed by the behaviour of both sets of supporters towards the end of the second half.

The first signs of trouble surfaced late on when West Brom fans located in the upper North Stand ripped out seats and hurled them at the Villa supporters below. A pitch invasion followed at the other end of the stadium when Villa fans climbed over the hoardings with a few minutes remaining.

Hundreds of home supporters then stampeded on to the surface at the end of a game that both teams finished with 10 men, after West Brom’s Claudio Yacob and Villa’s Jack Grealish both picked up second yellow cards. Tony Pulis, the Albion manager, described the chaotic scenes as “disgraceful” and said the safety of the players – many of whom were trying to make their way to the tunnel as fans poured on to the field – was put in danger. Callum McManaman was incensed and had to be restrained by another West Brom player while Delph, the Villa captain, described the scenes as “very, very scary” and claimed that he was bitten. Delph, who scored Villa’s opening goal, was clearly distressed. “My armband got nicked, someone got my left boot, but I could appreciate the relief the fans are feeling after a result like that,” he said. “It was dangerous. Someone tried to take my boot off. People tried to kiss me and were biting me. It was scary.”

In a statement released on Saturday night Aston Villa said they felt that supporters had “let the club down”. The statement read: “The club does not condone supporters invading the field of play under any circumstances.

“We are very disappointed that what should have been a very memorable and proud moment for our fans was marred by the actions of those who could not control themselves. They have let both themselves and their club down.”

The FA had a crowd control adviser present and will review all footage available. As well as asking Villa for a full explanation, the governing body will contact West Midlands police for their observations. West Brom are also likely to face questions about the conduct of their supporters. There are a range of sanctions available to the FA, with sizeable fines the most likely punishment.

Pulis blamed Villa for failing to provide adequate stewarding. “It’s disgraceful,” he said. “We don’t want to see those scenes. They’ve beaten us and for that to happen, that’s just mindless idiots. If you’re Villa, you need to look at the stewards as they came over to our fans and there was nobody there.

“It’s a quarter-final of an FA Cup, it’s a full house and you know that it’s going to be tasty, let’s put it that way.

“The hierarchy at Villa should recognise that you need stewards at both ends of the pitch. To see the supporters coming on with three or four minutes to go … but they were congregating before that time. It puts players at danger. We were seeing that in the 70s and 80s, we don’t want to go back to that.”

Asked if any of the Albion players were struck by supporters, Pulis replied: “I didn’t ask them afterwards. Everyone looked as though they had their heads on, their arms on and their legs on. Nobody said anything to me.”

The victory was Villa’s second over Albion in five days. Tim Sherwood said: “I can’t condone the fans entering the field but I have to be totally honest – I can understand their emotions. They’ve just beat their local rivals twice in a week and once in the quarter-final of the FA Cup, so the emotions are running very, very high.”


By Stuart James / Guardian