Istanbul CL Final chaos | City Matters statement (p 133)

Dear UEFA Champions League Final Planning Committee,

After experiencing, first hand, your ‘fan experience’ in Istanbul, I would like to offer you my services free of charge, for the next final. I would coordinate everything for you, based on my observations and experience in Istanbul.

Shuttle bus transport to the Manchester City Fan Zone at the Ataturk Stadium;

  • I would suggest that you have clear signage identifying where people go to enter the fan zone and where people should wait in line for a shuttle bus.
  • If possible, as much of the line should be provided with shade as temperatures will get high and the wait/line will become long in the afternoon.
  • The wait line for the shuttle buses should be segregated from those people wanting to enter the fan zone. This will avoid people walking to the front of the line because they didn’t know what the line was for (see above point regarding signage). Also, this would stop those fans deciding a line was not for them and simply walking straight to the front of the line.
  • Establish UEFA representatives to provide guidance, instruction and where necessary enforcement of acceptable rules in regard the line for the shuttle buses.
  • At no time should anyone waiting in line, or entering a bus, be forced to give up their water. Hydration is an essential component of good health and the wait in line, in the sun, and the journey to the stadium may total more than 4 hours.
  • Bottles of water should be made available to those inline, free of charge. This should only be made available to pass holders and the 20cent cost of the water should be absorbed within the cost of the match ticket, just as the transport cost is.
  • Establish a disability assistance tent. Pre-registered guests should announce themselves at the tent where they can wait until they can be assisted on to a bus that is departing. There should be no requirement for those with a valid disability to wait in line.
  • Establish a loading area that does not require fans to move and be aware of busses turning. There is sufficient space at Yenikapi for all bus maneuvering to be done away from the fans, and a single stream of buses travels in a single direction, only stopping to pickup fans.
  • Place a UEFA representative at the end of the controlled line of fans. Provide them with a clicker counter. The representative will only let the specific number of people through that can be accommodated comfortably and safely on the bus provided. When the bus is loaded, it moves away, the next bus takes it place, comes to a safe stop and the next load of fans are allowed through and to board that bus.
  • Where possible major roads should be closed to normal traffic and diverted avoiding the route taken by the buses to the ground. You will be moving as many as 15,000 fans on buses carrying +/- 50 fans each. This will require approx.. 300 buses that should be provided priority over local traffic to ensure the journey time is not unreasonable.
  • When dropping fans at fan zone near the ground, please prepare and distribute a simple flyer that contains instructions in regard what the process will be for boarding busses on the return journey. Also have large oversized display boards easily visible, with the same instructions, for those who are not provided with the flyer.
  • The drop off area should be staffed with English speakers to assist fans with questions and also those with disabilities requiring assistance. Please note : in order to safely and efficiently assist those with disabilities please ensure there is level solid service from the bus drop off area to the gate entrance to the stadium.
Whilst I could provide a further set of suggestions for the fan zone experience, I will withhold these until you accept my offer of help.

I will provide you with some bullet points for hosting ‘regular’ (non-hospitality) fans once they are admitted inside the stadium. These are obvious issues that don’t really require any great insight on my behalf. Not ensuring these minimums would surely fall into the dereliction of duty category;

  • Provide sufficient vending locations that the average wait time is not greater than 30 minutes.
  • Provide sufficient bathroom facilities that the average wait time is not greater than 15 minutes.
  • Ensure there is easily available, reasonably priced water, without waiting in line for greater than 30 minutes. Water should be available via any/all payment methods. As mentioned above, good hydration is essential and should not be at risk because a contact less card is failing to process.
Shuttle bus transport back to the city and to the airports; Perhaps this area is the one with the biggest potential for failure if nobody takes responsibility for putting in place an effective plan. However, the basics of the plan are very simple, and most fall into a category I refer to as ‘common sense’.

  • As soon as fans leave the stadium, start to segregate (with barriers that have been put in place during the game) fans for a) the city, b) IST airport & c) SAW airport. There is a long distance from exiting the stadium gate until the busses, so there is plenty of time for people to get in their correct lane.
  • The narrowest point in the journey to the buses is at the rear of the fan zone, this should be used as the control point for letting a ‘reasonable’ amount of people through who have a bus immediately available to board.
  • At the bus park, no private vehicles or taxis are allowed. Those are handled at a separate area. There is plenty of space around the ground to accomplish this.
  • As with the departure procedure, all buses should already be lined up, in one of three lines. There should be no jostling for positions, no merging of traffic, just load up, move off, repeat !
  • At the exit of the bus park, the road must be closed to all other traffic up to the point where the bus joins the highway/motorway to its destination. Also, all 3 bus lines must exit directly to the road, bus lanes should not be required to merge. If this is implemented correctly, there will be no delays caused by congestion in the bus park area. When a bus is loaded it can be on the road in less than a few minutes. Roads will be quiet at that time of night so journey time will be short, our challenge is to get the bus started on that journey as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
This is just a short sample of the planning I can help you execute. I hope my ‘short’ list of suggestions will show you that I am the ideal consultant for your next CL Final Planning committee.

If you did have anyone who was supposed to have taken care of this, I suggest you get your sponsor Heineken to employ them, as they obviously couldn’t arrange a piss up in a brewery !
 
Can anyone explain why we told only certain sized flags could be taken in yet the Inter fans had these huge ones flying all game and why were City's long thin banners draped over the second level pulled up before kick off and never seen again. And in the same tone we were told it was a no smoking stadium yet the stewards and police were quite happily lighting up.
 
kerem gokmen said:
i have so much to write about those issues. i am writing, and erasing immediately. dont wanna get into trouble. issues will be mostly political (police, government stuff, shitty stadium etc.)

younger-middle aged fans; you had a great experience about a 3rd world country. take it that way. but i still apologize for the problems you experienced.

but, i am really
so sorry and sad about elderly and disabled fans....i send my deepest apologies for my country. actually i forgot to think about that issue (disabled and old fans) when i started to write you. wish that issue came to my mind, maybe i could have done better. i could easely arrange some busses for them; but could not think that uefa shuttles will be that shitty. anyway, everthing has been passed. nothing i/we can do. actually i wanted to write those issues to municipality, but i am sure they will not care. anyway really sorry.

i was expecting a chaos after game. dont wanted to scare you much, as some of you know, i stopped writing negative issues about istanbul after a while.... anyway, again, it has been passed, nothing again i/we can do.

why am i writing this? dont know. just sad about the disabled fans and elderly esp. again sorry guys. so sorry. i hope you are safe and calm now.

you have experienced at least some of the stuff we are dealing with in this country...

keep in touch next time, for the ones who will come to visit again. everthing will be better. i will involve more. and 100% wear my scaremonger mask; will not care about any criticism about my pessimism.

see you later.
Click to expand...
We loved the people of Turkey. None of the organisation is their fault.
 
kerem gokmen said:
i have so much to write about those issues. i am writing, and erasing immediately. dont wanna get into trouble. issues will be mostly political (police, government stuff, shitty stadium etc.)

younger-middle aged fans; you had a great experience about a 3rd world country. take it that way. but i still apologize for the problems you experienced.

but, i am really
so sorry and sad about elderly and disabled fans....i send my deepest apologies for my country. actually i forgot to think about that issue (disabled and old fans) when i started to write you. wish that issue came to my mind, maybe i could have done better. i could easely arrange some busses for them; but could not think that uefa shuttles will be that shitty. anyway, everthing has been passed. nothing i/we can do. actually i wanted to write those issues to municipality, but i am sure they will not care. anyway really sorry.

i was expecting a chaos after game. dont wanted to scare you much, as some of you know, i stopped writing negative issues about istanbul after a while.... anyway, again, it has been passed, nothing again i/we can do.

why am i writing this? dont know. just sad about the disabled fans and elderly esp. again sorry guys. so sorry. i hope you are safe and calm now.

you have experienced at least some of the stuff we are dealing with in this country...

keep in touch next time, for the ones who will come to visit again. everthing will be better. i will involve more. and 100% wear my scaremonger mask; will not care about any criticism about my pessimism.

see you later.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t beat yourself up about it mate, not your fault personally. All the Turkish people we met over 3 days were fantastic from the bar owners, taxi driver and even people chatting to us on the metro. Had to do the 2 hour ‘walk to nowhere‘ after the game like most people and ended up in a dodgy minibus (eventually) back into town. I bet the guy running the kebab shop was happy with a few 100 city fans turning up at 2am! The only problem I have now I’m back in Manchester is I expect to haggle for everything. Doesnt go down well in our local.
 
Impeccable One said:
Dear UEFA Champions League Final Planning Committee,

After experiencing, first hand, your ‘fan experience’ in Istanbul, I would like to offer you my services free of charge, for the next final. I would coordinate everything for you, based on my observations and experience in Istanbul.

Shuttle bus transport to the Manchester City Fan Zone at the Ataturk Stadium;

  • I would suggest that you have clear signage identifying where people go to enter the fan zone and where people should wait in line for a shuttle bus.
  • If possible, as much of the line should be provided with shade as temperatures will get high and the wait/line will become long in the afternoon.
  • The wait line for the shuttle buses should be segregated from those people wanting to enter the fan zone. This will avoid people walking to the front of the line because they didn’t know what the line was for (see above point regarding signage). Also, this would stop those fans deciding a line was not for them and simply walking straight to the front of the line.
  • Establish UEFA representatives to provide guidance, instruction and where necessary enforcement of acceptable rules in regard the line for the shuttle buses.
  • At no time should anyone waiting in line, or entering a bus, be forced to give up their water. Hydration is an essential component of good health and the wait in line, in the sun, and the journey to the stadium may total more than 4 hours.
  • Bottles of water should be made available to those inline, free of charge. This should only be made available to pass holders and the 20cent cost of the water should be absorbed within the cost of the match ticket, just as the transport cost is.
  • Establish a disability assistance tent. Pre-registered guests should announce themselves at the tent where they can wait until they can be assisted on to a bus that is departing. There should be no requirement for those with a valid disability to wait in line.
  • Establish a loading area that does not require fans to move and be aware of busses turning. There is sufficient space at Yenikapi for all bus maneuvering to be done away from the fans, and a single stream of buses travels in a single direction, only stopping to pickup fans.
  • Place a UEFA representative at the end of the controlled line of fans. Provide them with a clicker counter. The representative will only let the specific number of people through that can be accommodated comfortably and safely on the bus provided. When the bus is loaded, it moves away, the next bus takes it place, comes to a safe stop and the next load of fans are allowed through and to board that bus.
  • Where possible major roads should be closed to normal traffic and diverted avoiding the route taken by the buses to the ground. You will be moving as many as 15,000 fans on buses carrying +/- 50 fans each. This will require approx.. 300 buses that should be provided priority over local traffic to ensure the journey time is not unreasonable.
  • When dropping fans at fan zone near the ground, please prepare and distribute a simple flyer that contains instructions in regard what the process will be for boarding busses on the return journey. Also have large oversized display boards easily visible, with the same instructions, for those who are not provided with the flyer.
  • The drop off area should be staffed with English speakers to assist fans with questions and also those with disabilities requiring assistance. Please note : in order to safely and efficiently assist those with disabilities please ensure there is level solid service from the bus drop off area to the gate entrance to the stadium.
Whilst I could provide a further set of suggestions for the fan zone experience, I will withhold these until you accept my offer of help.

I will provide you with some bullet points for hosting ‘regular’ (non-hospitality) fans once they are admitted inside the stadium. These are obvious issues that don’t really require any great insight on my behalf. Not ensuring these minimums would surely fall into the dereliction of duty category;

  • Provide sufficient vending locations that the average wait time is not greater than 30 minutes.
  • Provide sufficient bathroom facilities that the average wait time is not greater than 15 minutes.
  • Ensure there is easily available, reasonably priced water, without waiting in line for greater than 30 minutes. Water should be available via any/all payment methods. As mentioned above, good hydration is essential and should not be at risk because a contact less card is failing to process.
Shuttle bus transport back to the city and to the airports; Perhaps this area is the one with the biggest potential for failure if nobody takes responsibility for putting in place an effective plan. However, the basics of the plan are very simple, and most fall into a category I refer to as ‘common sense’.

  • As soon as fans leave the stadium, start to segregate (with barriers that have been put in place during the game) fans for a) the city, b) IST airport & c) SAW airport. There is a long distance from exiting the stadium gate until the busses, so there is plenty of time for people to get in their correct lane.
  • The narrowest point in the journey to the buses is at the rear of the fan zone, this should be used as the control point for letting a ‘reasonable’ amount of people through who have a bus immediately available to board.
  • At the bus park, no private vehicles or taxis are allowed. Those are handled at a separate area. There is plenty of space around the ground to accomplish this.
  • As with the departure procedure, all buses should already be lined up, in one of three lines. There should be no jostling for positions, no merging of traffic, just load up, move off, repeat !
  • At the exit of the bus park, the road must be closed to all other traffic up to the point where the bus joins the highway/motorway to its destination. Also, all 3 bus lines must exit directly to the road, bus lanes should not be required to merge. If this is implemented correctly, there will be no delays caused by congestion in the bus park area. When a bus is loaded it can be on the road in less than a few minutes. Roads will be quiet at that time of night so journey time will be short, our challenge is to get the bus started on that journey as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
This is just a short sample of the planning I can help you execute. I hope my ‘short’ list of suggestions will show you that I am the ideal consultant for your next CL Final Planning committee.

If you did have anyone who was supposed to have taken care of this, I suggest you get your sponsor Heineken to employ them, as they obviously couldn’t arrange a piss up in a brewery !
Click to expand...
Every word is spot on. You should send this to UEFA
 
hammocity said:
Mirrors my previous post about a young lad in a wheelchair and the farce getting in and out, along with the wankers masquerading as taxi drivers charging prices I’ve never seen before.

Also a pint of beer in Bodrum airport, £14, that can’t be the usual price surely?
Click to expand...

Probably mate. It was like 25 Euro for a fucking McDonald's in Dalaman Airport! Fortunately I'd eaten at the hotel just before my flight but saw a family of four sit on a table next to me and they just came back with water. The mother was explaining to them why they hadn't got any food. Sums the place up in my eyes. Any opportunity there is to swindle you over they will. Taxi drivers probably the worst example and the stories of charging a tenner a pint on the street when it was 2.50 the night before etc.

That being said there were some terrific people I met in Marmaris. One bar/restaurant I frequented the most as wasn't hassled and got on well with the staff. There also wasn't the cheese of the kareoke, bingo and dancing like in most spots. One of the staff was ex-military and even he said he would never visit Istanbul as there's too much crime and how rough it is. He'd go to Ankara but never Istanbul. They were asking me to come back later in the year.

I went in a kebab house on the Sunday with my 70's City shirt on and the owner sat down with me on my table. We chatted football whilst my food was being prepared and he carried on talking whilst I was eating. When it came to my bill it was actually less than what was listed on the menu and because of that and how he was I tipped them accordingly.

A bit off topic but I ran most days out there and one bloke from a restaurant would always recognise me. Each time that I went past he would joke that I was 'winning the race', 'you're first again', 'you're the champion' etc. On the Sunday when I went past I had a bit of a smirk on my face as he shouted 'you are the champion' again at the notion that he was actually correct. You and I are indeed a 'champion'...... European Champions in fact!
 
WestGorton said:
We were warned not to use them by locals. I did it through Uber so no problems.
Click to expand...
are there ubers still in istanbul? i am asking as an istanbul guy. i thought there were no ubers since 2-3 years. also supreme coart banned uber last week. have you really used official uber? thanks.
www.nationalturk.com

Uber Banned In Turkey | NationalTurk

The 11th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the local court, stating that the reasons put forward by the lawyers of the
www.nationalturk.com www.nationalturk.com
 
kerem gokmen said:
are there ubers still in istanbul? i am asking as an istanbul guy. i thought there were no ubers since 2-3 years. also supreme coart banned uber last week. have you really used official uber? thanks.
www.nationalturk.com

Uber Banned In Turkey | NationalTurk

The 11th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the local court, stating that the reasons put forward by the lawyers of the
www.nationalturk.com www.nationalturk.com
Click to expand...
It just linked to yellow taxi's but sometimes no one would accept the ride (because they wanted to negotiate a higher price instead)
 
kerem gokmen said:
are there ubers still in istanbul? i am asking as an istanbul guy. i thought there were no ubers since 2-3 years. also supreme coart banned uber last week. have you really used official uber? thanks.
www.nationalturk.com

Uber Banned In Turkey | NationalTurk

The 11th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the local court, stating that the reasons put forward by the lawyers of the
www.nationalturk.com www.nationalturk.com
Click to expand...
Yes we booked through Uber and at payment the drivers questioned it and we said Uber and that was it. They were preferring cash but accepted it. The fare to the airport was 400 lire which is £20. Cheap.
 
cptaidan88 said:
It just linked to yellow taxi's but sometimes no one would accept the ride (because they wanted to negotiate a higher price instead)
Click to expand...
yes, that usually happens. i wrote warnings about those last week. but UBERS? i dont think they are really ubers. they are probably fake... thats why i am surprised...

on matchday, i had to take a taxi on bagdat street (kadıkoy)at 9.30pm, since no places was broadcasting or they were full. so i stand in the middle of bagdat street (drunk), tried to stop yellow taxis, none of them was stopping. but i stopped one by force, offered him a good tip for 3km ride (there is apub near my house/ i watched there). anyway. ofcourse that was nothing compared to the problems you guys experienced.
 
WestGorton said:
Yes we booked through Uber and at payment the drivers questioned it and we said Uber and that was it. They were preferring cash but accepted it. The fare to the airport was 400 lire which is £20. Cheap.
Click to expand...
interesting.... thanks..
 
WestGorton said:
Yes we booked through Uber and at payment the drivers questioned it and we said Uber and that was it. They were preferring cash but accepted it. The fare to the airport was 400 lire which is £20. Cheap.
Click to expand...
I tried to use the official app but just couldn't get them to accept the ride. But that also meant I had an idea what the "proper" price was. Was quoted 3000 for a trip to the airport, sacked it off and got a metro/coach that came to under 100. Robbing fucks.
 
Level playing Field are taking UEFA to task over this…
www.levelplayingfield.org.uk

Level Playing Field | Positive experiences for disabled sports fans

We believe that attending and engaging with live sporting events has a positive impact on wellbeing. We work at every level to ensure that disabled fans can freely access and enjoy live sport.
www.levelplayingfield.org.uk www.levelplayingfield.org.uk

Good morning Stephen.
I hope all is well.

Let me start by thanking you for giving up your time to provide such a detailed report regarding your experience at the CL Final.
Sadly, the same issues have arisen over the past few days regarding the poor matchday experiences many disabled Manchester City supporters faced.

With the evidence we have gathered, Level Playing Field will write to UEFA today to raise our disappointments and concerns regarding the final, a final that UEFA promised would be different to Paris.

We will then release the letter to the public via a press statement mid-morning tomorrow.

It is Level Playing Field policy to only name a supporter/s if they are happy for names to be attached to a complaint or press release.
With this in mind, I am emailing all supporters who have provided evidence to see if they are happy to have their name attached to any evidence that we might use in our letter to UEFA/press statement and if they would also be open to possibly speaking to media if we get any request to communicate to supporters.

Please let me know if you are happy to be named and happy to be referred to if a press request comes in.

Lastly congrats on the treble.
If you have any questions, please do ask.

image002.png​
Liam Bird (pronouns: he, him, his)
Fans Liaison Officer

M: 07566 831627 | P: 01923 545370
W: http://www.levelplayingfield.org.uk/

The Junction, Station Rd, Watford, WD17 1ET
 
Been to Turkey/Istanbul on business many times, for years.
You will be ripped off unless you challenge everything and stand up to it - locals preyed on this around the stadium when vulnerability was high.
UEFA put us on buses with all the consequential issues, Inter were to use the Metro.
They also made sure that a repeat of stadium access aka Paris wasnt going to happen and lots of searching and sheep penning was in order.
All posts in this feed shockingly describe the treatment of our fans by UEFA. Post match was horrendous.
We luckily had a local Turkish friend who after we shared what UEFA planned, insisted on driving us to/from the ground and even he was shocked with the traffic/queues plus that we had to walk several miles after the game navigating traffic with risk to injury or life to meet him on the motorway.
London and Munich will of course be fine for the next 2 years so UEFA and our club will do nothing at all.
 
From a BBC journalist who was there as a City fan (Ellis PB)

Hi there,

Apologies for the slight delay in getting this to you. I’ve just been spending the last few days trying to recover physically and psychologically from what was a knackering, inaccessible experience of the UEFA Champions League final as a wheelchair-using disabled fan. As my mother put it in a Man City fan group: “Everything went well getting to Turkey until anything UEFA were meant to organise kicked in… Then it was chaos!”. As I was mostly focused on getting out of there alive and with an unbroken wheelchair so I did not take any pictures…

For the purposes of this email, I’m going to split my feedback into several sections.

ACCESS IN ISTANBUL CITY



  • Were any holistic checks around access for disabled fans done when considering Istanbul as a host city for the Champions League final?
  • From a public realm accessibility perspective, the city was a far cry comparative capital cities. Simple infrastructure such as dropped kerbs to help wheelchair users get across the road at a crossing point were - at best - partial and - at worst - non-existent.
  • The ability for a disabled person to maneuver in public was nigh on impossible without the support of an aide, such was the unpredictability at crossing points and surface consistency.
  • The citizens of the city were incredibly helpful when it came to providing support with access - although. at times, it did feel a bit smothering towards one’s independence (such as when the taxi driver picking me up at the airport tried to carry me out of my chair into the seat in his taxi).
BEFORE THE GAME - FAN PARK AT YENIKAPI



  • Transport to the Man City fan park at Yenikapi was not easy to come across. After walking around trying to find a way there, we stumbled across the tourist information centre at Sırkecı metro station. They very helpfully provided us with a metro map and told us where to go to get on the metro. When we got into Sırkecı station, although there was an initial very steep ramp, the accessible entrance and lift was clearly signposted.
  • The metro system was fantastic, incredibly clean and step-free. Unfortunately, UEFA advised that Man City fans could not use the system, even though it was a step-free route to the ground, so we got off at Yenikapi. The lift was easily accessible there too, but unfortunately the route between there and the ground lacked dropped kerbs and had a number of unsafe, uneven surfaces that I struggled to use even with my mother’s support.
  • Upon our arrival at the fan park at Yenikapi, we were ushered into the “disabled queue” to get past security. Unfortunately, this was over uneven gravel as well.
  • The accessible toilets at Yenikapi were well signposted and reasonably accessible. Like everything in Turkey there was a steep gradient incline on the ramp in and out, meaning one could not enter and exit safely without support. The toilets were nicely built, but poorly maintained - there was no toilet paper available in the one we went to.
  • Although there were some accessible pathways in the fan park at Yenikapi, if one wanted to get to, say, the official store to purchase a programme or other merchandise, one had to go over some uneven land to get there and there were no access queues available, meaning one had to stand in a crowded queue for over 45 minutes just to purchase a programme and a pump bag.

BEFORE THE GAME - TRANSPORT



  • The metro system was fantastic, incredibly clean and step-free. Unfortunately, UEFA advised that Man City fans could not use the system, even though it was a step-free route to the ground.
  • The access queue system worked well at Yenikapi, once we could find a steward who knew what was going on. A wheelchair-using non-Man City supporter who was without a ticket tried to tailgate us and was almost successful, until we pointed out he what he was trying to do (better security checks needed?). When we got to the front of the queue, we were ushered onto the first bus that was available. Despite this, we heard later that some of our fans had been in the bus queue for over two hours (a nightmare if you have an invisible disability).
  • Despite the bus having a very steep gradient and needing the assistance of several people to get up and down it safely, the bus was modern and comparatively accessible with USB sockets next to the accessible spaces, meaning I was able to put my phone and phone charger on charge during the journey (an essential as UEFA had only provided us with mobile tickets).
  • The traffic management from the fan park to the stadium could and should have been so much better - it took nearly two hours, with logjams in various places.

BEFORE THE GAME - MAN CITY FAN PARK AT THE STADIUM



  • Upon our arrival at the Ataturk Stadium fan park, we waited until our fellow passengers had got off before disembarking down the steep ramp to the fan park. There were no wayfinders or “mobility marshals” available to assist along the route.
  • The route from the bus to the fan park can best be described as “independently impassable rubble”. It was an incredibly uneven and inconsistent surface that I even struggled to get over with my mother’s help. If I had stopped at any point, it would have been difficult - nigh on impossible - to restart without risking damage to my wheelchair.
  • As I said before, there was no wayfinding assistance from the bus to the fan park. This meant that the entrance to the fan park was something of a log-jam, with fan ignoring the fact I was in the queue because I was out of their eyeline and pushing past me in their attempt to get in. There was minimal crowd control at the ticket checking barrier, if any at all.
  • Once we got in, we made our way to the right-hand side of the stage to try and get some food. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted there was an accessible cashier point, so we went over to that and purchased our items. So far so good - but it was a half-hearted attempt at providing an accessible way to get food, because after you had placed your order, the only way to get the food was to join a very inaccessible and long queue to the food counter. My mum, acting as my PA, went and did this for me, leaving me with fellow fans, but reported back that it was a very inaccessible queuing system.
  • After eating a very over-priced, poor quality vegan burger, I decided to try to find a toilet. After finding a steward who told me that it was the other side of the fan park, I traipsed over there, only to find there were no wayfinders and no easy way to find the accessible portakabin. After walking down three rows of inaccessible toilets, I found the accessible toilet. There was queue of non-visibly disabled Irish/American Man City fans waiting to use it, but they let me go ahead of them. The fanpark toilet itself was a little dirty by this point (four hours to kick off) and the floor had piss on it, which was something of a trip hazard.
  • Around three hours before kick-off, a member of fan park staff came over and told us there was an accessible shuttle to the stadium we could get on. Unfortunately, despite there being loads of staff waiting around doing very little. they did not manage the queue for this correctly: we ended up being at the back of the queue for two successive shuttles/ In the end, we ended up walking to the stadium as it was quicker and once you got out of the gravelly fan park. it was a very smoother, clear, and independently accessible wheeling route to the stadium.

THE STADIUM AND GAME ITSELF



  • When we got to the outside of the stadium, I noted where the accessible entrance was and we went towards it. Unfortunately, the gradient of the dropped kerb was less-than-ideal and I required assistance to get up it.
  • Once we’d got to the clearly-marked accessible entrance, it was very easy to get past the ticket and security checks and to our seats. The security and ticket staff were very friendly.
  • Unfortunately, when we got to our seat, there no meet-and-greeting stewards to tell us about the accessible facilities that were available to us at the stadium.
  • The accessible toilets were a bit of a nightmare to find. They were not easily signposted. In fact, for the first time when I went shortly after my arrival at the stadium, I actually used the non-disabled men’s toilets because I could not find the accessible ones and there was no one around to help signpost me to it.
  • The second time I went to the toilet, one of our own stewards (Ian - I think his name was - who normally works in the Legends’ Lounge at the Etihad) had to take me and a guy with a bag to them, because of the UEFA local stewards were useless and very unapproachable.
  • When it came to getting food and drink, for the first hour-and-a-half at the stadium, we just looked at the queue and decided against purchasing anything from it because it was so long and no one came by to tell us about the accessible payment point. Eventually, around an hour before kick-off a suited-and-booted Turkish steward with questionable English came by and introduced himself to us. He told us where the access queue was and took us over to the front of it. However he promptly abandoned us when we got there, meaning that there was a significant communication barrier between us and the staff.
  • For an event sponsored by Mastercard, it was very weird that when we came to pay the vastly-overinflated prices, you could only pay in cash and no card option was available.
  • No free tap water or drinking water station were provided inside or outside the stadium. Fans who needed water were made to pay for squishy cartons which were very inaccessible.
  • Regarding media positions taking over the seats of disabled supporters, I am disappointed to tell you that seats 224 and 225 were overtaken by a media gantry position (these were the seats immediately to my left), rendering them inaccessible to any disabled fans who might otherwise have used them. It looked as though similar seat positions were occupied by media gantry positions for the Inter Milan fans too.
  • During the game, there was very little crowd control. Large numbers of fans stood behind the accessible seats; this was great for creating an atmosphere, but it did make entering and exiting the seats potentially difficult.

AFTER THE GAME - TRANSPORT



  • This was absolute bedlam. It was probably the worst experience I’ve ever had exiting a stadium - and I’ve been in a Met Police kettle with Millwall fans after they lost at Wembley.
  • When your team wins the Champions League, you want to stay and make memories from it. Unfortunately, upon exiting the stadium, UEFA created only nightmares.
  • We exited the stadium using the nearest accessible exit point. There were no wayfinders nor access lanes, so you were shoved straight into thousands of fans trying to get out of the same place and to the same place, with people pushing past you at narrow entrances with very little by way of crowd control.
  • We eventually made it out the stadium and onto the road. In the immediate area of the stadium, there was very little by way of traffic control, meaning that private taxis seemingly picking up corporate fans were able to use the same road thousands of Man City fans were trying to cross to get out to the fan park.
  • We got onto the smooth road back to the bus area at the fan park and it was lined with police and well-controlled.
  • That was, until you got to the actual turn into the fan park, which was a narrow uneven passageway thronged with hundreds of ambulant fans not really looking where they were going and with ZERO access stewarding or attempts at crowd-control by the authorities.
  • Next came the extremely dangerous gravel again - only this time, it was pitch-black too, so it was even more difficult to work out where you were going safely,
  • Here’s a moment I never forget and is very poignant to the shambolic nature of the way things were run by UEFA. We were making our way over this dangerous gravel in the pitch black towards a free-for-all of buses and coaches back to the city and the airport with no access provision in sight. My mother, who was struggling to help me with my electric wheelchair through the darkness and the gravel. spotted some clearly marked “mobility marshals” and approached them calmly to ask for guidance and support. Rather than the help and guidance she was expecting from these three young blokes, she was shouted at and told to “Go away!” and they immediately went back to tapping their phones and did not give us any help and support.
  • After 15 minutes of trudging through snaking traffic in the bus park trying to find a bus with an accessible space on it back to Yenikapi’s fan park on gravel that I was convinced at any moment would break my wheelchair and leave me stranded, a kindly taxi driver convinced a bus driver to lower down the ramp and let me on. Again, the gradient up onto the bus was dangerous and required the assistance of several people (thank God my electric wheelchair is relatively lightweight).
  • The traffic out of the stadium was woeful - at one point we didn’t move for around 45 minutes. The traffic control to support those using the public transport that UEFA had laid on was non-existent and so getting back into the city was carnage.
  • We eventually got back into the city after several hours on the bus (at nearly 3am). The driver made an impromptu stop at somewhere that appeared to be near a public transport hub we could use to continue our journey. Most of our fans on the bus got off at this stage, but when my mother asked him if he would be able to put the ramp down so I could get off, he just said “Not here” sharply and drove off at speed.
  • We then got to the edge of the fan park - and rather than there be an organised bus park like earlier - we were dumped at the side of the highway with an inaccessible pavement until someone realised we could get through a gap in the metal fencing onto some uneven gravel.
  • We eventually made it to Yenikapi metro station over the same difficult pavements, where a kindly security guard took pity on us and rushed us down to get what must have been one of the last metros of the night.

CONCLUSION

I would urge UEFA to consider the holistic accessibility of a city (street infrastructure, surfaces in and around fan parks, and having staff dedicated and properly trained to assist disabled supporters at fan parks and stadiums) when looking at potential candidate cities for future Champions League finals.
 
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