A unusual Newcastle United lock-in amid 'hooligan' threat

There are concerns about Serbian hooligans ahead of England's 2024 opener – just as there were when Sir Bobby Robson's Newcastle United visited Belgrade.

England will kick off their Euro 2024 campaign with a fixture against Serbia at the Veltins Arena.

England’s Euro 2024 opener against Serbia has been in the news for non-footballing reasons.

Sunday’s fixture in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, has been designated as a “high-risk” tie by UEFA.

And it was reported this week that “up to 500 Serbian hooligans” could potentially try to cause trouble at the fixture.

It is being staged at the 62,271-capacity Veltins Arena, and Schalke 04 also have their own hooligan element. More on that later.

The story reminded me of Newcastle United’s visit to Serbia in 2003 for a Champions League qualifier against Partizan Belgrade.

At the time, I was reporting on the club for the Evening Chronicle, and I travelled on a Toon Travel chartered flight with supporters to write a fans’ eye view of the game from the away end.

Once we got to Belgrade on the day of the game, it got interesting, as I recalled on the Total Sport Newcastle United Podcast.

The 108 supporters on the flight were my at the airport by riot police, and were bussed into central Belgrade under escort. After swapping vouchers for match tickets at another location, we were stopped from leaving our hotel by heavily-armed police for our own “safety”.

It wasn’t the kind of lock-in fans had been hoping for in the city.

A tourist guide explained that, according to the police, around 10,000 Partizan fans were massed nearby. The club, it was claimed, was fearful of being fined by UEFA, or thrown out of the competition, if there was any trouble following previous incidents.