TNT Sports
UEFA ease English fears
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Published 13/06/2004 at 15:41 GMT+1
UEFA president Lennart Johansson has moved to quell English fears that the team could be thrown out of Euro 2004 if its supporters misbehave. It had been understood that England were on a "yellow card" after hooliganism at Euro 2000, and faced ejection at the first sign of trouble in Portugal.
Eurosport
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But Johansson told the BBC he would not hold the FA responsible for any incidents.
"We shouldn't blame the FA or the team for the hooligans," he said.
"We are happy with the preventative steps the FA has taken - to me they seem to have things under control."
Johansson also dismissed a strongly worded statement delivered by UEFA chief executive Lars-Christer Olsen: "I hope that people accept that I'm the spokesman of Uefa. I think other people got it wrong."
Over 30,000 England fans are expected to turn up to the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon on Sunday evening for the team's encounter with France, and the match has been designated a high security risk.
FA executive director David Davies expressed his relief at Johansson's comments ahead of such a highly-charged occasion.
"It's a boost for us. We have tried to take security advice and we just hope the message has got across of the situation we are in," Davies said.
"We cannot be complacent because it only takes a few people to cause trouble."
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