Readers' letters: Euros tainted by behaviour of fans

From booing the National Anthem of Denmark at the semi-final to one imbecile trying to distract and blind their keeper Kasper Schmeichel at the Kane penalty with a laser gun.

Accompanied with the chanting of controversial songs, is it not surprising that UEFA have punished the FA for this ill discipline?

Matters reached a crescendo with feral behaviour on Wembley Way and things turned even more sinister when more then 1,000

ticketless hooligans, many with cans of lager in their hands, broke through barriers.

They smashed gates off their hinges, stormed the stadium, created chaos and an atmosphere of high tension between spectators, and left stewards helpless.

Needless to say Covid checkpoints and guidelines were clearly ignored.

If matters could not get worse, we hear that three of our young black players have been subjected to racial abuse on social media.

These half-wits have caused our country massive embarassment and there must be an almighty sigh of relief from the rest of the footballing world in the knowledge that the competition will be held in Germany in four years’ time.

Jim Oldcorn

Great Harwood

sport

Eddie Howe for England boss

What a fantastic performance by the England football team in the European Cup and what a pity they will still be managed by that complete waste of space, Gareth Southgate, for the World Cup in about 18 months.

He only had one difficult match to oversee and made a complete hash of it.

What proper manager would send those poor young substitutes on for the last 10 minutes and then expect them to score a penalty?

I don’t know what the FA has against a proven manager who has worked in the top flight successfully.

The FA has, over the years, spent a small fortune on managers who not only didn’t give 100 per cent, they have always opted for ‘Mr Squeaky Clean’. They never gave the public what they wanted until they were forced to offer big Sam (Sam Allardyce) the job.

I am not a big fan of poor old Sam, but I am a bit dubious about that hotel set-up which led to his resignation and the arrival of the new FA messiah.

So let’s stop all these racist attacks against certain members of this united England team, and join forces against the useless FA.

Let’s force them to get rid of the bungling Gareth and appoint an Eddie Howe for the upcoming World Cup.

Football fan

sport

Security at Wembley

Online abuse is wrong and something definitely needs to be done about it – I think all right-minded people would agree on that.

But the news about the footballers being racially abused has overshadowed another important issue – that of security at Wembley.

Ticketless hooligans barged their way into the stadium, which is bad enough at any time but this is during a pandemic where social distancing is still of importance!

But another issue has occurred to me, one that could have had terrible consequences. What if, instead of hooligans and trouble-makers, the people who forced their way into the stadium were terrorists intent on killing tens of thousands of football fans?

Tackle abuse – but also take a look at security too. It could save lives in the future.

Ava Bantam

via email

politics

Voter fraud barely exists

In order to eliminate “voter fraud,” Boris Johnson is proposing that all those entitled to vote will have to prove it by producing a “voter ID card”.

The “fraudulent voter” is the latest hobgoblin to emerge from Mr Johnson’s fevered imagination.

Such demons are almost always from an ethnic minority; masters of disguise who steal votes from honest citizens by impersonating them at elections.

The Government’s own research has found that just eight allegations of electoral fraud were made in 2018.

When asked recently by Ian Blackford of the Scottish National Party how he could justify these “Trumpian” tactics, Mr Johnson said he wanted to protect voters from “the idea of voter fraud”.

Not the actual reality of a crime that barely exists!

Mr Johnson’s laws will deter from voting, not only people without a driving licence or passport, but others (particularly women) who have neither the time or inclination to negotiate this new bureaucratic swamp.

This is a typical Johnsonian ploy to ensure that he wins the next election.

John Prance

Penwortham

virus

What are we to do about Covid?

I find it frustrating to hear numerous statements about what we should and should not do regarding Covid.

Regardless of the vast lobby of experts on Covid and its outcome, the general public think they know best and experts are wrong, whether they be health experts or scientists! Trumpets sounded on the announcement of so-called ‘freedom day’ but then along comes a huge criticism of such a day most of us looked forward to in June, only to find it was postponed to July 19.

Now they state it is not going to be okay and that it shouldn’t be so soon despite the fact that this has been carefully thought out advice.

It seems we’re doomed, no matter what gate we’re guided through.

Scaremongers are out to make us miserable and no matter what the Government decides, they’re wrong and we’re all going to die. All the doubters are standing waiting ready to pounce as we take our last breath and state, “I told you so!” What then are we to do, stay under restrictions indefinitely?!

Clifford Chambers

Blackpool

safety

Narrow paths are dangerous

For pedestrians walking along Tabley Lane, Preston, it is with increasing fear of imminent injury.

The already too narrow footpaths are becoming

narrower because of the hedgerows growing

unchecked, which forces

pedestrians to walk into the road.

This is dangerous enough when facing the traffic but when walking north, the traffic is behind.

This makes the walk even more precarious.

I wonder if you will highlight these imminent dangers please to shame the people responsible for cutting the hedgerow into doing it immediately.

That way a life may be saved!

Michael Dean

via email