Russian fans will not seek revenge
CSKA MOSCOW vs SPURS
Around 3000 away fans are expected for our second UEFA Champions League game away against CSKA Moscow in Russia according to their head of fan outreach Ivan Ulanov.
Whether a truck driver I met in my local is one of them or not I don't know. He had bought a ticket for £13 but was having trouble getting a visa, telling me it would cost him about £200 in total because you have to have a sponsor and there is a fee for those on top of the visa cost.
The head of the All-Russian Fans' Union Alexander Shprygin, told The Associated Press that Russian fans would not be seeking revenge, which rather suggests the Russians think the English started the violence.
Russian authorities will have a strong presence at the game as they frequently have hundreds, even thousands of police as a matter of course, at even relatively minor league fixtures. With a World Cup coming up there is no way they will want the embarrassment of violence so I would not think they would take any chances and have thousands at the game.
The Russian Police are preparing for the first visit of English fans since the violence at the 2016 UEFA European Championships.
"All the Russian fans who were in France, all the supporters, were summoned to police departments and hour-long conversations were had with them. No one wants to take revenge on anyone for anything. Everyone wants to live a quiet life and everyone forgot about the English a while ago.
English fans safety will be at a much higher level than in Marseille this summer, obviously as long as they don't provoke the citizens."
Two board members of the organisation are in jail in Marseille as a result of the appalling violence and they are believed to have far-right connections. provoking citizens is a clear reference to the ridiculous mob mentality the English displayed in France, taking over the Old Port area and 'claiming' it as their own with aggressive and inflammatory singing. Anyone who can't see that that is antagonistic and is aimed at encouraging a reaction is of severely limited mental capacity.
Apparently the CSKA Moscow fans did not play a prominant role in the violence but Spartak Moscow and Lokomotiv Moscow fans did. However, CSKA Moscow are repeatedly punished by UEFA for racism and occasional violence at games. Manchester City visited in 2014 and the game was played in an empty stadium.
Russian authorities will have a strong presence at the game as they frequently have hundreds, even thousands of police as a matter of course, at even relatively minor league fixtures. With a World Cup coming up there is no way they will want the embarrassment of violence so I would not think they would take any chances and have thousands at the game.
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