Red army invades ancient Greece

May 23 2007 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo

Red army invades ancient Greece

THOUSANDS of Reds fans flew out from Liverpool John Lennon Airport today – and straight into a growing row over tickets.

As the city emptied of Reds, those fans who flew out early to Greece to buy black market tickets were learning some were forgeries.

Thousands of fake tickets are in circulation for tonight’s Champions League final in Athens, Merseyside police warned today.

British counterfeiters have been forging tickets ever since Liverpool made it through to the final.

For fans leaving John Lennon airport on flights every five minutes, the search for tickets was the most pressing concern.

Gary Windsor, 26, from Anfield, said: “Our flight is not until 10.30am, but we have been here since 4am drinking and singing songs.

“Four of us have got tickets, but there are three who haven’t so we will be doing all we can to find them some.

Dave Jones, 60, from Crosby and Paul Evans, 50, from Parkgate, said their flight had been delayed 45 minutes until 9.45am.

Mr Jones said: “I got the ticket from my mate Paul whose son had to give it up because his company sent him on a course.

“I was gutted for him – honest!”

Stewart Bonnette, 49, from Ormskirk, and his son Nick, 23, were due to arrive in Athens by 4pm.

Nick said: “I only found out I had a ticket on Saturday so since then I have been on cloud nine.”

Those with tickets were the lucky ones.