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

[west didsblue]

If there were no hospitalisations as a result of the shambolic organisation of the event it would be a miracle.

 

[JPAMCR]

MIght be worth filling this in if you were there. Doubt it will lead to anything but the more exposure the better.



& a direct link for those that can't see the tweet:

FSE Fans Survey

Filled it in. Section at the end for comments.

 

[MCC]

I ended up buying beers off the beer sellers, and walking about 3 miles to get a taxi as it was a joke in the car park. Scandalous. I ended up leaving my wallet in the taxi! I realised as soon as i got out but the taxi had gone. The hotel staff got the registration number of the taxi from CCTV and rang the police to help track him down. I ended up at the police station at 4am. The taxi driver said he could not find my wallet - so the Police officer drove me back to my hotel via an ATM. He game me 2K lira out of his own pocket, to make sure i had enough money to get home, as I was a solo traveller. I swapped numbers with him and told him I would message him once home and pay him back. I paid him back today. He told me he wanted me to have a good impressed of Turkey and their people. Needless to say, I do! What a legend!

 

[CarlosTevez'sEnglishTutor]

I have now filled in this survey along with another I received.I won't repeat everything as its mostly been covered.I just hope the lad stood in Aisle 331 at the beginning of the game got home safely and is ok after having his passport and phone taken by someone branding a knife on him on entry to the ground.There was a steward helping him and I could hear the lad saying the police didn't want to know although they saw it happen.Hope everyone got home safe.

Disgrace. All them gypos were allowed in past security and police, a couple accosted my autistic father. Bent as fuck and totally lawless. It's been a difficult one over there with somebody with a disability, and also shocking to see other City fans hassling a wheelchair user for "queue jumping". I begrudgingly stood and waited in the same queue for this exact reason. Not all disabilities are visible but this is shocking behaviour towards a fellow City fan and one who's visibly disabled. Put the pint down lads and have some common decency. Similar reports of people not giving up bus seats to a bloke on crutches. Selfish boozed up Brits abroad springs to mind.

 

[OneTonyHenry]

Reading the comments and seeing first hand the experiences of the wheelchair users and disabled and elderly struggling to get to and from the stadium from the entry to the car park / fan zone has made me so mad.
My lad tore his miniscus combined with a strained ACL and has been on crutches for weeks but wasn't missing this for the world.
Wanted to call out all the City fans who looked out for him , helped him at the buses and made sure he didn't come off his crutches up and down the steps in the stadium and up and down the hill to and from the FanZone.
All I saw were City fans looking out for my young lad and making sure they didn't knock him and him topple over.
After the game absolute carnage at the buses. Metro wasn't an option as too far for him to walk, but no signage, no stewards, minimal buses available.
It was only thanks to a driver seeing the crutches and opening the doors and a couple of lads squeezing into the last available space which meant we were able to get on (although it took 90 minutes from then to reach the car park exit).
My thanks go out to all Blues.
And as far as UEFA go - not one more penny from me ever . The absolute set of corrupt bstads with no regard at all for the normal match going fans who can't afford 3000 Euros plus for a corporate "football experience"

 

[GrumpyLegacyFan]

I am still so angry about the farce that followed the game.

I ignored all the guidance and had arranged (and paid a criminal amount) for a driver to take me and pick me up from the ground - this turned out to be an inspired decision, as although he dropped me on the wrong side of the stadium - and I had to walk for 45mins on a motorway hard shoulder to get into P25 and the fan zone, after the game he parked just at the entrance to the exit, which meant we walked for 25 mins, but were able to get out the car park pretty quickly. I picked up four other Blues I could see that were struggling and dropped them off at their hotels, and got to mine, the Swissotel in the centre of town, by 3am - which turned out to be very early!

I happened to be staying at the UEFA HQ hotel (not by choice, but by accident), and all the freeloading wankers in suits had been back at the hotel by 1.30am. Knowing that some of my mates were still by now trapped on buses in the car park - I went up to one of the lanyard wearing wankstains and asked what was going on with the City buses - he actually smiled and said he had no idea, and told me that all the UEFA pricks and Corporate arseholes had used another exit road - with police motorbikes to leave the stadium.

Being an adult, I restrained myself from punching him in the face....

 

[Eds]

MIght be worth filling this in if you were there. Doubt it will lead to anything but the more exposure the better.



& a direct link for those that can't see the tweet:

FSE Fans Survey

This link should be put as a sticky so that everyone who went to the final can fill it in. Mods?

 

[kingswoodblue]

Copied this off a Facebook mate, goes every single match home and away including all European aways so we’ll versed in travelling to European aways;
ONE WHEELCHAIR USER AND HIS CARERS MATCH DAY ACCOUNT OF A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL.
Well the celebrations are over after a fantastic hectic six days, apart from a total disgusting 12 hours in the hands of Uefa and adhering to their requests and advice, around pre and post match transportation from the centre of Istanbul and return journey.
Barry and myself arrived at the designated bus transportation hub at 4:10pm and joined a very lengthy queue which people were saying was at least 1-2 hours before getting on a bus, asked if there was a designated lane and access for wheelchair users, one young lad walked down to the front and came back and informed us that there was, and so we walked down the side to the gate with a wheelchair sign on it, the amount of abuse we got whilst pushing my mate in his wheelchair to it from other city fans, calling us all sorts for “pushing in” was heartwarming to say the least, hope none of those ever end up having to use a wheelchair, on second thought I probably do so you know how it feels.
Anyway got through the cordon expecting to be put on designated buses for wheelchair users, in the hope that it makes things easier for the able bodied, but no, just squeezed on along with everyone else. Then set off to the stadium which took 2 hours 20 minutes to do 19KM, one road in one road out, thankfully we’d bought some small bottles of water. Finally got to the dirt track leading to the stadium where the bus just pulled up halfway up the hill and told everyone to get off, got of onto a so called car park made out of loose building rubble that had not even been rolled flat, tried pushing the wheelchair forward, front wheels just dug into rubble nearly causing chair to fall forward, easiest way was for me to walk backwards dragging chair backwards for a good 500 metres to where the supposed adapted bus was waiting to take you to the stadium entrance, the bus had a wheelchair lift but depending on size of wheelchair would only fit one chair in at a time, bearing in mind City had been allocated around a hundred wheelchair bays which were all sold as far as I know, anyway we were able to get ours in along with Stephen Lane and his chair. Arriving at the stadium we were dropped off and told bus would be there after game had finished. Entrance was ok two searches before a final show of phone with mobile ticket, which when I went to turn it off was only my screen saver and not the electronic ticket, then another search where they grabbed the two small bottles of water from the back of the chair, I explained they were needed for taking medication, told to buy it inside if we needed it. Then as we went past them there was several scruffy looking locals with obvious fake lanyards and passes selling bottles of water and sandwiches along with pyro flares which were on Uefa’s banned list for stupid amounts of Euros.
Luckily we had a great position in the ground to enjoy seeing us win the trophy.
Exited the ground back to the point for supposed transport back to buses, to be told bus had taken four wheelchairs back and won’t be back now because of amount of traffic, so had to push Barry back to the car park of rubble up a hill that was akin to reaching Everest base camp.
Once back on the car park of rubble absolute chaos not a sign or steward in sight directing people to buses to airport or city centre and pitch black only lighting from cars and minibuses, again having to drag the chair backwards.
Eventually saw a so called steward about 16 years of age telling people buses back to city centre keep walking down hill, so set off dragging wheelchair backwards down through rubble dodging in and out between taxis and minibuses literally risking our lives, then saw another person in a wheelchair tip over and onto the floor, thankfully he was helped back into his chair, another lad his front wheel buckled then had to be wheeled backwards just on the back wheels, along with numerous others on crutches and walking sticks, all heading down the hil as instructed, finally got to the bottom approx quarter of a mile to find no buses only to be told by coppers who couldn’t care less about what was happening all around, that the buses were back up at the top of the hill at the furthest point at the back of the car park, yes we had to set off back up the hill to locate the buses, again people tipping out of chairs, seeing one lad literally crawling and another ending up having to be carried on someone’s back, we luckily arrived at the bus again lucky not to have been hit by cars and buses and a few threats being made to taxi drivers, glad they never wanted a fight as I was too knackered to have done anything.
Finally back on a bus for another 2 hours back to the centre, dropped off nowhere near where we we’re supposed to have been, metro had shut by time we got there, then had to try and locate a taxi with thousands of others, finally got one who first wanted 150 euros to take us back to apartment just past Taxim Sq, politely told him he was taking the piss and he dropped the price to 50 which we took just to get back, finally arrived back at our apartment at 04:20am.
Now that’s one small reason we fucking hate and boo Uefa.

Around the city the locals could not have been more polite and helpful as we negotiated ourselves around the metro and city centre.
I know of the horror stories of the numerous people that had their pockets and bags done, also one lad stabbed in the kneck and having his back slashed by locals.
Did not hear of any trouble whatsoever between City and Milan.
Istanbul you will never be forgotten unfortunately for the shitshow organisation, but most of all for our first Champions league trophy win and completing the treble.

That sounded truly awful for you both - hope it didn’t spoil your experience.

If you were a Blue, who behaved in this way towards a disabled fan and his assistant then or any others , you should be ashamed of yourself, no matter what the circumstances.

The atmosphere in Istanbul between the City fans was fantastic, no Blue on Blue stuff (that I could see), everybody out to have a good time and watching out for each other to make sure all were safe.

Credit to the Inter fans who showed how to behave and accept defeat with dignity and class.

But this type of attitude or behaviour towards our fellow disabled or ‘ mobility restricted’ fans has no place in our club - go and support a team in red.

 

[Oystercatcher28]

Copied this off a Facebook mate, goes every single match home and away including all European aways so we’ll versed in travelling to European aways;
ONE WHEELCHAIR USER AND HIS CARERS MATCH DAY ACCOUNT OF A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL.
Well the celebrations are over after a fantastic hectic six days, apart from a total disgusting 12 hours in the hands of Uefa and adhering to their requests and advice, around pre and post match transportation from the centre of Istanbul and return journey.
Barry and myself arrived at the designated bus transportation hub at 4:10pm and joined a very lengthy queue which people were saying was at least 1-2 hours before getting on a bus, asked if there was a designated lane and access for wheelchair users, one young lad walked down to the front and came back and informed us that there was, and so we walked down the side to the gate with a wheelchair sign on it, the amount of abuse we got whilst pushing my mate in his wheelchair to it from other city fans, calling us all sorts for “pushing in” was heartwarming to say the least, hope none of those ever end up having to use a wheelchair, on second thought I probably do so you know how it feels.
Anyway got through the cordon expecting to be put on designated buses for wheelchair users, in the hope that it makes things easier for the able bodied, but no, just squeezed on along with everyone else. Then set off to the stadium which took 2 hours 20 minutes to do 19KM, one road in one road out, thankfully we’d bought some small bottles of water. Finally got to the dirt track leading to the stadium where the bus just pulled up halfway up the hill and told everyone to get off, got of onto a so called car park made out of loose building rubble that had not even been rolled flat, tried pushing the wheelchair forward, front wheels just dug into rubble nearly causing chair to fall forward, easiest way was for me to walk backwards dragging chair backwards for a good 500 metres to where the supposed adapted bus was waiting to take you to the stadium entrance, the bus had a wheelchair lift but depending on size of wheelchair would only fit one chair in at a time, bearing in mind City had been allocated around a hundred wheelchair bays which were all sold as far as I know, anyway we were able to get ours in along with Stephen Lane and his chair. Arriving at the stadium we were dropped off and told bus would be there after game had finished. Entrance was ok two searches before a final show of phone with mobile ticket, which when I went to turn it off was only my screen saver and not the electronic ticket, then another search where they grabbed the two small bottles of water from the back of the chair, I explained they were needed for taking medication, told to buy it inside if we needed it. Then as we went past them there was several scruffy looking locals with obvious fake lanyards and passes selling bottles of water and sandwiches along with pyro flares which were on Uefa’s banned list for stupid amounts of Euros.
Luckily we had a great position in the ground to enjoy seeing us win the trophy.
Exited the ground back to the point for supposed transport back to buses, to be told bus had taken four wheelchairs back and won’t be back now because of amount of traffic, so had to push Barry back to the car park of rubble up a hill that was akin to reaching Everest base camp.
Once back on the car park of rubble absolute chaos not a sign or steward in sight directing people to buses to airport or city centre and pitch black only lighting from cars and minibuses, again having to drag the chair backwards.
Eventually saw a so called steward about 16 years of age telling people buses back to city centre keep walking down hill, so set off dragging wheelchair backwards down through rubble dodging in and out between taxis and minibuses literally risking our lives, then saw another person in a wheelchair tip over and onto the floor, thankfully he was helped back into his chair, another lad his front wheel buckled then had to be wheeled backwards just on the back wheels, along with numerous others on crutches and walking sticks, all heading down the hil as instructed, finally got to the bottom approx quarter of a mile to find no buses only to be told by coppers who couldn’t care less about what was happening all around, that the buses were back up at the top of the hill at the furthest point at the back of the car park, yes we had to set off back up the hill to locate the buses, again people tipping out of chairs, seeing one lad literally crawling and another ending up having to be carried on someone’s back, we luckily arrived at the bus again lucky not to have been hit by cars and buses and a few threats being made to taxi drivers, glad they never wanted a fight as I was too knackered to have done anything.
Finally back on a bus for another 2 hours back to the centre, dropped off nowhere near where we we’re supposed to have been, metro had shut by time we got there, then had to try and locate a taxi with thousands of others, finally got one who first wanted 150 euros to take us back to apartment just past Taxim Sq, politely told him he was taking the piss and he dropped the price to 50 which we took just to get back, finally arrived back at our apartment at 04:20am.
Now that’s one small reason we fucking hate and boo Uefa.

Around the city the locals could not have been more polite and helpful as we negotiated ourselves around the metro and city centre.
I know of the horror stories of the numerous people that had their pockets and bags done, also one lad stabbed in the kneck and having his back slashed by locals.
Did not hear of any trouble whatsoever between City and Milan.
Istanbul you will never be forgotten unfortunately for the shitshow organisation, but most of all for our first Champions league trophy win and completing the treble.

Sorry to hear of all that. Welcome back, and let's hope that experience never happens again. Enjoy the summer break.

 

[xmusampa]

I am still so angry about the farce that followed the game.

I ignored all the guidance and had arranged (and paid a criminal amount) for a driver to take me and pick me up from the ground - this turned out to be an inspired decision, as although he dropped me on the wrong side of the stadium - and I had to walk for 45mins on a motorway hard shoulder to get into P25 and the fan zone, after the game he parked just at the entrance to the exit, which meant we walked for 25 mins, but were able to get out the car park pretty quickly. I picked up four other Blues I could see that were struggling and dropped them off at their hotels, and got to mine, the Swissotel in the centre of town, by 3am - which turned out to be very early!

I happened to be staying at the UEFA HQ hotel (not by choice, but by accident), and all the freeloading wankers in suits had been back at the hotel by 1.30am. Knowing that some of my mates were still by now trapped on buses in the car park - I went up to one of the lanyard wearing wankstains and asked what was going on with the City buses - he actually smiled and said he had no idea, and told me that all the UEFA pricks and Corporate arseholes had used another exit road - with police motorbikes to leave the stadium.

Being an adult, I restrained myself from punching him in the face....

Yes all the peasants had to stop on way out stadium whilst they all blue lighted past.god forbid they were all late back for their freebies back at their top notch hotels!