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UK police farce and fakery - Home sec 'no longer has confidence' in West Mids top cop after 'damning' Maccabi fan ban report

UK police farce and fakery - Home sec 'no longer has confidence' in West Mids top cop after 'damning' Maccabi fan ban report

"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."

Senegal v Egypt: Africa Cup of Nations 2026 semi-final

Senegal v Egypt: Africa Cup of Nations 2026 semi-final

⚽ Updates from the first semi-final; kick-off 5pm GMT ⚽ Follow us on Bluesky | Read Football Daily | Mail Yara Mané v Salah: During their five seasons together at Liverpool, the pair formed a formidable partnership, both devastating on each side of the pitch. On the international stage, they have met five times but Salah is still waiting for meaningful victory. In 2022, Senegal and Egypt met three times. The Afcon final in Cameroon and the two-legged World Cup qualifier tie. The Lions of Teranga beat Egypt on penalties to lift their maiden Afcon trophy. Less than two months later, they booked their spot in Qatar, also defeating Egypt on penalties. Mané and Salah are both 33, born 66 days apart on opposite sides of the continent. Mané, the elder, is the son of an imam from Bambali, on the north bank of the Casamance. His family didn’t want him to be a footballer so he ran away from home aged 15, taking the bus to Dakar. Salah was born in Nagrig, just east of the Nile. His family were less wary of football, but having made a bus journey of three-to-four hours to training with the Cairo club Al Mokawloon and back every day, he too ended up, aged 15, leaving home to live in his country’s capital. Their careers have run along not dissimilar lines. Both, for instance, have funded significant infrastructure projects in their home countries. But the sense at Liverpool was that their relationship was always a little spiky. Continue reading...