Greater Manchester Police Blame Emmanuel Adebayor for Crowd Trouble

Greater Manchester police have criticised Emmanuel Adebayor for sparking the crowd disorder that led to a steward being knocked unconscious during Manchester City's 4-2 defeat of Arsenal on Saturday. That is one of two incidents involving the player which is being investigated by the Football Association, with the strong possibility that he will face disciplinary charges and a suspension.

Adebayor will almost certainly be banned for three matches for the stamp on Robin van Persie that left the Arsenal striker with a gashed cheekbone and accusing his former team-mate of a "mindless and malicious" assault. City's £25m summer signing will also face sanctions for celebrating his goal by running the length of the pitch to antagonize the away supporters. The stamping offense is expected be fast-tracked through the disciplinary system, meaning his ban will start with Sunday's derby against Manchester United.

Arsenal could also face an FA inquiry after fans fought with stewards and threw objects on to the playing surface. Police reinforcements were needed and the injured steward was unconscious at the side of the pitch for five minutes.

"The player's goal celebration caused the opposition fans to be aggravated and there was a crowd surge," a police spokesman said. "One of the objects that were thrown caught a steward and knocked him out. It's the decision of the club, the ground security and the FA now whether they want to take the incident any further, but it must have been quite horrific for all the stewards at the time."

Adebayor has apologized for his "mistake", describing himself as "awfully sorry" and accepting that "emotion took over". The police intend to express their concerns to City. "It was not the player throwing the missile, but the fans were reacting to him and his celebration," the spokesman said. "It was the Arsenal fans throwing the missiles, but it was the Manchester City player who was doing the celebrating."

The FA has confirmed it is investigating both incidents. The FA's chief executive, Ian Watmore, was at the game and praised the stewards for "doing a great job trying to calm it down" as well as the referee, Mark Clattenburg, who handled the flashpoint "very well". Adebayor, he said, had to accept responsibility. "I am pretty unimpressed really because the problem between Arsenal fans and Adebayor is well documented. The issue, particularly, is that he ran the whole length of the field. I am unimpressed and I will ask my [disciplinary] team to look very carefully at what he did."

The FA has charged the Nottingham Forest striker Nathan Tyson with improper conduct, for taking a corner flag and celebrating a recent 3-2 victory in close proximity to Derby County's supporters. Adebayor can expect the same. The governing body is unlikely to be deterred by Mark Hughes's attempts to defend his player.

"He has come out very quickly and apologized," the City manager said. "He knows he shouldn't have done it. But I'm not sure how close he ran towards the Arsenal fans. It is not as if he jumped into them. He was still on the field of play. He wasn't waving flags provocatively. He slid on his knees as he always does. He did the same at Blackburn Rovers in front of the Blackburn fans because it's just what he does when he scores great goals. He has shown emotion and you should never take emotion out of sport. But maybe we should cut him some slack when you consider what happened to him in his final season at Arsenal and the breakdown in his relationship with their fans.

"That was the sad part for him. He really loved his time at Arsenal, he will tell you that himself, but for whatever reason he wasn't appreciated by their fans towards the end and that is hard to take as a professional footballer. You want to be loved by your own fans because you get enough abuse from the opposition's. That was the feeling behind it, I'm sure."

Adebayor has attempted to write off the clash with Van Persie as an accident, saying he apologized to his former team-mate after the match. However, television replays of the challenge have incensed Arsenal's players and management.

Arsène Wenger described it as "very dangerous" and Van Persie released a statement accusing Adebayor of being "deeply disrespectful" and showing "a real lack of class to me and the fans". The Dutchman considered himself "lucky" not to have suffered a more serious injury, adding: "The contact was only centimeters from my eye. I have not received an apology from him, there were no words exchanged afterwards. He had his own agenda and that is bad for football. It's bad for the game we all love."

Adebayor's crusade, page 2