West Midlands Police has admitted it “overstated the evidence” used to make the decision to ban Israeli fans from a match in Birmingham.
Craig Guildford, its former chief constable, retired earlier this month after damning criticism of the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from the Europa League match against Aston Villa, last November.
In newly released documents, the force also said “we did not engage early enough with the local Jewish community”, and indicated there was now a ban on AI use after its evidence included a match that did not take place.
Furthermore, it said its operations would have lasted four days, involved multiple forces, and cost more than £5m, if 2,500 away fans had attended.