Police chief calls for Roma ban

Police chief Dave McLuckie has called for Roma to be thrown out of European football after more trouble marred their Champions League clash with Manchester United on Wednesday night.

Five United fans were stabbed in fighting before the final group game between the two sides in Italy as a further depressing chapter was added to the the history of violence involving the Rome club.

Mr McLuckie said: "Roma should be banned from these competitions. They should not be allowed to enter from the start because the authorities are not able to look after the people who come to their city to watch football. They should just be banned from European football."

He added: "They should not be involved in the Champions League or the UEFA Cup, and that should be the case until they clean up their act."

Eighteen travelling United supporters needed hospital treatment in April after clashes on the terraces outside the city's Stadio Olimpico Stadium, while three Middlesbrough fans were stabbed and many others injured as trouble flared the night before their UEFA Cup clash with Roma in March last year.

Councillor McLuckie, chairman of Cleveland Police Authority, was among those caught up in the violence that night and is an outspoken critic of the way the Roman authorities have dealt with football hooliganism.

English clubs suffered just that fate in the wake of the Heysel tragedy, and Mr McLuckie believes the way British police have subsequently dealt with football hooliganism could be of use to the Italian authorities.

He said: "We are the experts, sadly, because we needed to be. We have a real grip on this kind of thing and I know the British police would be happy to give the Italian authorities and help they require in tackling this issue.

"At the end of the day, the authorities in Rome have failed to keep control of these fans time after time after time, and the Italian authorities as a whole must get in there.

"Here in this country, we do raids on known hooligans before away matches and before big international matches and we stop those individuals travelling."