AZ thugs threatened to spoil West Ham`s night

Our wonderful evening could have been spoilt by the moronic reaction of some thuggish AZ fans when they tried to attempt to storm into the area reserved for friends and family behind the dugout.

The incident is the latest in a series of escalating incidents of football violence in the Netherlands, which has worried both sports officials and politicians alike.

“The fans sat behind the AZ goal and broke through a gate to the main stand, after which they stormed celebrating West Ham fans,” the ANP national news agency said.

“From there, fists were flying,” it added.

Several players from both teams were also pulled into the fracas including West Ham captain Declan Rice, midfielder Lucas Paqueta and Michail Antonio.

West Ham manager David Moyes, who’s 87-year-old father David Snr was at the match, said: “I can’t explain what happened and why it happened.

“I can only say the players were involved because it was the family section and most of their family and friends were in there. That was probably the reason for the reaction.

“Was I worried? Yeah, my family were there and I had friends in that section. You’re hoping they would try and get themselves away from it.

“I didn’t recognise it because I’d gone onto the pitch. Security wanted to take me inside, but I had to make sure my players weren’t involved.

“What we don’t want to do is in any way blight the night because it certainly wasn’t West Ham supporters looking for trouble. Hopefully they’ll look into it.”

Whistles condemning the fans’ behaviour could also be heard from other AZ supporters in the stands.

Thankfully, the disturbance was dealt with reasonably quickly, and we were then free to enjoy a memorable evening.

It was a wonderful evening beyond that and the inter action between our players and fans after that amazing to behold.