Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has warned that terrorists
could target football in the future.
The attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team last week has raised
serious questions about security in sport, and Wenger, who was
managing in Japan during the 1995 subway attacks in Tokyo, admits
there is no reason to believe footballers are safe.
Asked whether he was concerned, he said: “No, but you wonder why
not.
“Sport has become world famous and is a good thing to attract
attention.
“I wonder about it because, in England, it’s more and more
difficult to get a police escort – the police just refuse,
especially in London.
“You have to rely on the internal security of the country you
are in.
“I have thought about [attacks] many times when you go to the
World Cup and European Championships.
“It happened to us at Arsenal, where we have had alerts before
the game when we played at home.
“We kept is quiet as much as we could and it turned out to be
nothing. You find a bag in the stadium that someone forgot.”
He added: “I don’t live with the obsession of security and I
won’t be getting any security for our team.
“The police have to look after it.”
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson also believes there is the potential for
a problem.
“In England, with the terror alert we’ve had for some time, we
can consider ourselves better protected than the Sri Lankans in
Pakistan,” he said.
“But it would be foolish of us to sit back and shake our heads
thinking it won’t happen here.
“We should never relax. If anything, it could be one of those
reminders that we shouldn’t relax because we don’t know what’s
around the corner.”
