What many fans thought was going to be a great day, turned out to resemble scenes from the 1980's Football Hooligan age. Fans pelted the late arriving Manchester United coach with bottles and stones. The crowded street saw family’s with young children running for cover, and police using shields to protect them selves from the onslaught of bottles and stones.
Images from on the bus itself showed how United teammates at the front of the bus were taking cover in the centre isle, as missiles were launched at the vehicle. The Squad did seem in good humour while it was happening, but outside, police officers stuck in the line of fire were not.
After arriving at the ground team captain Wayne Rooney said to Sky Sports:
"It wasn't nice ... I'm sure you'll see the images. It's not for me to say, but it was disappointing of course. It's a big night for West Ham, but I'm sure West Ham as a club will be disappointed with what the fans have done."
The attack was United’s own fault says David Sullivan
Not everyone agrees with Wayne though.David Sullivan West Hams Co Chairman told BBC Radio Five Live:
"It is depressing really, it will be a late night for our fans and some of them won't be able to stay. I don't understand why United couldn't get here at 4pm. They could have got here early. They knew it would be busy. It's crazy. There was congestion in the street and they couldn't get the coach in.
There were people around the coach"
The co-chairman then went on to deny reports of the attack that were been shown live across the world by saying, “there was no attack on the coach. If you check the coach there won't be any damage to it. If we arrived late at Old Trafford they wouldn't put the kick-off back.
The damage to the coach was very clear to see, and later the Metropolitan Police confirmed that one Police officer and a member of the public sustained minor injuries in the trouble.
The trouble didn’t stop there though, during the game, fans once again took to throwing bottles, but this time at Manchester United’s keeper David De Gea when Anthony Martial scored his first goal in what turned out to be a 3-2 Hammers win.
The night is bound to have left police chiefs wondering what they are going to do next year when thousands of fans will be corralled through Westfield Shopping centre Stratford to get entry to the Olympic Stadium.
