Birmingham City and Aston Villa fans in league of shame for banning orders

Nov 27 2008 by Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Mail

SOCCER yobs linked to Blues and Aston Villa have landed their clubs in a Top Ten league of shame for football banning orders.

A record 3,172 outcast fans have been banned from attending football matches both home and abroad in a national crackdown on thugs blighting the game.

According to new Home Office statistics, four Midland teams were in the top ten for banning orders.

Villa has 82 supporters ordered not to attend games, Birmingham City has 76 on banning orders while Wolverhampton Wanderers have 85 fans.

A total of 79 Coventry fans have also been issued with orders. Leeds United topped the list with 152 fans banned for games. Meanwhile West Bromwich Albion had only 39 banned fans.

Meanwhile, there was an increase in the number of Midland football team supporters arrested by police during last season.

A total of 97 Villa fans were arrested, up from 76 the season before.

This included 29 arrests for public disorder and five for violent disorder and three for missile throwing.

There were 99 arrests of Blues fans, up from 93 last season. These included 36 arrests for public disorder and 31 for violent disorder.

A number of fans from both sides were arrested after clashes that followed Aston Villa’s 2-1 victory at St Andrew’s in November last year. More than 40 officers were hurt trying to separate hooligans.

But other Midlands clubs have seen a fall in the number of incidents. Police arrested