Police: 300 'most ruthless' hooligans to defy Istanbul ban

Several hundred football hooligans plan to defy the ban on travelling to England's powderkeg match in Turkey next weekend, police fear.

Officers who specialise in monitoring soccer violence say that while many troublemakers have decided not to go to Istanbul for the Euro 2004 decider, a hardcore of up to 300 known hooligans are expected to make the trip.

Saturday's game, to decide which country qualifies automatically for next year's finals in Portugal, will be surrounded by unprecedented security as police here and in Turkey try to prevent clashes between rival fans. The Football Association have refused to take any tickets for the match and urged all supporters to stay at home after England were warned by Uefa, European football's governing body, that Sven-Göran Eriksson's side may be thrown out of the European Championship if there is more trouble involving their fans.

'Most fans seem to have got the message but we suspect that a hardcore of about 200-300 hooligans - real knock-on troublemakers, the most ruthless sort of hooligan - are going to go anyway. It would be naive to expect none to go,' said one police officer. 'To some of these people, the ban on going to Istanbul is like a red rag to a bull. It could be that a particular group of hooligans sees this game as a chance to stake their claim as the country's top crew by going just so they can say, "We were there; we went to Istanbul". Some mob might do that.'

Police admit they have far less reliable intelligence than usual with England away games about who is going because hooligans, aware of the controversy around the fixture, are keeping a low profile to avoid detection.

Happily, it appears that most England fans, including a majority of the hooligans, have heeded the FA's warnings. 'It seems that most people realise that there could be dire consequences if they travel, don't want the team to be banned from Portugal and don't want to themselves miss out on spending two weeks on the beach there next summer,' said an FA source.

While intense security will be in place - England fans have been warned that they could be sent home from Istanbul airport, and have to pass through three cordons around the stadium - the police admit up to 1,000 England followers are expected to try to enter Fenerbahçe's Sukru Saracoglu stadium.

Meanwhile, Turkish football fans have warned any England fan who defies the FA's pleas and slips the secu rity net: show respect for our country and flag, or you're done for. Turkish fans are ready to counter any revenge planned by England fans for the killing of Leeds United supporters Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight after a Uefa Cup game against Galatasaray of Istanbul in 2000, and previous clashes with Manchester United fans.

A special summit meeting between the highly organised 'Ultra' gangs supporting Istanbul rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe was called last weekend at a restaurant high above the city to discuss unity against England and any English fans who might provoke them at the fixture.

The leader of the Galatasaray pack, Sabahttin Sabin, and a man called Sefa, his counterpart at Fenerbahçe, stressed that their gangs would not start trouble against England fans, but that insults to Turkey and the Turkish flag in particular would 'be punished'. 'What we are saying is this,' concluded a fan called Oguz Altay, 'we will not attack, but if the English mock our country and our flag, we won't be too gentle in our response.' In the Istanbul suburb of Umraniye, professed members of a Galatasaray gang called 'Stay Out All Night' that supposedly carried out the attack on the Leeds supporters were more overt in their threats.

Willing to admit that they all carry knives, one of the number, Ekrem Altayh, said: 'We are faster because the English are always drunk. If you abuse this country like Leeds did, you die again.'