Huge police presence for Chelsea v Shamrock Rovers as figures dwarf Spurs v Manchester United
Tottenham and Man Utd play 16km away from Chelsea and Shamrock Rovers on Thursday
London police are on red alert ahead of Thursday’s Europa Conference League clash between Chelsea and Shamrock Rovers.
Mirror Sport has learned of plans to deploy TWICE as many officers at the Stamford Bridge game as at the night’s other big London tie, which will see around 6,000 Manchester United fans travel to their side’s Carabao Cup game against Tottenham.
Met Police, along with Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s own Law Enforcement Team, will have a near 500-strong presence at the first ever competitive game between Chelsea and an Irish club.
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One of the fears is that trouble could be sparked not just by clashes with supporters visiting from Dublin, but with fans of rival London clubs.
Police chiefs are acting on intelligence that hooligans from Leyton Orient and Millwall could seek to infiltrate the Hoops fanbase, according to a source with knowledge of the security operation.
Rovers received a visiting allocation of almost 3,000 tickets for the final game of their historic European campaign.
Those tickets were quickly sold out more than a month before the fixture, leading to fears within Chelsea that Hoops fans could attempt to access tickets for home sections at Stamford Bridge.
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After the away allocation was announced, Met Police issued a warning to the Premier League giants about Hoops supporters attempting to purchase home tickets.
The club issued a statement reading: “Loyalty points are being used for this fixture as a result of police advice regarding high demand from away supporters and the prospect of them trying to infiltrate home areas of the stadium on their first visit to Stamford Bridge.”
And earlier this week Chelsea outlined the punishment to fans who transfer their ticket to away supporters for this, and other games.
An article on the official club website read: “Anyone who is found to have transferred a ticket for use by a supporter of an opposition team will face sanctions. This may result in a 12-month ban from attending all Chelsea matches and the loss of a season ticket should the person involved have one.
“This policy is in operation for all competitions, including European matches such as the one against Shamrock Rovers in the UEFA Conference League this week.”
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