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

[Edghill OG]

A few of them, and a few former reps (me included) were there and we're talking about this. I'm also an FSA member and will be contacting them as well.

At the end of the day though, UEFA, like City, will do whatever they want and stuff us fans.

Perhaps when the UEFA bigwigs attend our next home game, we should put them up in Morecambe and tell them to make their own fucking way to the stadium. Or send a driver who only speaks an obscure Amazonian dialect and hasn't a clue where he's going.

Well they're not coming on our fucking supporters bus mate!

Our bus actually moves, nor does it break down, the driver actually knows where they're going and those on board are encouraged not to be posh, entitled cunts.

 

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

The people of Istanbul made us so welcome. The police were sensible and just stood back. However, the big ground is too far out and is too remote therefore the final should not be there again.

They were looking to knock the Atatürk stadium down and build a 90,000 football purpose stadium for a failed Euro 2024 bid. If Turkey are looking knock something down that was built in 2002, surely it’s not fit for purpose and should not have been holding a Champions league final.

 

[Whether or not]

In addition to UEFA’s corruption and incompetence, and the unsuitability of the stadium, the political situation in Turkey didn’t help. We were talking to the receptionist in our hotel on the Sunday and saying that the police and traffic officers just stood about and did nothing whatsoever to try and sort out the chaos. The receptionist smiled and said the final in Istanbul was another vanity event for Erdogan, most of the police don’t like him, so they wouldn’t do anything to help it succeed. Looking back he was probably right, as they were stood about observing with a relaxed disinterest.

 

[Blue Maverick]

They were looking to knock the Atatürk stadium down and build a 90,000 football purpose stadium for a failed Euro 2024 bid. If Turkey are looking knock something down that was built in 2002, surely it’s not fit for purpose and should not have been holding a Champions league final.

I had no issue with the stadium itself bar the seats and lack of water available, it’s the infrastructure they hadn’t even tarmaced the road up it was a building site, 5 lanes into one, no direction or stewarding outside etc. Nothing will be done and it will all happen again, Wembley next year they will complain that the tube can’t handle 90k fans you only have to look at the coach park at the FA cup although unless it’s an English team that gets there it might not be such a bad problem, the difference been the drivers will know where to go etc.
UEFA everytime this happens should be made to refund the tickets, they are doing it with the scousers and they should with us, I’m surprised no one for seriously injured or worse.

 

[BringBackSwales]

Just about to take off back to Manchester. We resorted to a £100 cab ride back to our hotel. Already in the process of raising it with the club, although I’m almost certain that they’re already aware. Not overly confident we can achieve anything with UEFA but we’ll see what we can do.

Not sure what we can do? Come on Alex, City Matters should be kicking off big time with the club, and the club even bigger time with uefa and in the media. 2 main questions (1) why have the club not raised this in the media, 4 days after the disgrace? (2) please ask the club what risk assessment they took about fan safety l, safeguarding and treatment? They have a duty of care to us too dont they? I fucking hate liverpool but at least the cunts stick up for their fans, we say and do nothing.

If the club are “almost certainly aware” why haven’t they said a dicky bird about it? The club allowed up to 25k Blues to rot at the mercy of an organisation they know hates us. In fact if uefa had brains I would say the disgusting treatment of us was deliberate

 

[gazinho]

Thought id stick my experience down on here I had it much better than a lot of you on here but still an absolute shitshow by the corrupt cunts at UEFA. Travelled all of this with my old fella who is 65

Got to Istanbul airport from Antalya at 8:30am ish on the morning of the game, walked for at least half an hour from our gate to the shuttle buses to Yenikapi, that airport really is fucking massive which fits right in with the city to be fair. Didnt take too long to get there went in the fan park realised it was a massive cheese fest but found a Heineken bar and had a couple of pints, jumped in a taxi for the 3 mile drive to out hotel which took an hour, checked in found a bar and had a few beers, taxi back to Yenikapi to get the shuttle buses to the ground which is where the real shitshow started.

Queued for over an hour to get on the bus that took 2 hours to get to the ground (wasnt too bad reading the mad journey times on here) managed to get my mate who was already there to get me a beer, wandered to the stadium about 7:30ish thought getting into the ground was actually pretty decent.

After the game quickly realised there were hardly any buses and the ones that were there were going absolutely nowhere quickly walked all the way to the exit to the car park and where it narrowed down to one lane saw a taxi blocking everything with no driver in it, ended up walking for about an hour down motorways, A roads, dirt tracks just following the crowd, finally flagged an empty taxi down he wanted 150 euros to take us back ended up telling him he was getting 100 and to fucking drive, back at the bar we were at earlier that day about 2:30, a lot earlier than a lot of other blues ended up chatting to some lads who got the metro who had been there nearly an hour longer than us.

The Turkish people I met were absolutely great and couldnt do enough for us, sorting us food, drinks and fireworks out thought everything about the trip was great barring the 12 hours UEFA were in charge.

Just a shout to @levets I saw Pat and Barry aswell cant believe the disgrace that was the arrangements and facilities for disabled people, arseholes

 

[Edghill OG]

Not sure what we can do? Come on Alex, City Matters should be kicking off big time with the club, and the club even bigger time with uefa and in the media. 2 main questions (1) why have the club not raised this in the media, 4 days after the disgrace? (2) please ask the club what risk assessment they took about fan safety l, safeguarding and treatment? They have a duty of care to us too dont they? I fucking hate liverpool but at least the cunts stick up for their fans, we say and do nothing.

If the club are “almost certainly aware” why haven’t they said a dicky bird about it? The club allowed up to 25k Blues to rot at the mercy of an organisation they know hates us. In fact if uefa had brains I would say the disgusting treatment of us was deliberate

The club only seem to be OK with alienating their own fans. Did anything happen regarding the bin dipper that cut the lasses head open? The way they pander to the likes of Liverpool, UEFA etc is pathetic.

Like you and most on here I despise Liverpool with every fibre in my body but they know how to 'mobilise' when need be and don't get walked over.

I'm very cynical about most things and believe there was only one team UEFA were ever going to allocate the 'Shittle Buses' (as somebody aptly named them earlier in the thread) to at the weekend.

 

[kerem gokmen]

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.

 

[Son of Merv]

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.

Don't put any of this on your own shoulders, mate. It may have been up to Turkey to get things in place, but it is UEFA that allowed it to go ahead without any proper assessment. They had 3 extra years to make sure what we experienced didn't happen and should have moved it 6 months ago when they knew there was no real plan.
It is UEFA who took water off fans and herded them on buses to stand in searing heat for 2-4 hours...They did this for no other reason than to maximise prophets so they could charge extortionate prices for a teaspoon full of water.
It is UEFA that had me arguing with police and stewards in UEFA bibs when they tried to take my wifes tampax off her... UEFA dont care about womens health rights, just getting sponsorship for their events
It is UEFA who advised us to go to a stadium 8 hours before a match began fully aware that food and drink provisions were inadequate for such a length of time.. This was just inhumane treatment and I can think of no other reason than Ceferin is a psychopath.
It is UEFA who picked a none DDA compliant stadium that even those with low level mobility issues would struggle to get to and around...UEFA clearly dont care a jot for supports health or the less abled.
It is UEFA who parked VIP's in a place where they had to push through fans in there coaches and blacked out luxury limos...Money will always mean more to UEFA than fans.
Etc, etc, etc.

Istanbul was fabulous and the Turkish people, some of the friendliest I have ever met. Those of us who were there for an extended stay (mostly) had one of the most enjoyable 'city breaks' we have ever had. I am glad that my first UCL final was there and not in one of the other big European cities, because it was such a wildly different cultural experience. Your advice on this forum really was outstanding and very much appreciated.

Nothing UEFA allowed to happen will ever sully the memory of my visit and I wish you and the Turkish folk all the best in the difficult times they are facing.

 

[aka blue jambo]

We got the metro to the ground and swithered after the game but decided to try the coach
We were quite lucky as a driver had just returned to ab empty bus and had turned lights on
We dived on that then obviously got stuck for ages. Again it was a good bunch of Blues on ours and we actually had a good laugh and a sing song.
Got back to hotel about 3.30
Would have been a bit miffed if returning home on the Sunday but I still had 2 moew days.
The Sunday night was fucking brilliant!!