UEFA today admitted English fans have sometimes been "unfairly targeted" by foreign police prejudiced by the past.
European football's governing body yesterday embraced a Government proposal to increase stewarding and limit the use of riot police in matches on the Continent.
UEFA director of communications William Gaillard said: "I understand the feelings of
English fans and it's true that sometimes they are probably unfairly targeted because of the past and because of lingering memories of what happened in the 1980s."
However, Gaillard insisted the drinking culture among many English supporters had also contributed to recent crowd trouble in European games.
He said: "It is also true that such patterns of behaviour of English fans abroad cause problems that are different from the problems caused by foreign fans.
"Drinking, for example, is often absent in southern Europe. In southern Europe, you have another type of violence, linked often to extremist political movements or racist groups, which are really serious problems. But some southern European police forces are just not used to fans that have been drinking a bit too much."
UEFA yesterday agreed to a series of new security arrangements at European matches after several instances of crowd trouble involving English fans last season. It follows problems with Manchester United fans in Lens and Rome, Tottenham supporters in Seville and Liverpool fans at the Champions League final in Athens.
