THE football clubs with the naughtiest fans have been revealed.
New arrest and banning statistics for each club during the 2022/23 season have been released showing which of England’s clubs are the worst behaved.
Following Covid, the number of arrests and bans at football matches has spiked to levels last seen in the 2013/14 season.
Some 682 bans were issued last season – the most for more than 12 years after possession of Class A drugs like cocaine was added to the list of offences.
Football banning orders are issued by courts lasting five years for offences including violence, pitch invasions, and booze-related behaviour.
Manchester United fans had the most football banning orders, with 69.
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Second was Millwall, third Leicester City, fourth Birmingham City, and fifth West Ham United.
The team with the highest number of arrests was West Ham United, with 89 people arrested – 69 per cent at London Stadium.
Second was Manchester United with 83 arrests, 49 per cent at Old Trafford.
Third was Leeds United with 69 arrests with 43 per cent of them at home.
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Manchester City came in fourth on the table, Spurs in fifth, and Arsenal in sixth.
The most common offences were violent disorder and public disorder.
Over the last nine years, alcohol-related offences have reduced from 25 per cent to nine per cent.
Banning orders showed some of the traditional hooligan firms.
The Premier League had one of the lower arrest rates out of competitions played in England at 4.3 arrests per 100,000 people.
The highest number of arrests at a domestic competition was the FA Cup with 6.4 arrests per 100,000.
But the highest number of arrests was at international matches, with a whopping 13.5 arrests per 100,000 attendees.
Football hooligans will be all-but banned from leaving Britain during the Euros this summer.
Fresh laws imposed from today will force more than 1,600 yobs to surrender their passports to the police from June 4 until the tournament ends.
Anyone who fails to comply – or tries to travel to Germany or any countries en route to the host nation – faces six months in jail for severe offences or an unlimited fine.
Policing Minister Chris Philp last night said: “Violence, abuse, and disorder have no place in the game we love.
“The vast majority of fans are law-abiding, but we will have zero tolerance for those who disrupt this incredible event.
“These measures will ensure true football fans can travel to the tournament safely and prevent hooligans from committing these crimes abroad.”
The travel crackdown applies to the 1,624 people in England and Wales who currently have a football banning order.
During the month-long Euros – which kicks off on June 14 – the sanctioned hooligans can only go abroad with the explicit permission of the Football Banning Orders Authority.
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Cops will also get new powers to intercept other known louts threatening to cause chaos.
Possession of Class A drugs amounted to 9 per cent of all bans last year after being made a banning offence, on par with alcohol offences.
The return of hooliganism
Across the continent, authorities are struggling to control hooliganism — often aimed at travelling English fans, who receive massive police protection as continental supporters try to test their reputation for street brawling.
Two months ago in Milan a Newcastle United fan was stabbed in the stomach by a machete-wielding yob in a balaclava.
This season was Brighton and Hove Albion’s first taste of competitive European football.
But last month in Athens, tear gas aimed by police at riotous fans of the defeated home team AEK ended up choking Brighton supporters.
In May, West Ham players tried to intervene when hooded fans of Dutch side AZ Alkmaar piled into the section of the stadium where the English team’s families were sitting.
Football’s ruling bodies fear the return of the hooliganism from decades ago, which in 1985 saw English teams banned from Europe for five years after the deaths of 39 mostly Italian fans in the riot at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
