It's not Turkey per se it's the individuals with responsibility in the Turkish government together with their uefa counterparts that were to blame. Almost without fail the Turkish people themselves were friendly and as helpful as they could be.It is jointly on UEFA and Turkey. Everybody seems to be letting the Turks off for this and purely blaming UEFA but any other nation would be embarrassed at organising an event that was run like that.
It's called Due Dilligence and clearly UEFA didn't do any. They are accountable.I dislike UEFA as much as the next guy but disagree. Is it UEFA's fault the taxi driver is asking for £200 to the airport instead of the £20 it would usually be? Turkey would have been asked to provide X number of shittle buses..... which in theory they did. Some of them weren't even roadworthy though and broke down. Do UEFA have to take their own mechanics over there to check each bus? None of these buses had toilets on and a number of bus drivers didn't even know where they were going. Are UEFA going to employ the bus drivers directly? Surely those providing the buses knew access to water and a toilet should have been a minimum requirement. One lass on ours threw up- presumably from heat exhaustion.
Yes 100% UEFA is to blame but so is Turk
It's not Turkey per se it's the individuals with responsibility in the Turkish government together with their uefa counterparts that were to blame. Almost without fail the Turkish people themselves were friendly and as helpful as they could be.
I’ve done plenty of research, mainstream media have buried this story already,Where do you want to go it to?
Yes it was shit and there has been criticism - just do a search.
The person who did the due diligence and signed off on this venue (although I liked the feel of the stadium once in) should be sacked.
Knowing they had this event for such a long time, the Turkish authorities should have closed the roads to the ground to all but match traffic.
The very least you'd have thought they'd have done - was throw a bit of tarmac down on the car-parks and surrounds.
But let's not get too dipper about this.
There were many plus points and no trouble, the police weren't heavy handed and I assume we all made it home eventually and feeling very happy.
Chalk it down as a bad experience combined with a magical one.
Although they probably won't acknowledge it - lessons will gradually be learned.
A particular highlight was a load of blues pissing behind trees on a central reservation, only yards from the turnstiles - suddenly being chased by a herd of goats.
Life experiences - good and bad and bizarre, all in one evening.
It's not Turkey per se it's the individuals with responsibility in the Turkish government together with their uefa counterparts that were to blame. Almost without fail the Turkish people themselves were friendly and as helpful as they could be.
Of course they are accountable. Never said they weren't. Turkey or at the very least that stadium shouldn't be hosting an event of that magnitude. That is on UEFA, no question. Clearly backhanders have been given to have it there in the first place. That being said Turkey should have being getting the infrastructure in place to ensure things went much smoother than that shitshow. I'm sure promises and assurances that were made to one another were broken on both sides.It's called Due Dilligence and clearly UEFA didn't do any. They are accountable.
I’m not sure you’d get the situation even with video unless it was from a high viewpoint. Plus people were more concentrating on finding a bus or not getting crushed and staying with the group (because you’d never find them again). The thought of trying to capture it on my phone just didn’t occur to me.Almost everybody these days has a mobile phone. Does anyone have footage or photos of what they had to go through. Just to let the rest of us who didn't go see what the attending fans had to put up with.
Spot on. Let’s not tar a whole country with the same brush. From my experience, outside of the issues of getting to and from the stadium and the issues within the stadium and fan park, the people of Istanbul were overwhelmingly friendly and proud to host both City and Inter fans. From the bar owners on and around Nevizade Street, to the kebab shop owners in and around Taksim Square, to the blokes in the off-licence near our apartment, to the people in the mosque near Galata Tower when a couple of my mates were desperate for a pee, to the taxi driver blasting out City songs en route to the stadium, and to the local entrepreneurs selling us beer (which turned out cheaper than the beer in the fanzone) as we walked along the hard shoulder to the stadium, none of them could do enough for us.It's not Turkey per se it's the individuals with responsibility in the Turkish government together with their uefa counterparts that were to blame. Almost without fail the Turkish people themselves were friendly and as helpful as they could be.
No qualms with the Turkish people I came across as I've said in a post previously. Most were warm, welcoming and had a great sense of humour.
Of course they are accountable. Never said they weren't. Turkey or at the very least that stadium shouldn't be hosting an event of that magnitude. That is on UEFA, no question. Clearly backhanders have been given to have it there in the first place. That being said Turkey should have being getting the infrastructure in place to ensure things went much smoother than that shitshow. I'm sure promises and assurances that were made to one another were broken on both sides.
I’m not sure you’d get the situation even with video unless it was from a high viewpoint. Plus people were more concentrating on finding a bus or not getting crushed and staying with the group (because you’d never find them again). The thought of trying to capture it on my phone just didn’t occur to me.