adminLondon. — Aston Villa will be braced for a Football Association investigation after their FA Cup triumph over West Bromwich Albion ended in alarming crowd scenes on Saturday.
Albion manager Tony Pulis criticised the stewarding at Villa Park after ugly scenes involving both sets of supporters of the local rivals disrupted the home side’s 2-0 quarter-final win.
Albion fans threw seats on to the pitch and celebrating Villa fans caused a short interruption in play by invading the playing surface in the dying minutes.
They were described as “mindless idiots” by Pulis.
At the final whistle, a full-scale pitch invasion saw the players of both teams engulfed by fans in what Villa scorer and captain, Fabian” scenes.
He even said that, bizarrely, he had been bitten during the chaos.
The scenes, reminiscent of some of the uncontrolled old days of English football in the 1980s, seem bound to prompt the wrath of the FA.
Pulis pointed a finger at Villa, saying the club should before the game have recognised potential problems which could endanger the players.
“It’s disgraceful. We don’t want to see those scenes. They’ve beaten us and, for that to happen, that’s just mindless idiots,” he said.
“I actually think Villa should look at the stewarding. It’s a quarter-final of the FA Cup, a full house, you know it’s going to be tasty. You should have stewards but the hierarchy at Villa should recognise the need for stewards at both ends of the pitch.
“It puts the players in danger and we don’t want to see that. — Reuters.
Online Reporter