Bernstein’s comments casting doubt on Villa Park’s 2028 status were echoed by former Labour MP Lord Walney.
Newly released documents reveal the force chose to ban the Israeli fans, even though police had been warned members of the local community were going to “arm themselves”.
The position of Chief Constable Craig Guildford was said to be “untenable” according to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is being urged to remove him from office if he fails to quit.
Bernstein, who chaired the FA between 2011-2013, told the JC: “The appalling decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from Birmingham not only brought shame on England’s second city, but raises serious questions about Villa Park’s eligibility to host UEFA Euro 2028 games.
He continued: “It is hard to reconcile how a tournament that is a celebration of football and brings people together can be held in a city where the local authorities and police succumbed to threats of sectarian violence and political pressure to ban Jewish football fans.”
David Bernstein was FA chairman from 2011 to 2013 (Photo: Getty Images)Getty Images
Lord Walney, the government’s former independent adviser on political violence and disruption, told the JC: “The mishandling of this issue by West Midlands Police is putting a cloud over the force and the whole of British policing, but also risks calling into question the suitability of Villa Park for major events in the future like the European championships in 2028.”
Walney called on Chief Constable Guildford “to take personal responsibility for the fiasco and resign”. He warned that there were lessons for all police forces, saying “On a wider level, this must force a re-examination of the way in which too many police forces have forged inappropriate relationships with organisations or individuals who have links to extremism in the name of community cohesion or an easy life. In fact, these police forces have achieved the opposite and it is time for a major reset.”
The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) and Board of Deputies (BoD) said in a joint statement: “It seems that the police reached a decision first, and then searched for evidence to justify it, apparently influenced by the threat posed by local extremists,” adding: “significant harm has been done to the confidence of the Jewish community in the police.”
The JLC and BoD also said: “Considering the Chief Constable’s role in these events, a change of leadership is essential. If the Chief Constable does not step aside, responsibility lies with central government to intervene.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “They knew extremists were planning to attack Jews for going to a football match, and their response was to blame and remove Jewish people instead. They presented an inversion of reality and misled a Parliamentary Committee.”
She added: “The Chief Constable’s position is untenable. The British police serve the British public, not local sectarian interests.” In October last year, WMP backed the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) in banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from the match in November.
At the time, political leaders including the prime minister condemned the decision, but it was not reversed. WMP sought to justify the decision on public safety grounds and cited events involving Maccabi fans in Amsterdam in November 2024 as a key justification.
However, they have been accused of painting an inaccurate portrait of events there, and their stated version of events has been rejected by Dutch police and the mayor of Amsterdam. In November, the JC obtained the official Dutch “Statement of Facts” (Feitenrelaas), which showed of the 59 arrests that were made, just 10 were Israeli.
At the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday, WMP officials said that a single, un-minuted “peer-to-peer” conversation between an officer from WMP and Dutch police formed the basis of their decision to support a ban on away fans. Guildford and other WMP senior officers faced robust scrutiny by MPs about the inconsistencies.
Labour MP Peter Prinsley asked why it was only earlier on Tuesday that a document had been released revealing police knew about “elements of the community in West Midlands wanting to ‘arm’ themselves” in response to the announcement of the Israeli fans coming to Birmingham. “Why is it that a report has come at lunchtime today … that you had information on 5 September that there were likely to be vigilante groups within the West Midlands community itself who were planning to take action against the Maccabi fans”, he asked.
Guildford responded that “this is the first time specifically that you’ve asked for that detail”. Labour MP Joani Reid, a fellow committee member and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism, said the answer was “absolutely outrageous”. Select Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley added that it was “very frustrating” that the information hadn’t come to light earlier. “I don’t think that we should have to ask specifically for every single piece of information; if you have things that you could give us that would assist us in this process”, she added.
Towards the end of the session, Reid listed a number of the specific claims against West Midlands Police: “We have minutes that highlight that the decision was made in the absence of intelligence.”
Guildford responded by saying that the minutes of the meeting, which were revealed by the Sunday Times, did not accurately reflect the meeting, adding “there was an abundance of intelligence”. He said: “Do I think that the decision was reasonable in the circumstances? Yes. Could it have been a different decision … possibly it could have been”.
He restated his force’s correction of their initial claims that the Jewish community in Birmingham backed the ban, adding he regrets “the focus that this has placed on our local Jewish community in light of all the other events that have happened nationally and globally”.
Nick Timothy, a Tory MP and Villa fan, said: “What was left of the credibility of WMP has been destroyed. When the Committee asked why the vital information about the danger to Israelis was kept secret, the Chief Constable ludicrously said it was because he had not been asked for it. The Home Secretary has the power to remove him under s40 of the Police Act 1996. She should use it.”
