galatasaray leeds death

They know what he did for us.. I thought about Graeme Souness running and planting a Galatasaray flag in the middle of the pitch at Fenerbahce. Thats what they were, kids. [25] The British fans were later released without charge but were forbidden from returning to Denmark. Im not sure Ive even processed it now. I dont know why.. Manchester United and Chelsea had contested European ties at the Ali Sami Yen previously and voiced complaints about their treatment, so Fallows increased the size of Leedss usual security detail from three to five as a precaution. It might be fair to say that the events of 2000 are a reason to dissuade a footballer with ties to Leeds from engaging with Galatasaray but not necessarily to prohibit him from signing, especially as time goes by. It is wrong to presume to tell those who were affected by the events in Istanbul how to feel or how to react to a player taking Galatasarays money. After travelling to the Turkish capital to follow the club, Mr Speight and Mr Loftus were attacked with machetes when a row broke out between rival fans. Gray, a Glaswegian, was in the Celtic end with his wife Linda on the day of the Ibrox disaster in 1971. Theyd been seeing each other for about six months.. I genuinely feared for our lives. He visited his fathers body in the chapel of rest across the road, bringing pictures he had drawn for him with felt tips. The Turkish police didnt give a shit about us. There was the time when the pub opened its doors early to allow the locals to catch an early kick-off between Leeds and Manchester United. When youre seven you cant process something like that, can you? The police warned a postponement could cause more trouble. The blood had to be sourced externally and to do that, someone had to pay. The deaths of Kevin Speight and Chris Loftus on the night before Leeds played their Uefa Cup semi-final first leg with Galatasaray - 20 years ago yesterday - represent one of the darkest and. [6] Demir was later found guilty of murder and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, but released in 2004. [2] The events happened at 22:00 in Istanbul's Taksim Square during a fight between Leeds fans and Galatasaray fans. They carried beer glasses outside, we couldn't stop them, and others followed." Eddie Gray is crouching down as he runs up from underground and into the open air. I stopped getting involved eventually, Andy says. Its funny what sticks in your head, he says. And I still blame myself a lot.. The police did nothing, in fact they were helping them beat us up." I jumped in a taxi and went back to Taksim Square., He has no recollection of how he came to be at Taksim Hospital, only that he found himself there after being told that the fighting had been serious. Peter Ridsdale, the chairman who guided Leeds through the tragedy, is approaching 70. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. [30] In total, nineteen people were injured and sixty people were arrested,[27] with 15 of the arrested being subsequently banned from attending Euro 2000. In the weeks after the deaths, he offered them emotional and financial assistance (the family declined to take any money) and would phone Susan regularly to keep in touch. The manager of Leeds, David O'Leary, had voiced fears of being met at the airport by "a 100-strong rentamob". Four people were stabbed in the scuffles, which also involved fans from other clubs and were viewed by the media as part of a retaliation for the killing of two Leeds United fans by Galatasaray supporters the month before. Holmes was there and witnessed the entire away end turning their backs to the pitch with arms raised, an act of silent defiance and dissent. zhuri james net worth 2021 / low carb ground beef and spinach recipes / low carb ground beef and spinach recipes They felt we were overreacting and on the day of the game in Istanbul there was no attempt to make sure the match passed off safely or securely, not that I could see. So Leeds did. I didnt catch everything but I heard enough. [38] The photos led to some postmen working for Royal Mail losing their jobs because they had been seen in the photos and in television coverage,[46] even though they had not been arrested. Loftuss brother Andy jokes that he had thicker hair back in the day. Andy was jailed in 2013 for his part in a fight between Leeds and Tottenham Hotspur fans in which a Spurs supporter was knocked unconscious. It didnt sit right with me. The Turkish side are hated by those at Elland Road after two travelling fans were stabbed to. The 2000 UEFA Cup Final Riots, also known as the Battle of Copenhagen,[1] were a series of riots in City Hall Square, Copenhagen, Denmark between fans of English football team Arsenal and Turkish team Galatasaray around the 2000 UEFA Cup Final on 17 May 2000. It felt to me like the police were trying to frighten us, he says. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. "When you see a man having to identify the body of his brother with a massive stab wound in his chest it just isn't what you'd associate with football.". Andy is one of six siblings, two sisters and four brothers, and all of the boys Phil, Chris, Darren and Andy made the trip to Turkey. They all say no. He was with Darren Loftus, Christopher's brother who had travelled with him, to identify his body. The facilities are great. Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight were stabbed in Istanbul on the eve of. It was only when Gray arrived home that his parents asked if he was OK and told him about the many Rangers fans who had died. The day after the riots, FA Executive Director David Davies, issued an apology for the violence. Me and the security team tried to create a bit of a cushion between them so the players werent worried about getting batoned, Fallows says. The images of that never grow old. Nicolo Zaniolo signed on a permanent deal MORE. Ridsdale still struggles to accept Galatasarays indifferent reaction to the stabbings. On April 5 2000 two Leeds fans, Kevin Speight and Christopher Loftus, were stabbed to death before the 2000 Uefa Cup semi-final first leg against Galatasaray in Taksim Square, Istanbul. It was a load of shit. In the first leg it was difficult to say, Lets get out there do it for the two lads because we didnt have the full picture, Gray says. Football is sport here and for many Istanbul residents Galatasaray - who won the league last Sunday - is football. The 2000 UEFA Cup semi-final violence in Istanbul, Turkey, between fans of English football team Leeds United and Turkish team Galatasaray before the first match of the UEFA Cup semi-final on 5 April 2000, led to two Leeds fans being stabbed to death by Galatasaray fans. It is 10 years since he last went to the grave. Association with the tragedy can be difficult. This led to 19 injuries, including 4 stabbings, and 60 arrests with similar events occurring in England and Turkey in the aftermath of the riots. [28] In Turkey, nine people were accidentally shot and injured by Galatasaray fans firing guns in celebration despite police warning them not to. He was on the scene as the club grieved and as much as any other of David OLearys players, he was in a position to fully comprehend both the impact of the killings and Galatasarays response to them. Football authorities condemned the riots and threatened to expel national football teams from European competition if such events happened again. But he didnt make much of it, like it was something of nothing. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. The interview included vague expressions of regret but no apology to Speight and Loftus or their relatives. From my point of view I was only interested in getting that game over and done with as safely as possible. Leeds and Galatasaray have an extremely volatile relationship following the death of two Leeds supporters prior to the UEFA CUp semi-final back in 2000. Sneijder's tweet has since been deleted and the midfielder sent a tweet to an angry fan stating: "Very sorry. I knew the ramifications would be life-long., (Photo: Phil Noble PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images), Ali Sami Yen previously and voiced complaints about their treatment, so Fallows increased the size of Leedss usual security detail from three to five as a precaution. The police were doing nothing to stop them. George is aware of some of the details but has tried not to dig too deeply. If the thought of a transfer like that sits uncomfortably then perhaps it should. The passing of time is there in all of them. [10] It was reported that members of Leeds United's Leeds United Service Crew[11] and Chelsea's Chelsea Headhunters, along with hooligans supporting Rangers, Cardiff City and Swansea City all travelled to Denmark to join Arsenal fans in attacks on Galatasaray fans. After taking stock, he got involved with the cancer charity Candlelighters and helped raise almost 150,000 for local hospital facilities. They knocked back as much Elfe (lager), Jack Daniels and Bacardi as I could pour.". The shadow of Istanbul is longer for Andy Loftus. Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. My mum flicked it straight off again. Everything happened in a flash. It was the same at the second leg when I had to stand and look after Galatasarays main man at Elland Road. It wasnt a proper A&E unit. The friend who arranged their trips abroad organised for them to fly home via Brussels. You dont get it.. Galatasaray supporters, despite everything that had gone on, were pelting the buses and trying to smash the windows. That decision drew much criticism, as well it might. The Turkish media blamed the Leeds fans. The families of the victims will tell you that. Four men were arrested and charged with their murders. Peter Ridsdale, the Leeds chairman, had been dining with directors from Galatasaray when reports of trouble came through. They ploughed on regardless, much like UEFA, and left Ridsdale thinking that their directors were more worried about distancing themselves from the stabbings than helping Leeds cope with them. The plaque on the wall by Elland Roads East Stand says Never Forgotten and Leeds United swore themselves to those words. Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Leeds United. I dont think, even to this day, that Galatasaray would see the amount of press coverage or criticism as being fairly labelled against them, Ridsdale said last year. Disgusting. But from 10.30pm local time, any sense of complacency seemed tragically misplaced, as a brutal battle began between Leeds supporters and a group of Turks, with running fights in the streets. She knows who he was but its not the same.. Bitexen Giresunspor 0 - 4 Galatasaray MORE. Squad Galatasaray This page displays a detailed overview of the club's current squad. But he was not and the atmosphere was initially warmer than normal. Fri 7 Apr 2000 20.36 EDT. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Some claimed the English sparked it by throwing beer glasses at passing women pedestrians. He started shouting for Christopher to wake up. [47] Michael Doherty, the chairman of the Communication Workers Union, and his brother Tom took Royal Mail to an Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal claiming they had been acting in self-defence. Leeds fans have reacted furiously to reports that Ezgjan Alioski has agreed to move to Galatasaray. We had hundreds of fans in Turkey, some in the air and another plane due to fly the following morning (the morning flight out from Leeds-Bradford Airport was rapidly cancelled). Will Griffee For Mailonline Galatasaray 2 - 1 Fraport TAV Antalyaspor MORE. My sympathy was with them. I could see in their faces how much they were raging, Fallows says. The Ali Sami Yen was in a league of its own in atmosphere terms, aggressive and ferocious for visiting sides. 2023 BBC. Following the two tragic deaths, local police arrested and charged four Galatasaray supporters with murder. Ali Sami Yen, the stadium was so overcrowded that he had Galatasaray fans in front of him literally sat on my feet. The next day, he and Leeds players and coaching staff reached the airport, climbed on a plane and flew home. The 45-year-old was an unused sub when Leeds were defeated by Galatasaray in an infamous 1999-00 Uefa Cup semi-finals - a match that was overshadowed by the death of two Yorkshire fans in the . The away supporters responded with songs about two Leeds fans who were stabbed to death in Istanbul prior to a fixture against Galatasaray in 2000. . "We came out of a bar and there were 100 people waiting for us with machetes, knives, bits of chair and table legs and they just attacked us. When the second leg came round, in the dressing room we were trying to say, Come on, lets get stuck into them. But in the back of your mind youre putting football aside. Its 20 years now but I dont think Ill ever get over it. He sees it now as a necessary shock to the system. 11 Feb 02 | Europe Turkish justice moves slowly . [24] It was claimed that the police failed to control the riots,[43] and that they had been undermanned and outmaneuvered, to which Mogens Lauridsen, the police chief in Copenhagen admitted that the police had been "under-prepared". Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk. I was amazed, he says. [44], In the United Kingdom, the Daily Mirror newspaper printed pictures of Arsenal fans alleged to have been part of the violence. Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Leeds United. [18] Arsenal fans congregated in nearby bars. I had joked with him and said, At least youll be safe. He gave me a look and said, Or maybe not., The attitude as far as I could see was, Lets intimidate these lads and see what happens. Leeds back then had a lot of kids in their squad. The police warned a postponement could cause more trouble. Peter Hunt, the British consul general in Istanbul, had been prepared for potential trouble, as are all consuls and embassies when English fans travel abroad. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? But where Galatasaray failed, and where Ridsdale specifically felt resentment, was in grasping the scale of the tragedy and in refusing to accept that violence on the streets and a UEFA Cup tie could not be classed as unrelated events once the worst had happened. 'There were a lot of other clubs out there but this is perfect for me. Several fans offered to foot the bill. They had no direct contact with Galatasarays security officials but Fallows and Harry Stokoe, Leedss stadium manager, were able to visit the Ali Sami Yen the day before the game to map the venue out. Forty Leeds fans arrested in the scuffles were released without charge. There were reports that a Galatasaray fan had run to a telephone to call for support when he saw Leeds fans arriving. Speights son, George, is no longer the cheeky kid with floppy hair smiling brightly in the photograph of his father he digs out. Others suggested a group of Leeds supporters had attacked a lone Turk, possibly a taxi driver, who had then returned with a mob wielding knives and machetes. Kewell grew up in Leeds academy and was in the starting line-up for both legs against Galatasaray. How can it be that two lads go to watch a football game and dont come back?. There were a few Turkish fans outside the bars we started drinking in but we didnt think much of it. As chairman of Leeds, he told the UEFA official that it would make sense to postpone the first leg of the semi-final which Leeds and Galatasaray were about to play. ", Jack Connolly added: "That Wesley Sneijder knife launch is disgusting, scum of the earth.". Holmes says Andy was the life and soul of the party before Istanbul but the impact of Chriss death was severe. Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Leeds United. Ill be careful here but I have to say that I felt uncomfortable welcoming Galatasarays delegates to Elland Road. Tuesday 5th April 2022 marks 22 years since two loyal Leeds United supporters, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, travelled to Turkey to watch their beloved team in action but tragically never returned home. As a family, I dont know how you come to terms with that., Inside the Ali Sami Yen, hundreds of Leeds supporters attended the first leg as planned and were housed in a small section of yellow seats. [37], In the United Kingdom, Arsenal fans were originally blamed for the violence as the police had fixed blame on them. A streetwise Mancunian, he has looked after Oasis, Noel Gallagher and Take That and on the morning when we speak hes at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, organising staff for a gig by The Script. Can you list the top facts and stats about 2000 UEFA Cup semi-final violence? The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. It shows all personal information about the players, including age, nationality, contract duration and market value. From 5pm local time more than 100 Leeds fans had arrived shouting, singing and demanding beer, according to Batu Dedeler, the bar owner. Galatasaray fans entered the area shortly afterwards which precipitated a fight between the two sets of supporters. [21] This lasted 20 minutes[19] before the Danish police attempted to break up the melee with dogs[22] and tear gas. He can picture the facade as he entered and the floorplan of the area where other injured Leeds fans had congregated; where Speight lay on an operating table, desperate for surgery. The first time he went inside to be present, he sat with friends and cried. Speight and Loftus were not close friends but knew each other in passing, as travelling football fans do. We tried to keep a lot of the information about what had happened [to Speight and Loftus] from them, rightly or wrongly. I went off the rails, he says. Anywhere else in Europe, I doubt it would have been played. Because I was so young and the memories arent clear, I get times when I ask myself if it really happened. Holly, as a two-year-old, was left with no memories at all. Fallows is a security guard with ample experience. I dont think a single one of the lads wanted to play that night.. Ali Umit . They then broke into an apartment building to threaten Kosovan refugees with a knife, mistakenly believing them to be Turkish. In May 2002 Demir, who admitted the stabbings, was sentenced to 15 years in prison with four other men imprisoned for three months each. "There's a lot of anger. [34] The Copenhagen riots followed a long line of similar events involving English football fans, and in June, UEFA's executive committee listed the Heysel Stadium disaster, disorders in Charleroi and Brussels, the killing of the two Leeds fans in Istanbul, and the Copenhagen riots and warned the British government that if there was any more rioting then England would be expelled from Euro 2000. My mum just felt she had to move on. Bowyer leads out the Leeds team as the first leg went ahead (Photo: Steve Mitchell/EMPICS via Getty Images), A minutes silence is observed before the return leg at Elland Road (Photo: Steve Mitchell/EMPICS via Getty Images). Both had numerous other wounds. Summarize this article for a 10 years old. Read about our approach to external linking. He was showered with stickers and sweets gifts from friends who lived locally and Ridsdale, who supported both families throughout, delivered Easter eggs to the house for him and Holly. The Loftuses had travelled to Turkey on the same flight as David OLearys players. There isnt much that unnerves me but that was quite a scary moment. [31] Nineteen of the arrested were British, thirty-six were Turkish and the rest of the arrested included people from Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. I am happy and I hope everyone else can be too. You got paid each month and you did this, Andy says, gesturing as if to push a wad of banknotes into a drawer. Former Leeds United Chairman Peter Ridsdale said: "The lasting impact has been to see the devastating effect it's had on Christopher and Kevin's families. [32] The rest were fined an equivalent of $500 and banned from Denmark for a year.[33]. galatasaray leeds death. It sounds daft but I dont think I knew how to react. I got a lot of abuse for that and no wonder. (Main photo of Kevin Speight with his son George and daughter Holly). Leeds and Galatasaray fans clashed in violent scenes in April 2000 at 21:00 in Istanbul's Taksim Square Following the two tragic deaths, local police arrested and charged four Galatasaray. Loftus had already been pronounced dead and in the melee, hospital staff mistakenly assumed Ridsdale was a relative and took him downstairs to the mortuary. pleasant grove high school / staff directory; dr omar suleiman wife esraa; ontario road trip summer; song baseball apple; waltham athletic club tennis schedule; galatasaray leeds death. In the context of football, that era was phenomenally good: Leeds in Europe and another trip to the continent always waiting around the corner. But eventually the issue of what to do about the game had to be addressed. The Galatasaray fans were later attacked from behind by members of British hooligan firms seeking revenge for the Istanbul stabbings. His financial record at Leeds was dismal and Leeds never forget about it. The Football Associations David Davies said playing the game was the least worst option. By that stage he was exhausted. The set of knives, emblazoned with Galatasaray's colours, are produced by Dutch firm Senvi and are available for 22. When we got to the bottom of the stairs they pulled out a drawer, a bit like a filing cabinet, and Christophers body was there. [35] In response, Prime Minister Tony Blair stated: Hopefully this threat will bring to their senses anyone tempted to continue the mindless thuggery that had brought such shame to the country.[35]. Witnesses said he had been bludgeoned by police as he cradled a dying Chris in the street. It was horrible. Uefa, after consultation with the clubs and the Turkish authorities, wavered but eventually decided to go ahead. I didn't know this and deleted our promotion for the merchandise kitchen item #respect. He must have been off his head., Ian Harte, the left-back, is more vivid in describing it. Ali Sami Yen was in a league of its own in atmosphere terms, aggressive and ferocious for visiting sides. Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight were stabbed in Istanbul on the eve of Leeds' Uefa Cup semi-final tie against Galatasaray in April 2000. . It also contains a table with average age, cumulative market value and average market value for each player position and overall. Spencer interrupted dinner to advise Ridsdale that they should return to the hotel immediately. I am not sure if the first few expected fighting but I saw one guy running to a telephone to call his friends after he saw the English. For me, it didnt feel real. He had been involved in the plane crash which Leeds players and coaches escaped from on the way home from a Premier League game at West Ham United in 1998. Jesus. Staff said many fans were drunk by 10pm, intimidating Turkish families drinking in the lounge. The police were knocking everyone about, says Paul Holmes, a friend of the Loftuses who was in Taksim Square when the violence broke out.

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