[LU] Telegraph - Millwall v Leeds is just like old times

[John Boocock]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/04/21/sfnmil121.xml

Millwall v Leeds is just like old times

By Sam Green

Millwall (0) 0 Leeds United (0) 2

Millwall London Bridge station, 1pm, Saturday. A sea of luminous yellow 
jackets blinds the eyes as police officers dominate the concourse. 
Dozens of young men - and some old enough to know better - are pulled 
aside to be questioned and searched. "It used to be like this every 
week," says one, nostalgically. Welcome to Millwall versus Leeds.

Forty minutes later the first Leeds coaches arrive at the Den. A few 
uncomplimentary hand gestures are exchanged with home supporters. 
Nothing like the drama seen at Elland Road last October, when some 
Millwall fans smashed the windows of their own buses. All is peaceful in 
the adjacent Millwall Cafe. No sign of rabid hooligans here. Just 
decent, ordinary football folk enjoying their pre-match grub.

By 2.30pm there is a more sizeable welcoming committee as another batch 
of Leeds coaches roll in. There are some seriously scary-looking men 
here now. The gesticulating and window banging is rowdier on both sides. 
"Go and eat your pork pies you northern b******s," shouts one comedian.

These are arguably the two most notorious sets of supporters in the 
country and the security operation - which spanned the length of the 
capital - required tactics more complex than anything seen on the pitch.

However, as the man in charge of the operation, Superintendent Brian 
Pearce, said: "There were probably a couple of hundred on each side 
looking for trouble. If you think there was a 13,000 crowd, it's not a 
big percentage."

Only intelligence and brave policing kept that destructive minority 
apart. Normal life continued regardless. As kick-off approached a car 
with a 'Just Married' sign drove past. Almost a spectacularly bad piece 
of planning by someone.

Leeds' win almost secured their play-off place and kept Millwall in 
danger of relegation. It could get a lot better for Leeds. The result of 
their appeal against their 15-point deduction for breaching League 
insolvency rules is due by May 1, potentially plunging the division into 
a muddle of legal counter-challenges.

Millwall were the better side but David Prutton's volley and Andy 
Hughes' close-range finish left them empty-handed. Gary McAllister, the 
Leeds manager, agreed his side were fortunate. "But we scored two 
wonderful goals and we'll jump on the coach and get back up to 
Yorkshire," he said.

If only the same could be said for all the Leeds fans. Instead the 
police donned their riot gear and chaperoned about 300 up to King's Cross.

Back at London Bridge, a small group of Millwall fans got themselves 
arrested when an entirely avoidable row with police ("we pay your wages" 
"why don't you sort out the immigrants") got out of hand. The public 
looked on bemused. Surely, they were likely to be thinking, there must 
be better ways to spend a Saturday evening.

The operation by numbers

375 - Metropolitan Police officers on duty, plus support from the 
British Transport Police and Yorkshire Police

30 - Millwall fans detained to prevent a breach of the peace

14 - arrests (both clubs) with more to follow when video footage is studied

500 - approximate number of banning orders in place on Saturday

8 - weeks spent planning the security operation

Match details

Millwall (4-5-1): Evans; Senda (Bignot 80), Robinson, Craig, Frampton; 
Simpson, Laird, Fuseini (Martin 75), Karacan, Brkovic (Grabban 66); Savage.
Booked: Brkovic, Grabban.
Leeds (4-4-2): Ankergren; Richardson, Huntington, Michalik, Sheehan; 
Kilkenny, Prutton, Howson, Johnson (Sweeney 89); Freedman (Kandol 89), 
Elding (Hughes 73).
Goals: Prutton (70), Hughes (79).
Booked: Michalik, Prutton, Sweeney.
Referee: L Mason (Lancashire).