Graham Taylor says treatment of fans in Poland was 'digraceful'

Graham Taylor has branded the treatment of England fans as “disgraceful” after last night's World Cup qualifier with Poland in Warsaw was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

Former England boss Taylor believes the fans were shown no respect in terms of a lack of information and the time it took to call the game off when it was obvious conditions were unplayable.

It was nearly an hour after the scheduled kick-off time of 8pm (BST) before the game was postponed and rescheduled for 4pm today.

Taylor told Press Association Sport: "I thought this was a prime example of how supporters are treated with such disrespect.

"What I mean by that is that it was pretty obvious from the moment the ref came on the pitch for the very first time that this pitch was not playable.

"You could see that, yet it was two and a quarter hours later before supporters were actually told it wasn't on.

"Now they have reasons for not having the stadium roof shut, but don't you get weather forecasts in this country?

"Then when all the supporters had left their seats, when they decided the game was eventually off, an annoucement came asking all England fans to remain in their seats for the next 15 minutes.

"Hold on a minute, there was no-one else in the stadium. It was very poor how this game was eventually postponed."

Taylor added: "Since I have come out of the game and onto the media side, you see more and more from a supporters' point of view how poorly they are treated.

"This was a prime example. I thought it was disgraceful. They were given no information whatsoever."

Taylor believes the game being rearranged at short notice should not be used as an excuse by England.

Poland indicated they would have preferred the game to be rescheduled for November.

Taylor said: "I happen to think it is in England's interest just to put the game off 24 hours or so.

"The clubs won't like it but it is in England's interest to play the game inside 24 hours. If you call yourself a professional, you get yourself attuned for the next day.

"I'm not into this kind of thing where you suddenly say 'We are really affected by it.'

"That's already making excuses. I think this is the best thing that could have happened for England.

"You are over here, it is not even 24 hours so let's get back in and play it. Let's get ourselves right."

PA