Correcting The Record

"The chief constable of West Midlands police no longer has my confidence."

"Rather than follow the evidence, the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position to ban the fans."

"[A] damning [review from the policing watchdog over the intelligence that led to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans being banned showed a] failure of leadership." 

"[Sir Andy Cooke] shows that the police overstated the threat posed by the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, while understating the risk that was posed to the Israeli fans if they travelled to the area."

"[His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke had found] confirmation bias [in police intelligence gathering]."

"The force, we now discover, conducted little engagement with the Jewish community and none with the Jewish community in Birmingham before a decision was taken."

British Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood 

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs she had lost confidence in West Midlands Chief Constable Craig Guildford over the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban. Photo, House of Commons

 

The British Home Secretary had initiated an independent inquiry to study the decision by Chief Constable Craig Guildford of the West Midlands police to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from attendance at a a Birmingham match late last year. The decision, according to the chief constable, was one made in the interest of public safety, citing a reputation of violence among fans of the storied Israeli football team. A contention that the inquiry found unrepresentative of reality. As was the explanation that police in the Netherlands had warned the West Midlands police over the potential of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans going amok.

 

Months of scrutiny of the West Midlands police following the controversial decision and refusal to allow the fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv to attend the match, led to empty stadium seats and an outraged public reaction. The justification for the ban of the fans was proven to be void of reality. And left Chief Constable Craig Guildford under fire for incompetence, and possibly political interference. Birmingham, the second largest city in Britain, has a 30 percent Muslim population. 

 

And it was, in fact, Islamists from among that population who had been overheard to instruct one another to arrive at the game armed and prepared to challenge the presence of Israeli fans and members of the local Jewish community eager to cheer on their team of choice. By choosing to ban the ostensible targets of a potential violent event who represent a much smaller community than the Muslims, the opportunity for a planned confrontation that could turn violent was thus 'solved'.

 

Police officers escort a woman with an Israeli flag away from Pro-Palestinian protesters outside Villa Park in Birmingham on November 6, 2025 ahead of the UEFA Europa League league-stage football match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv  HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP

 

The match in Birmingham had been classified as "high risk" by the West Midlands police, as they cited previous games with Maccabi, a Europa League encounter in particular that took place in Amsterdam where clashes broke out between locals and Israeli fans. Evidence the U.K. police purported to have received from their Dutch counterparts supported their decision -- except for the fact that the Dutch police denied they had ever offered such 'evidence'. Which was actually non-existent, since the Israeli fans were the victims of antisemitic locals, not the perpetrators of a violent clash.

 

To find a similar instance when a home secretary last made such a statement of non-confidence in police authority one would have to go back several decades. There was, as a result, heavy security and the match proceeded without Maccabi fans. Police chief Guildford apologized to MPs for having given them erroneous evidence relating to his decision, mere hours before the report was released. 

 

Police had cited a match between West Ham and Maccabi Tel Aviv which had never taken place, noted the report. The error, brought to Chief Guildford's attention, was ascribed by him to the use of Microsoft Copilot, an AI chatbot. "I would like to offer my profound apology to the committee for this error", he stated; there had been "no intention to mislead the committee. And on Friday, Chief Guildford resigned his position. 

More than 700 police officers were deployed in an effort to keep the peace during November's Europa League match. HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP via Getty Images