MIDDLESBROUGH supporters have described a series of chaotic scenes as disorder blighted today’s 1-1 draw with West Ham at the London Stadium.

Boro fans have alleged they were attacked by a group of West Ham supporters as they left the former Olympic Stadium and attempted to make their way back to their supporters’ coaches.

A group of West Ham fans are understood to have stormed through a line of stewards in order to attack Boro supporters, with footage emerging on social media showing punches being thrown and bystanders being attacked.

Boro fans have been especially critical of the lack of stewarding and policing outside the stadium, issues that have previously been raised as a major problem in the wake of West Ham’s relocation from Upton Park.

Whereas visiting fans are generally held in a stadium after the final whistle before being escorted to their coaches, Boro supporters were ushered out despite a number of West Ham fans being present outside the away end.

There was also trouble inside the stadium during the game, with Boro fans alleging that bottles were thrown into the away end when West Ham scored their equaliser.

Stewards also had to go into the home end during the first half of the game, although the disorder within the stadium was not as pronounced as in West Ham’s previous home games with Bournemouth and Watford.

However the stewarding of games at the London Stadium is clearly still a major issue, with Boro fans calling on the authorities to step in.

Victoria Gibson, the daughter of Middlesbrough chairman Steve, tweeted: “Silly WH fan injuring one of ours. Disgusting behaviour. Our man, a elderly gentleman, was taken out of the ground as a result. Shocking.”


Some other tweets relating to the post-match scenes were:

@BlainAllinson96 Police were nowhere to be seen. Apparently it was a low risk fixture – embarrassing after all that’s gone on.

@Dmooremfc23 No police outside coaches. West Ham just waiting to attack anyone they could.

@Jacksonbeth I saw one (policeman) locked in his van on his radio as gangs with hoods up walked down into Boro fans, absolute joke.

@MichaelTG91 West Ham fans jumped on our coach too kick off before the driver pushed them away. I saw kids getting punched. Shocking.

@JamieMadden1989 Cornered us all. Started punching anyone, parents who just took kids for a nice day out…disgrace to football.