Manchester United and Chelsea fans travelling to Moscow for the Champions League final will be sent to special 'gulags' to prevent them from fighting with each other.

Fans will be ferried from the airport to the special holding pens near the stadium, which will have just one entrance, be guarded by armed Moscow police and will not sell alcohol.

They could remain there for up to eight hours. Once inside, fans will be told not to leave if they want to see the game.

The policy will stop many fans from seeing anything of the Russian capital's famous bars and clubs.

They will go from the airport to the holding camps, then to the game, before taking a bus back for their return flight.

Police chief Major Igor Konovalov said: 'It's a normal practice. We use them in our country and the fans call them “settling tanks”. It doesn't matter who comes here — even a bunch of penguins — if our laws are violated we'll take full measures allowed by our law to clamp down. We will not differentiate.'

Russian authorities say they are expecting more than 40,000 fans to travel to Moscow in 300 separate flights.

Absolutely ridiculous. You reach a European Cup final and what should be a truely special day decends into this. If any other element of society were treated like this there would be outrage.

I am lost for words.

Speechless. A trouting grand to get treated worse than a herd of cattle.

Fk that for laugh.

Were did those words come from?

TBH why the trout anyone would want to go just a daytrip to Moscow is beyond me anyway :blink:

If I was a Chelsea or Man Utd supporter I wouldn't be going.

All of a sudden I feel that perhaps we're not treated so badly in this country after all....

Detained against your will for following your team, nothing new - is it?

hmmmm but do you actually believe they always keep fans in a cage for hours on end even for a standard match?! Personally I wonder if this isn't just something they're using on this occassion to stop the English spoiling their big day. Maybe I'm wrong.

No different to what they do to you at Millwall after the game.

Thank the hooligans that give us such a good reputation.

And the people who adore them on here as well. :rolleyes: <_<

But as stated they do that anyway its not a special procedure for english fans.

Yes the english reputation preceeds us but its a lot better now, even UEFA came out and said they are happy its an all english final because they now expect no security problems.

Other countries fans have it just as bad as us when they travel too.

Hardly...

Scandalous.

Do UEFA seriously think everyone goes on organised travel? There'll be thousands upon thousands, far more than on those chartered flights, that have made their own way to Moscow and will be free to roam the streets as they like.

So buy imprisoning those on organised trips, what exactly do they hope to achieve? Pathetic and so out of touch it's frightening.

When we played Genoa away in 1992, our first trip back to Italy since Heysel, our fans were all held on a carpark in the middle of nowhere all afternoon.

When I went to Juventus in 2005, I had no holidays left and did a day trip. Coaches from the airport took us to some castle in the middle of nowhere for the day. 3 course meal laid on for us and told us we could have 2 drinks each. Ha.

Absolutely clueless.

Imagine us telling the Zenit St.Petersberg fans they'll be held in Strangeways Prison for the afternoon, shipped to Eastlands 3 hours before the game, locked in there for 5 hours after then sent back home? £1,000 - thanks for coming. No, didn't think so...

I was just thinking of the cages they have there and which they will have in Russia. I wasn't thinking about the rest like armed police etc etc.

I've been to Millwall twice and they don't have cages!!

Unless you mean the covered walkway from South Bermondsey station?


BHB: Nail on head.

Well whatever it was we were locked outside the ground but still in the ground compound for a while and then on this path, complete over kill. .

Stoke have something similar as well but was never used when I went so cant comment.

Russian police though reading the papers and on the web don't play by the political correctness and human rights rules which our lot follow(go over the top in some cases). Thats where I think were many people will come unstuck if they step out of line (well to Russian law).

To be fair, the policing a Millwall on both (sad and sorry) occasions was spot on and probably the best I've experienced.

Yes, there were a lot of them, searches a tad OTT but they were all in good humour and as pissed off as we were to be kept back afterwards.

Shame I cant agree with the top comment. But I daresay they are alot nicer that the Russian police. I was incorrect to say they were the same to Russia.



EDIT:lousy spelling

I'm not expecting a good day in Moscow at all to be honest, i'm lucky not to be on the official daytrips, fly into moscow the night before

Life as a football fan eh

what's your problem then? - had a great time there last time. Stop worrying and enjoy yourself...

Some more info from the FSF after a Chelsea supporter emailed them:

Thanks for your email. I think I can reassure you a bit about your visit to Moscow, the press coverage has been a bit alarmist and misleading.

The “holding pens” at the stadium are what UEFA describes as “fan parks”, not quite the Gulag the media name conjures up, but nonetheless alcohol-free, which some would regard as just as bad J

The buses will indeed drop off there, but this is largely because there’s nowhere else in Moscow for so many buses to assemble; it also has the advantage that it leaves the buses where you’ll want them for the way home. The buses will enter inside the first security cordon around the ground, but the fan parks are within the second cordon, and there will be no attempt to make anyone go further inside; indeed the expectation of the local authorities is that most fans will immediately proceed via Metro into Red Square and the city centre. You’ll be able to pass out of the first cordon without problems by showing your match ticket. The fan parks are adjacent to the Sportivnaya Metro station, on the red line, (line1).

A note of caution though: if you DO go through the second cordon, you won’t be able to come out and go back in later for the match, as your ticket will be marked as having entered, both physically and within the electronic system. We’d suggest therefore that you only go through the second cordon if you want to spend all the remaining time before kick-off there.

Yeh just read this on BAWA, been looking at the FSF guide on there website, doesn't look that bad in the end. One of the warnings was don't take flags out in Red Square as some welsh fans got shot at :lol:

whereas for half that price you can fly into moscow the day before and stay for two nights wandering around soaking up all the beer....erm i mean atmosphere that you like! B)

I got a ticket in the ballot but cancelled last week when I heard all this crap.Tickets are still available :blink: This was being built up as the biggest game in both clubs history.Turned into a proper mess :angry:

I got told the weekend between the semi final legs, that United had only recieved 14,000 applications for final tickets, and Liverpool had taken only 12,000 applications. No idea how many Chelsea had in, as the source had no contact in the Chelsea ticket office to find out.

We had our first European Cup Final in 20 years in Istanbul, absolute nightmare to get to, yet we easy had 45-50,000 out there. We probably had even more in Athens two years later, which was also a farce to get to. Both expensive trips.

But if we got to Moscow this year, I don't think we'd have sold out, or would have struggled to.

United are in their first final in a decade, and Chelsea in their first ever.

Now United I expected to sell out straight away, with there being almost a generation of fans that would have been too young for Barcelona in 99. Wasn't so sure about Chelsea, as despite it being their first European Cup Final in their history, they haven't got the massive fanbase to call upon. 40,000 is their limit - so expecting half of them to go to Moscow as the situation stands, and cost involved, was asking a lot.

I'll guess Chelsea will have about 17-18,000 there and United will eventually sell out their allocation. Won't be any in the "neutral" sections though.

We filled the ground by buying up all the neutral tickets in Istanbul, no chance that'll happen in Moscow, even if it was a Liverpool v United Final.

Just shows how bad the venue must be for fans to swerve a European Cup Final!

you need to keep guessing... the 40,000 chelsea fanbase is a myth however thousands were priced out by Bates 15 years ago and we lost a generation of support plus we don't need the rest of the country and abroad to snap up tickets for us - nearly all our support is in the south east -


MATCH TICKETS ONLY
Chelsea's allocation of tickets (without travel packages) for the Champions League Final is now SOLD OUT

We regret to inform supporters that there will be NO duplicate tickets available for this match, therefore all tickets MUST be collected from the Stamford Bridge Box Office. Tickets CANNOT be refunded once bought.


OFFICIAL TRAVEL PACKAGES
Thomas Cook has limited availability remaining on their 2 night packages from £999 plus cost of match ticket. Visit their website to book : www.thomascooksport.com/chelsea or telephone 0870 752 0924 for more details. (Lines are open Monday - Friday 0900 - 1700 hrs). The day trip packages to Moscow are sold out.

the reason chelsea sold out (kind of) before us is that chelsea were a lot more organised at sorting out tickets (no surprise there - tufty, don't bother defending the TO). Our tickets are finally available for collection from today! There are chelsea fans who've had theirs a week already. So basically now, at the 11th hour, united are scrabbling around trying to re-flog the ones that people have cancelled since realising the cost/hassle involved. And they've given themselves a week to sort it out.

Also isn't there something about our tickets being more expensive than Chelsea's? An 80euro ticket is correctly costing them £69 but it's costing our fans £76 or something like that (i'm not 100% on those figures). That's a pretty hefty 'booking fee'!!

Chelsea selling out had nothing to do with the organisation of the ticket office.
The way United done it, allowed for people to know they had a ticket (I knew I had a ticket on the monday before the semi final first leg), what price ticket they had and allowed them to seek travel.
The Utd method was a lot more organised than Chelseas and allowed for people to plan a lot better.
A lot of United fans got a shock at the travel costs, hence them returning tickets (It was initially sold out). The prices for travel werent widely available till the semi had been won. Most fans arent going to book in advance and take a gamble.
Handing out tickets from today onwards has nothing to do with peoples ability to buy them or to attend the game. Your only talking 300 returned tickets that utd have left, not exactly a major number and Im sure they will soon be snapped up.
Why would you neeed your ticket before today anyway? (unless your on a 2 week holiday to Moscow)

firstly, you didn't know what price ticket you had up until less than a week ago when they started taking the cash / updated the "ionline booking history" bit from "pending" to actually stating the price. Secondly (in response to 90210's question) i haven't checked the actual exchange reate but yes you're quite right - our 80 euro tickets cost £73 - wouldn't surprise me one bit if that was far too dear)

Tufty - you don't need a ticket before you travel - unless you need a visa and nobody tells you until a week and a half before the game that your ticket will be your visa. The russian consulate website said all along you needed a copy of your ticket (yes, i know you could have "electronic proof" but nobody ever confirmed what that constituted) to apply for your visa. The whole thing has been a shambles and i for one would have felt much better about things having the ticket in my hand (i still don't know which stand, entrance etc i need) so that i could have answered a lot of questions about what i'd need for the trip (immigration form, visa, id matching name on ticket etc)

what difference does having a ticket in your hand make?
As long as its in your hand when you travel, thats all that matters.
I dont think ticket prices had any effect on peoples willingness to travel to the final, your either going to go or your not going to go.
The ticket prices are stupid, how can they go from £12 and £19 in 1999 to what they are now?
The visa farce was nothing to do with each of the clubs and was something UEFA should have sorted months ago, if not before giving them the final 2 years ago.

i believe i spelled out why it'd have been easier to have the ticket earlier in my previous post. i agree that the visa farce wasn't the club's fault - the point is the club compounded the problem by waiting so long to distribute tickets - as i pointed out last post, we still thought we needed a visa (and that the ticket was required to apply for one) up until about 10 days ago! The club could have done something to make things easier for people by either getting the tickets to people early to allow them time to get a visa or by telling us not to get them as we might not need them.

and ticket prices don't make any difference? £125 might not be much to you but it certainly is to me - especially after the outrageous expense of getting to / staying in russia.

As stated, the club couldnt do much about the visa farce and having a ticket in your hand wouldnt have made any difference.
Why do you need to know now what stand and entrance you are in? That makes little difference.
The selling arrangements were decent, a lot better than Chelseas turn up at the ground and get a ticket, imagine the queues, its bad enough down there today with everyone going to pick them up.
Leaving it till a week before also cuts down on touting and forgeries.


What i am bemused at, is that Utd have added £14 to the price of the ticket to cover travel back and forth to the airport. something i thought UEFA were providing and something Chelsea fans arent being charged for.

The club also stated on the PA after the semi final second leg that visa arranges will be released for people on chartered (club) flights - no mention of anybody else.

A quick piece of information or a bit of a cynical way to force people into purchasing extremely expensive office trips?

Also this coach thing that's coming out today is a disgrace

Info from imusa


Fan Parks

There will be two “fan areas” at the stadium, one for each set of supporters, outside the ground itself but within the wider security cordon, which will be accessible to ticket holders only. Be warned though, it’s highly unlikely that there will be any alcohol available in the fans’ areas and once you’re in the fans’ area you won’t be allowed to leave and re-enter. These areas will open at 12pm on match day.

There will also be a “Champions Festival” in Red Square, which will include dedicated information booths for supporters of each team. This will be open from 11am – 8pm on non-match days and from 10am – 9pm on match day.

Ground Rules

The stadium gates will open at 7.45pm, three hours before kick-off, and the usual UEFA stadium rules will apply. This means you’re not allowed to take in anything that can be used as a weapon, like fireworks, knives, guns, flagpoles and sharp objects. A list of prohibited items should be printed on the back of your ticket. Phones and cameras (although not video cameras) should be fine.

There are going to be three security cordons before entry into the stadium. The first is a visual ticket check at the approach to the stadium, once you’ve exited the metro station and are making your way to the ground.

The second cordon will involve ticket validation and will take place at the perimeter of Luzhniki Park. Tickets will be scanned by hand-held scanners at this point. It is important to remember that once you’ve gone through this cordon, you will NOT be able to exit and re-enter, as the scanner will have registered you as already having entered. There will also be a body search conducted and an opportunity to leave bags / luggage for collection after the match. However, as this is likely to be a bit of a free-for-all, we’d say it’s probably a much better idea not to take any bags / luggage / stuff you’re not allowed with you in the first place.

The fan areas lie between this second cordon and the third one.

The third security cordon will be at the stadium perimeter and will involve another body search and electronic reading of your match ticket through turnstiles (like the ones we have at home). There will be airport-style metal detectors at this stage.

Getting through all these security checks could take some time, so make sure you leave yourself plenty of time. It’s also worth noting the Russian legislation on drunkenness at football grounds is strict and there won’t, of course, be any alcohol permitted at the stadium itself.

After the Match

At the time we went to print, arrangements were still being finalised, but these are the things that are likely to happen:

* You may be held in the fan areas after the match as part of the process for getting everyone away from the ground

* At the airport, there will be 3 security checks which may take some time

At the end of the day it's a rip off.... and with global support nowadays who really cares how many each team has as long as the hardcore get enough... I'd rather 10,000 proper chelsea than 40,000 jcl's etc..

see you all in there then! :lol:

What the trout is this with us paying more for the same tickets anyway?!

Just been checking up - apparently chelsea paid £67 / £117 compared to us paying £73 / £120

*waits for tufty's explanation of why it's for our own good / not the club's fault* :rolleyes:

I've herd Uefa informed clubs to put an extra fee on tickets to cover transfers between airports/city centre/stadium, but it seems like this message has only reached United for some reason

yeah but i'm not travelling with the club!

so there's going to be a coach waiting for me at the airport to take me to my hotel is there?!