West Ham fans are set to be punished by the club and the police for ugly scenes on Thursday night
West Ham got the job done on Thursday night with a relatively comfortable 2-0 win over Rapid Vienna in the Europa League.
However, some of their fans got involved in violence with the away fans, and a report from Claret & Hugh confirms that the police have launched an investigation and will use CCTV to identify those responsible.
Several bottles were thrown in both directions, and the report states that the Irons fans will be the ones who are punished and, if identified, handed indefinite stadium bans. However, the Vienna fans will probably avoid any punishment.
Slightly unfair on some West Ham fans?
You would assume that almost all of the Vienna fans are now out of the country, and so despite starting the violence, it appears as if they will avoid any punishment.
Now, this seems unfair, and you would hope that UEFA might step in and identify some of the Vienna fans, but we doubt that will happen.
However, even if the away supporters started the violence, those Hammers fans who responded and launched bottles into the away end do deserve to be punished.
There were incidents before the game kicked off and also after Declan Rice scored, and you would think the police will be easily able to identify those responsible [Duncan Wright].
They should then be banned as we don’t want that sort allowed to watch the Irons and a long ban is the only way forward for incidents like these.
Yes, the Vienna fans should also be punished, but those irresponsible home fans need to be banned.
In other West Ham news, the club are monitoring a Championship star ahead of a potential move.
Be sure to follow West Ham Zone on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on the Hammers and more exclusive interviews with Frank McAvennie.