Slaven Bilic was upset by the violent scenes that flared inside the London Stadium towards the end of West Ham’s 2-1 EFL Cup win over Chelsea as unacceptable as his club promised to ban for life any supporters found guilty of wrongdoing.
Chelsea will do likewise and a spokesman from the club reflected the mood of frustration and disgust. “It was extremely disappointing to see the disturbances at the end of this game and we condemn such behaviour,” he said.
It had been a hugely exciting game but everything on the field was overshadowed by the flashpoints that occurred in stoppage time when the Chelsea supporters in the lower tier of the Sir Trevor Brooking stand made for the exit behind them.
They had to cross over a concourse and as some West Ham fans surged towards them the stewards fought to keep the rival factions apart. Objects including coins and ripped-up seats were thrown and, with a bottle-neck seeming to have formed, it all became extremely ugly for a couple of minutes.
It has been far from smooth sailing for West Ham at their new ground with various complaints having marred some of their fixtures. There have been problems with segregation and several instances of fighting. This was a new low and there will now be further questions about the venue’s capacity to handle this kind of occasion.
Referring to crowd trouble Bilic said: “This game deserves to be talked about a little bit more. It was a London derby, there were great goals – three-quarters of this [press conference] should be about the game. For the second question to be about this – it is unfair. I can say only that I noticed it. But I was more concentrated on telling Aaron Cresswell not to watch it and to watch the game.
“Whatever happened, we are totally against it, as a club. For those kind of things to happen, especially in England, is unacceptable.”
West Ham later released a statement that condemned “unreservedly the behaviour of the individuals involved.” It added: “Whilst quickly brought under control, the club, in line with its clear zero tolerance policy, will work closely with London Stadium 185, the Metropolitan Police Service and Chelsea to identify all involved.
“London Stadium is fitted with a state of the art CCTV system which provides HD footage of every area of the ground and has led to the successful identification and subsequent banning of 23 individuals already this season. Once identified, those found to have acted improperly will be banned from attending any West Ham United fixtures for life and we will request the courts serve banning orders to prevent these individuals attending any other football.”
The Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, said: “I don’t like this type of situation, because it’s important to see always the right atmosphere. We are used to seeing that in England and it’s right to have this habit. This country is fantastic in this aspect. I am sorry about this situation.”