Greater Manchester Police in England have responded to Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho’s claims that the team weren’t provided with an escort from the hotel on the way to Old Trafford on Tuesday night. It resulted in United arriving late for their UEFA Champions League clash against Valencia – which finished 0-0 – and the game kicking off late.
Ahead of the 8 PM kickoff, United arrived at their home stadium at 7.15 PM giving them little time to warm up and prepare for Match Day 2 in the European competition. The team only began warm up at 7.40 PM leading to a five minute delay.
Post the stalemate, Mourinho was asked about their late arrival and he claimed the police “refused” to offer an escort.
“We left the hotel at six o’clock, hoping that 30 minutes would be enough,” he said. “Which normally is but this time the police refused to do an escort so we come by ourselves. And we took from the Lowry Hotel, 75 minutes.”
“And Uefa were nice, the referee was nice to allow us to start the game five minutes later because we at least need half an hour to be prepared but was not a problem with the club organisation.”
"We left the hotel at six o'clock, hoping that 30 minutes would be enough" #mufc pic.twitter.com/PnGqSLKPtv
— Man United News (@ManUtdMEN) 2 October 2018
“We anticipate everything that it could be dangerous, in the sense of arriving late but we were informed the police refused an escort.”
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have now responded and revealed they had spoken to United months in advance. “All police deployments are carried out following a comprehensive risk assessment process and specifically in respect of escort team buses, are only ever undertaken on occasions when there is intelligence or information to suggest a risk of threat or harm to the players.”
“GMP has previously used police vehicles to accompany a team’s coach but after a review of our core policing responsibilities it was decided that we would no longer provide this service at every fixture. We consulted with the relevant football clubs over a period of months to allow them adequate time to plan ahead for their journeys to the stadium. Every fixture is assessed individually and we will continue to work with all clubs to provide an appropriate policing response.”
United have now gone four matches without a win in all competitions including crashing out in the first round of League Cup against Derby County.
.jpg)
