droogs' threat for Wednesday

Threat of trouble from Juve 'droogs'

Kevin Buckley in Turin Sunday April 10, 2005 The Observer

Fears that Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final between Juventus and Liverpool in Turin will be overshadowed by off-the-pitch trouble are growing. Despite the efforts of Liverpool to promote conciliation between the two clubs, the antagonism felt by sections of the Juventus support was clear when they turned their backs on the commemorations before Tuesday's match at Anfield. Earlier in the day, Merseyside Police confiscated T-shirts with inflammatory slogans from arriving Italians, although they did later return them.

Article continues Italian fan culture is well-known for its often extreme ultras supporters groups. Among those following Juventus is the return to prominence of the Drughi - a group named after the Droogs in A Clockwork Orange - after the majority of the 'Fighters' were banned following a violent fracas at Parma. This has coincided with the release from prison of the Drughi's leader 'Dino', after a 15-year stretch for armed robbery and liquidate. Sources in Turin confirm that the volatile situation is undermining the usual communication channels between terraces, club and police. The mayor of Turin has urged Juventus supporters to 'isolate the hothead fringes', while Friday evening's official announcement by Juventus that the club were 'co-operating fully with the authorities to ensure the safety of all fans' can be interpreted as a disclaimer ahead of possible mayhem.

Website talk of vendettas can be deemed the work of juvenile 'keyboard ultras', but the general tone has hardened, not softened, since Anfield's attempts at reconciliation. The Liverpool Echo 's front-page 'Sorry' has been widely welcomed in Italy, yet it served to highlight the lack of direct apology from the city's football club and supporters. There are signs that cooperation between the respective police forces has also been wanting. Rumours of 'The Urchins' - a Liverpool group - travelling in large numbers to Turin via Milan has prompted the Chief Inspector of Merseyside Police's Football Intelligence Unit to say: 'We are aware of a group known as "The Urchins". We are not aware of their involvement in organised acts sic violence in Europe.'

The pernicious nature of the group is reflected in their website's offensive reference to the Heysel victims - '39 poobags' - yet it appears the Turin authorities have not been briefed by their British counterparts about the gang's existence. Channel Four's revelations of fans breaching Uefa segregation regulations by buying match tickets from the Juventus website were also dismissed by Merseyside Police. 'We knew about the tickets,' said a spokeswoman. 'In fact it isn't four tickets, it is 28 so far. Our intelligence in Italy was tracking the situation.' In reality such 'intelligence' amounted to a press officer at the British consulate in Milan pbutting on what had already appeared in the Italian media. "

-- "He was going to be hanged.................... in Caernarfon."