An officer has alleged police were “held back” from confronting the mob of intruders who tried to storm Wembley without tickets before the Euro 2020 final because of “brand image”
England went on to lose to Italy on penalties but there were some awful scenes before the game as so called “fans” tried to get into the stadium without tickets.
In comments made to the The Times the officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “The best we did was manhandle them down the ramps away from the stadium.
READ MORE: Man, 23, dies suddenly as mum said 'I thought he was invincible'
"It looked quite a miserable deployment."
He also said: “The alleged reluctance to intervene more robustly was all about the brand image.
"It is just annoying we are held back from doing our job. We are in public order gear for a reason."
The officer claims fans were “roaming round in packs" and police wanted to “chase them off properly as we could see that the stewards didn't care".
According to the officer “fans” were still trying to get into stadium during the penalty shoot-out and he claims the stewards were "absolutely useless" and "completely unprofessional".
Last week Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jane Connors said: “The Met deployed one of the most significant and comprehensive policing plans (it) has ever committed to a football match of this scale.
"Soon into the day it became clear that a high number of fans were arriving without tickets.
"To support the stewarding efforts, further highly trained public order officers were deployed to Wembley Stadium as a precaution.
"I want to praise the quick response by police commanders. I am in no doubt that their swift action prevented any further escalation.
"I do not accept that the policing operation failed and I stand by the difficult decisions made by police officers and the Met's public order commanders."
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
