THE breakdown of the big screen in Piccadilly has been blamed for sparking the violent scenes between the police and the Rangers fans.
The chaos which followed the failure has led the council to cancel plans to show next week's Champions League clash between Manchester United and Chelsea on big screens in the city centre.
While the "minority" responsible for the ugly clashes have been blasted for their behaviour, police say there was very little trouble until those who had gathered to watch the game on the big screen realised there was a problem.
Although fans quickly became frustrated when they realised the game had started and a screen saver image remained on display,about 11,000 followed instructions to head for a replacement screen at the velodrome, in East Manchester on council buses or on foot.
However trouble erupted after the 10,000 remaining began pouring out of the gardens, frantically trying to find somewhere to watch the game.
Pubs and bars nearby were already overflowing with fans and turned the increasingly furious crowds away.
Attacking
Violence followed after a minority of fans then started attacking police, who had formed a cordon across Oldham Street. Senior officers sent in riot squads to control the crowd and 15 officers were injured, at least one was left needing surgery overnight, and ambulance crews had to wait for escorts before answering calls in the city centre.
Despite the angry scenes health chiefs say there were very few serious injuries although emergency workers treated hundreds of walking wounded in one of their busiest ever nights.
City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said: "We had appalling scenes in Manchester last night, but we have to put that into context.
"The estimates vary between 100,000 and 200,000 Glasgow Rangers fans that we had in the city.
"Whatever that number, it's an unprecedented movement of people."
He added: "We did have a technical problem in the city but, even then, we had a contingency plan.
"We bussed people to that other screen."
Coun Leese said he believes only a minority of fans stayed in the city centre, however, the MEN understands many fans didn't arrive at the velodrome until the end of the first half.
Under fire
Workmen called out to fix the problem are understood to have come under fire by fans throwing bottles, forcing them to abandon the job. It is understood they refused to return to the screen despite concerns that trouble would escalate.
A police source said: "There were some of the fans who acted like absolute animals that night, but there is no doubt that the failure of the screen was the catalyst for the trouble."
At a press conference today, GMP assistant chief constable Justine Curran said the police's behaviour had been "necessary and proportionate".
Quizzed on whether her officers had over-reacted, she said: "I watched in [command] and saw officers chased up the street by a baying mob of 200 people.
"When trouble breaks out we have to respond.
"The vast majority of people who came experienced light touch policing."
Asked why they had not arranged a park or other open air venue for fans, ACC Curran said their research had showed people would not have been prepared to travel outside the city centre.
2,000 calls
Ambulance bosses took 2,000 calls between 7pm and 7am.
They treated around 500 people overnight but had to withdraw from parts of the city centre at 8pm when the violence began and then worked with police escort.
There were no problems at the other two fan zones in Albert Square and Cathedral Gardens. Police say until violence flared at Piccadilly there had been only eight arrests, they praised the rest of the fans for creating a carnival atmosphere.
Today Eddie Smith, managing director of Lightmedia Display, of Bradford, which provided all the screens used for the fan zones, said a “technical signalling problem” was to blame for the glitch in the Piccadilly zone.
He said: “We deeply regret and are very disappointed at the failure of the signal to the screen in Piccadilly Gardens last night - it was due to a technical signalling problem that we are still investigating.
“Despite all our efforts to strengthen the signal to the screen it proved impossible. Our other screens in the city worked perfectly. We are extremely sorry and we fully recognise what a blow this was to the thousands of fans hoping to watch the match.”
Tune into Channel M News tonight at 6pm to see a live studio debate.
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Alesson in saving your hide by telling half truths from MCC
"The estimates vary between 100,000 and 200,000 Glasgow Rangers fans that we had in the city."
MOST ESTIMATE SEEM TO BE 150,000 TO 170,000. WAY ABOVE THE 100,000 THAT MCC PLANNED FOR
"Whatever that number, it's an unprecedented movement of people."
NOT REALLY - IT HAPPENS AT WEMBLEY FOR EVERY CUP FINAL OR AT KNEBWORTH WHEN OASIS PLAYED. UNPRECEDENTED = UNPLANNED
"It's the biggest movement of people for an event of this sort probably ever.
NO IT ISN'T.
"Some 99.5 per cent of those behaved themselves and were a credit to their city"
SADLY WE HAD NO PLAN FOR THE OTHERS AND ACTUALLY INCREASED THAT NUMBER BY PROVIDING NOWHERE NEAR TOILETS, BINS, WORKING SCREENS AND FACILITIES
"We did have a technical problem in the city but, even then, we had a contingency plan.
MCC SPEAK FOR WE COCKED UP ROYALLY.
"We bussed people to that other screen."
NOT ALL OF THEM AND NOT IN TIME FOR THE GAME
Coun Leese insisted that the "vast majority of fans" went to the velodrome screen and only a "very small minority" stayed in the city centre.
SMALL MINORITY IS 10,000 OUT OF 21,000 = ABOUT HALF
SHOULDER UP MAN AND THAKE THE BLAME.
What really went wrong is they are looking for a re-match ever since the Battle of Falkirk in 1298.
I can't beleive the Council thought 200,000 Scots could be allowed to binge drink and not cause trouble. And the argument from the fans "the screen should have worked" - yeah it should have, but lets not forget the screens were a kind (and no doubt expensive) gesture towards the fans by the city, which they did not even have to provide. I mean can anyone remember a time when such hospitaltiy was offered to English fans in Scotland?
Yesterday morning I wished all Rangers fans I saw good luck, but to be honest I'm glad they lost now because with fans like they have, they didn't deserve to be recognied with any awards.
Even though one of the big screens suffered a technical hitch THAT WAS NO EXCUSE TO RIOT OR TAKE IT OUT ON THE SCREEN OR THE POLICE. I applud and agree with Manchester City Council;just cancel your plans to show the match from Moscow in Manchester City Centre on big screens to fans not going over,this behaviour shows that if you can misbehave in this way because of a technical hitch then you CAN certainly go without.
'The chaos which followed the failure has led the council to cancel plans to show next week's Champions League clash between Manchester United and Chelsea on big screens in the city centre.'
Well bang go my plans for next week. To the local or staying at home it is then.
Thank you Rangers fans and the council for spoiling what could've been a proper party.
i was in town drinking all afternoon yesterday.and thought the ranger's fans were superb.its just a pity a small group, spoil the reputation of all the fans. dont think the council and manchester police, realised how many fans were going to be around manchester. they expected 100.000. id say there were near 250.000. should have put screens on in united. and lancs ground. or even moved the game to united's ground.
Wake up Manchester!! This is your fault!!
Don't blame Scotland for your lack of organisation!
Don't blame Scotland for your pubs opening at 9am so they could take more of our money!
Don't blame Scotland for you lifting the alcohol ban on drinking outdoors!
Don't blame Scotland for your screens failing!
Don't blame Scotland for your pubs charging £4 a pint! No wonder ppl drank in the streets!
42 arrests from 200,000 fans...work that out as a percentage!
And finally don't blame us for any trouble in Moscow next week! If there is any then it will be your own doing!
"Sir Richard said the trouble would not weaken Manchester's commitment to holding high-profile international events."
Yet they wont show the champions league game next week for our very own manchester united.
what a joke why do foreign rioters get big screen but we get nothing
manchester council really knows how to look after their own.
Blame MCC.
Robert_no1, Glasgow
Yes you have made some valid points and Manchester council do need to take some of the blame but you can't defend what Rangers fans have done. However, certain points need to be made: -
The Fans - i work in the city centre and i get the bus to work. Walking through Picc Gardens at 9.50am to find at least 2000 fans all drinking does not really constitute the tag of a carnival atmosphere. I think its disgusting to find fans openly urinating in the streets and being fairly aggressive. Rangers fans didn't care one bit what happened and they have just run riot. To say 99.5% behaved well is a joke in my experience. There was trouble brewing from 9am. Idiotic fans have ruined what was supposed to be a great event.
The Council - why on earth was there such a small police presence in the city? I saw more police when Roma fans came to Manchester. It seems the only time the police woke up was as the game was about to start. Why was alcohol so readily available especially from surrounding stores including Tesco's, Aldi etc? Glad the bars were charging £4 per pint. At least Manchester got some more moeny from this! And this should have been a deterent to not drink as much!! Idiots!
To sum it up, the Rangers fans need to take a good luck at themselves as do the council. Both have let themselves down and Manchester is paying the price!
I don't see why the officials who blundered their way through this are still bending over backwards in order to defend the people who just wrecked our city.
It's always a "small group" of fans that cause trouble - but no-one cares about that when its fans from anywhere else.
If the same thing had happened with supporters from Italy, Turkey or indeed England, the condemnation would, quite rightly, be universal.
What went wrong? Letting 100,000 Rangers fans to get drunk in the centre of Manchester was not a smart idea.
So United fans have to pay the penalty by not being able to watch the game on big screens because the Rangers fans couldn't handle their beer and kicked off? Great. Cheers Sir Richard 'top blue' Leese.
Man U Fan. why don't you try and get out of your armchair and go the game. tickets are still on open sale.
This is a message to Simon Waddington
I appreciate that there was some trouble by a minortiy of fans, and to be honest I sort of expected a little bit of trouble with the excessive number (regardless where they were from), however your blatant racist comments are beyond a joke "mate". I am not a Rangers, lets get this clear but I am Scottish.
However, lets discuss how you seem to think us scots are not able to drink all day without causing trouble....we took 25000 to Paris and not one bit of trouble, we time and time again get the best fans behaviour awards yet you tar us all with the same brush.
Its a shame really considering the % that caused the problem was 0.02% of the actual amount of fans, unlike the trouble the English fans cause time and time again at EVERY MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP...
Now I am not going to tar every English person like that and again it is a tiny % of your nation that causes the problem which 99% of you can't change.
In this day and age, racist behaviour is not accepted, sort it out.
Man U Fan-
No Manchester City Council should not put up big screens for United's match, that should be a job for Trafford Council..... they are the ones who should look after thier own, along with Westminster Council, Dublin City Council, etc, etc
At first I thought it was the council's indecision on whether to allow it to take place or not, creating a lack of proper planning which is to blame. But now I'm not so sure
(For Rangers fans reading this, that was an attempt at irony - no relation to Irn Bru Or was it sarcasm....?)
That Rangers fans might cause some problems if they were allowed to get wasted all day and then not given toilets etc is pretty obvious.
The screen breaking down is symptomatic of the last minute nature of the decision taken, but its not like we didn't know the final was taking place here or there would be the possibility that visiting fans might want to come to the city to soak up the atmosphere. So why such a last minute decision?
Therefore I conclude it was the council's fault but Rangers fans (enough of them at any rate) should feel ashamed of themselves. It is not the council's fault you started drinking at 6 a.m. and intimidated all around you. No respect!
P.S. MEN do you think you might post some of my comments, some of my sentances even have gramatically correctness about them (not this one obviously)
i don't think you can compare this with concerts at knebworth etc as on those occasions paople are going to see something they HAVE A TICKET FOR. Yesterday the city put screens up for people who travelled here KNOWING they were going to watch it on a screen (which they could have easily done in Glasgow anyway!) Basically i think Manchester were very hospitable - yes the screen shouldn't have broken down but that is NO excuse for trampling police officers and ruining the city for the people who live here and were happy for the people to party yesterday. I am glad Glasgow lost if that is the way their fans behave.
"However trouble erupted after the 10,000 remaining began pouring out of the gardens, frantically trying to find somewhere to watch the game."
Erm, should you lot of just stayed at home to watch the game?
Why couldn't Glasgow council have provided big screens for the drunks?
What a waste.
Well done Glasgow, shamed yet again.
No wonder the true Scots can't stand Glaswegians.
Robert_no1, Glasgow said "Don't blame Scotland for your pubs opening at 9am so they could take more of our money!
Don't blame Scotland for you lifting the alcohol ban on drinking outdoors!
Don't blame Scotland for your screens failing!
Don't blame Scotland for your pubs charging £4 a pint! No wonder ppl drank in the streets! "
Yep, I'm sure our Police will remember in the future that if the lager lout football hooligans from the North come down, don't trust them to be responsible for their own actions, MCC and the Police will take the responsibility to ration lager as the Rangers fans can't be trusted to be civilised fans.
I'll remember that when I'm NOT watching my team on the promised city centre big screen too.
Don't even start with the 'someone else's fault', or 'it's just a minority' rubbish neither, doesn't wash down here.
I walked to work and saw forat hand the thoudsnds and thousands of ****heads drinking before I'd even started my working day.
We have tone of top quality fans from all over Europe come to our special city, none of them even come close to being as trashy as the Rangers hooligans were yesterday.
Having all day to sort ONE telly out and not managing it - I dont condone any violence but to deprive all them fans from watching the only excuse they came down here in the first place would have made the most placid of person a bit miffed! I ended up in a half empty velodrome watching the game, if only this venue was well publicised to the gers fans, would have stopped a lot of the chaos that ensued!
The bottom line was that it was a disgraceful display buy some (not all ) Rangers fans - it makes no difference that 100-150,000 travelled , or if a TV screen broke or if there were not enoigh police of duty 9I think these were all factors) but there is such a thing as persoanl responsibility for your actions - it was their choise to drink all day or not and it swas their decision to attack the police - they can thank their lucky stars the final was in England and not Germany, Turkey or Russia. Stories are now being givenin Scotland of Rangers fans urinating in the streets, foul language and violence before the match started. I'm a Scot (and an ex Rangers fan) and I can only apologise for the behaviour of some of my countrymen (I use the word "men" it its loosest form) The people of Manchester opened their doors to "us" and look what some idiots done. - No excuse this time and it makes no differnece that English fans used to run riot in Europe in the 80s etc they sorted it out Rangers haven't. They should be ashamed.
OMG!!!
this is discusting!!!
its not evan there city to ruin!!
evan the manchester derbys (ahem 2-1) dont cause this much drama!!
they should be ashamed!!
I was in Piccadilly front of Nat West with the Rangers fans when the screen malfunctioned. The majority of them were understandably angry and some bottles were smashed, but gradually most of them began to disperse and were continuing to do so when the police in riot gear suddenly appeared from Market street end and it was their presence that caused the scene to escalate into a riot. As the police charged forward I saw peaceful bewildered fans being trampled underfoot and even kicked and beaten over the head with batons. There was a woman crying hysterically, a middle-aged man covered in blood and dads trying to shelter their children whilst many fans were left in disbelief as to why these riot police had suddenly been unleashed changing the whole atmosphere and causing an dispersing crowd to linger and retaliate. All I can say is from where I was standing the 'small minority of yobs that caused (the) severe problems.' as Sir Richard Leese described it, seemed to be as much the police themselves and their heavy-handed, over-the-top response.
ther is no to blame but manchester council allowing them to drink all day and i would like to know was the council officers doing on the spot fines for dropping litter or cig dimps or apple cores or sausage rolls,
NO I BET NOT