The spectre of league grounds being closed because of crowd trouble returned to haunt football yesterday as the game's authorities announced a joint inquiry into the recent spate of missile throwing.
The Football Association, Premier League and Football League will meet to discuss the problem. Yesterday police continued their investigation into the latest incident in which Liverpool's Jamie Carragher threw a coin back into the crowd at Highbury after being hit by objects thrown by Arsenal fans.
Carragher will almost certainly be interviewed by police after a woman said she was struck by the coin. He also faces a club fine of up to two weeks and a possible six-week ban from the FA.
A Police spokesman said: "We anticipate talking to a number of people. It is likely that those discussions could take several days, and then the information will be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service." Arsenal are conducting their own inquiry, scouring CCTV footage from the game and matching seat numbers to the tickets issued in the lower section of Highbury's East Stand where the incident took place.
That part of the ground contained Arsenal season-ticket holders, ticket registration-scheme members and buyers of tickets on general sale. Arsenal said yesterday that any fan found guilty of throwing objects would be banned for life.
The FA will wait to see what action police take against Carragher before announcing any sanction of its own. Yesterday it was concentrating on the wider problem of missile throwing after reports of further incidents at the weekend; at Stamford Bridge a coin hurled from the West Ham section of the crowd hit Chelsea's Graeme le Saux, and at Ipswich a Manchester City fan was ejected after throwing a coin on to the pitch.
The severest deterrent available is ground closure, which has not been used since the 1970s. But yesterday the chairman of the parliamentary all-party football group Alan Keen MP supported such a move. "That's worth doing," he said. "That would be effective. This coin throwing is a worrying trend and something needs to be done."
Meanwhile, former Aston Villa boss John Gregory will shortly have talks with Derby County about the managerial vacancy at Pride Park, his agent said yesterday. Guardian Service
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