Acting police chief seeks to repair damage caused by Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban

West Midlands Police’s new acting chief said he is focused on repairing the damage the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan banning row has caused to the Jewish community.

Scott Green, who was appointed acting chief constable after Craig Guildford stepped down from the top role following mounting pressure for him to quit over the controversy, said he declared a critical incident as the force looks to recover from the fallout of the incident.

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were barred from travelling to the game against Aston Villa at Villa Park on November 6 by the local safety advisory group (SAG), which cited safety concerns based on advice from the police force.

The decision led to widespread criticism from political figures including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who said it was the “wrong decision” and ultimately led to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood saying she no longer had confidence in Mr Guildford’s leadership.

Under pressure to resign from the role, Mr Guildford announced he was retiring after facing what he called a “political and media frenzy”.

At the Police and Crime Commissioner’s accountability and governance board, chaired by PCC Simon Foster at West Midlands Police’s headquarters in Birmingham on Tuesday, Mr Green acknowledged the damage the row had done to the public’s perception of and trust in the force.

He said: “The direct impact of our actions has been a loss of the trust and confidence from the public in the West Midlands, more specifically, I know we have damaged our relationship with individuals and the Jewish community, locally, nationally and internationally.”

Mr Green said he had met with members of the Jewish community last week and said he was “personally saddened” to hear the impact the force’s actions had had on the public.

He said: “The upset that people have felt, the strength people have shown through these difficult times. I praise the courage and resilience of these individuals and their honesty and candour in sharing their experiences with me.

“I have committed to taking immediate action to focus on repairing the damage that has resulted in a loss of confidence in policing. We will work tirelessly to restore that trust.”

Acting deputy chief constable Jennifer Mattinson admitted the force’s engagement with the local Jewish community was “not started early enough” in the planning stages before the match.

She said the force should have liaised with other international police forces who have hosted the Israeli football team’s fans instead of just the Dutch police, and said it was “regrettable” that the force’s virtual meeting with Dutch police was not recorded.

She also said the force has launched Operation Strive, which will focus on the response to “recover from these events”.

As part of the operation, all antisemitic hate crime will be investigated by a detective and the force has also committed to carrying out antisemitism training for all staff.

WMP’s use of Microsoft’s AI assistant Copilot has also been suspended after details of a non-existent game between West Ham and Tel Aviv was mentioned in a report to the SAG and found to have been an “AI hallucination”.

Mr Green declined to answer several questions put forward by Mr Foster including around any known terrorism threats and whether reports that local people would arm themselves in preparation for the fixture were correct, stating it would be “unwise and inappropriate” to do in case it prejudiced the ongoing Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation into the incident.

Mr Green said: “It is my intention, throughout this board and our subsequent approach, to answer every question with as much transparency and candour as I can.

“I want to emphasise it was on my first day I made a voluntary referral to the IOPC and I want their investigation to not be prejudiced in any way by the answers I give today.”

Mr Green said he accepted the contents of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) report “in its entirety”, including that confirmation bias played a part in the way the force reached its preferred tactical option and that they had “overstated the evidence”.

He said part of Operation Strive would look at “organisational bias”.

He said: “The force is performing really well and has robust and effective intelligence structures but what is clear is the link between public order policing and intelligence and our intelligence systems is not where we want it to be.

“That is part of the work taking place as part of Operation Strive.”

The acting chief also admitted “better local engagement from the outset would have made a real difference” to how the situation was dealt with and said he was committed to rebuilding trust among the community and working closely with the PCC.

Mr Foster said at the end of the meeting that this “must never happen again” and said his team would continue to hold the force to account and make sure Operation Strive was “fit for purpose”.