Overview
- Sir Andy Cooke’s HMICFRS review of the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban is due to reach Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood within days, with findings to be shared with Parliament.
- Home Affairs Committee members say West Midlands Police misled MPs about the decision and want Chief Constable Craig Guildford removed, a step the Home Secretary can trigger via the police and crime commissioner or by imposing special measures.
- Internal Silver Command records describe masked groups and “Asian youths looking to fight,” an early relocation of the Israeli delegation to Villa Park, and a plan to portray the day as “largely peaceful.”
- Documents show officers consulted multiple Muslim organisations, including Green Lane Mosque, but not local Jewish groups, and that the mosque’s then chief executive sat on a panel that assessed Guildford’s appointment.
- Claims that Dutch intelligence warned about Maccabi fans’ hooliganism are contested by Amsterdam’s mayor and Dutch police, prompting MPs to demand recordings and the full evidence matrix behind the ban.