Комментарии к сообщению #20192

To ALL:

General News from Portman Road
12th September 2001 - UEFA CUP TIE POSTPONED

Ipswich Town's UEFA Cup tie at Portman Road against Torpedo Moscow, scheduled for Thursday evening, has been postponed by a week.

UEFA made the announcement after a meeting of their board. All European ties due to be played this week have been cancelled as a mark of respect to those killed in the terrorist attacks in America.

Instead the match will now take place on Thursday, Sept 20th, which has meant the cancellation of the Southampton Premier League fixture, which was due to take place on Wednesday, September 19th.

The Manchester United match will take place as originally planned on Saturday, Sept 22nd, though consideration was given to moving that match to the Sunday.

The second leg against Torpedo will still take place on Thursday, 27th September.

Ipswich manager George Burley said: "The decision has been made and we have to respect that. Our plans will now have to be changed but circumstances have dictated that and we will look forward to playing Torpedo Moscow next week".

He added: "We have got to be governed by the football bodies. Obviously we are all really shocked and feel for the people who have died and suffered".

Chairman David Sheepshanks said: "No-one would argue with the decision that has been made, although it is very disappointing for us on the eve of such an exciting night in the club's history, but everything else pales into insignificance".

Torpedo Moscow's players and officials were actually in the air at the time of UEFA's announcement, but were met at Stansted Airport when they touched down by Ipswich secretary David Rose who passed on the news.

UEFA statement

UEFA Chief Executive Gerhard Aigner said in a statement: "The scale of this tragedy and the pain and sorrow which it brings should cause us all to reflect. UEFA feels it is right that the European football family should respect the loss and suffering now being felt by those families who have lost their loved ones by postponing all UEFA games scheduled to be played this week."

Mr Aigner continued: "On behalf of UEFA, I would like to send our condolences and deepest sympathies to all those who are in pain as a result of these terrible events. We will convey this in a formal message to the US Embassy in Geneva. We will continue to monitor the overall security situation within Europe over the next few days and will make a further statement in due course concerning the rescheduling of these matches," he added.

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