UEFA president Lennart Johansson has allayed the fears of the English Football Association’s by denying that England will be ejected from Euro 2004 if their fans misbehaved.
UEFA chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson had previously claimed that England would be held responsible for outbreaks of disorder involvingtheir supporters.
“We shouldn’t blame the FA or the team for the hooligans,” Johansson told BBC Radio Five Live.
“We are happy with the preventative steps the FA has taken – to me they seem to have things under control.”
“I hope that people accept that I’m the spokesman of Uefa. I think other people got it wrong.”
Up to 30,000 England supporters are expected to attend England’s opening Euro 2004 game against France.
FA executive director David Davies was relieved to hear Johansson remarks.
“It’s a boost for us,” he said.
“We have tried to take security advice and we just hope the message has got across of the situation we are in.
“We cannot be complacent because it only takes a few people to cause trouble.”
