"UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she 'no longer has confidence' in West Midlands police chief Craig Guildford on Wednesday, following the row over the decision to ban Tel Aviv Maccabi fans from a match against Aston Villa last year. Her comments came after the latest report by 'His Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary' Sir Andy Cooke. "[The] findings are damning. There is no other way to describe them. The force, we now discover, conducted little engagement with the Jewish community and none with the Jewish community in Birmingham before a decision was taken," she said. "Sir Andy describes an approach taken by West Midlands Police that he characterises as, and I quote, confirmation bias. This means that rather than follow the evidence, the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position, to ban the fans," she added. Mahmood insisted she did not have the powers to sack to police chief - but would introduce powers to do so. However, Independent MP Ayoub Khan - whose constituency covers the Villa Park Stadium - called it a 'witch hunt' against Guildford, and said he had been 'thrown under the bus'. In a stunning turn of events last year, it emerged that the police report featured a completely fictitious match between Maccabi and West Ham as part of the evidence to ban the fans. Guildford apologised this week for giving incorrect evidence to lawmakers. He initially insisted the report did not use AI and the error came from "one individual doing one Google search" before admitting it "arose as a result of a use of Microsoft Copilot". Maccabi fans were banned from attending the Europa League game against Aston Villa at Villa Park in November amid safety concerns and potential protests - with the police report used by the local 'Safety Advisory Group' to do so."