Birmingham derby police faced barrage of missiles and abuse

Nov 28 2007 By Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM Mail columnist Tom Ross labelled the ugly scenes that followed the Second City derby as some "some of the worst for years" outside St Andrew's.

It should have been a high-profile showcase of football, but violence flared after the final whistle when Blues fans gathered outside the ground near the away end on Coventry Road.

The crowd swelled as Blues fans chanted at jubilant Villa fans, who had by this time been held back inside a car park behind locked gates.

A line of police, wearing helmets and also carrying shields, stretched across the Coventry Road in a bid to keep the fans apart.

As the atmosphere turned ugly, riot police were met with a barrage of abuse and spitting from yobs, a number of whom were covering their faces with scarves and hoods.

Chants of "Let them out" - referring to Villa fans in the car park - could be heard coming from the Blues crowd.

Scuffles broke out as yobs repeatedly charged into the police lines, while innocent members of the public tried to get away from the ground.

As the mob was slowly forced away from the ground, police were met with a barrage of missiles. Coins and broken housebricks littered the road.

A number of police vehicles were attacked and wrecked.

The crowd was eventually moved out of Coventry Road but later gathered along Digbeth High Street among shoppers and motorists trying to head home.

There were further scuffles in and around the market area as the fans stood in the road blocking traffic, chanting with their arms in the air.

Police came under a further barrage of empty beer bottles, stolen from a pub, before the crowds eventually dispersed 90 minutes after the game ended.