Aston Villa never said if they supported or opposed the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans but now they are dealing with the fallout and implications of the divisive decision by authorities in Birmingham.
It brings further challenges to staging one of the most politically highly charged football matches seen in England.
Villa say tickets will only be sold to supporters who bought them for their games before this season.
No away section will be occupied after Maccabi opted to reject tickets regardless of whether the ban is overturned.
But Sky News today found tickets already being traded on the secondary market for under £100, which opens up the possibility of fans of the Israeli club still being able to gain entry to the Europa League match on 6 November.
Villa, though, issued this warning: “The displaying of political symbols, messages or flags during the match is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate ejection and the issuing of a stadium ban.”
That effectively bans the flags of the countries playing the UEFA match – England and Israel. Villa did not respond to further requests for comment.
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Their website statement said guidance from European football’s governing body is being followed. But that is open to interpretation.
Would this be allowed? A banner saying: “Stop killing children. Stop killing civilians.”
To some it could be political, being a reference to Israel’s war on Gaza without mentioning any conflict.
But it was displayed by UEFA itself on the pitch before the Super Cup in August linked to Palestinian refugees from Gaza being part of the medal ceremony.
UEFA insisted it was not a political message.
A “Free Palestine” banner displayed by Paris Saint-Germain fans last season resulted in no UEFA punishment.
Celtic also faced no action for a “show Israel the red card” banner – a slogan also pitch-side for Maccabi’s game in Greece last month at PAOK.
So the same messaging, or similar, should be allowed by Villa on those precedents.
Policing banners and activism in the stadium will be fraught, but the bigger challenges could be on the streets of Birmingham.
It could still retain its status as a high-risk game – as classified by West Midlands Police – even without the official presence of Maccabi fans.
There is no ban on Israelis being in Birmingham, trying to watch the game in bars or restaurants in Maccabi shirts.
Could that bring confrontations?
They were a target of violence in Amsterdam last season around a match against Ajax. Maccabi fans were also filmed chanting abusively about Arabs and Gaza in particular.
Read more:
Why have Maccabi fans been banned?
Maccabi will not sell tickets to Aston Villa game
There will be the anticipation of pro-Palestine and pro-Israel demonstrations around Birmingham on 6 November.
A shopping street near Villa Park already featured Palestinian flags when Sky News recently visited.
There are still calls, including from Aston’s independent MP Ayoub Khan, for all Israeli teams to be banned from European competitions over the deaths in the Gaza war. Sky News revealed a push for a UEFA vote by European football officials that was abandoned as a Gaza peace deal was adopted.
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For Maccabi Tel Aviv, there are fears their cause could be appropriated by figures whose backing they reject.
Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was in Israel to address a rally in Tel Aviv last week and was pictured in a Maccabi shirt.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, called Robinson “a thug who represents the very worst of Britain” while criticising an Israeli minister for inviting the right-wing, anti-Islam activist.
Without directly referencing Robinson, Maccabi said: “We are… concerned about the intervention of divisive figures who do not represent the values of our club. We condemn all abhorrent views that have no place in football.”
That did also mean the club last night looking inwards in the statement rejecting any tickets, acknowledging there was a “more extreme elements of our fan base” and saying they had to stamp out racism.
Additionally problematic for Maccabi was the unrest around the Tel Aviv derby at the weekend, even if they blame rivals Hapoel for being the main instigators of violence and setting off the pyrotechnics that forced the game to be abandoned.
But Maccabi decried the “toxic atmosphere” and “inflammatory rhetoric” which meant they deemed it no longer safe for their own fans to be at Villa Park on 6 November.
And Israel’s embassy in London complained about “racist rhetoric voiced by some members of parliament and local councils” while claiming “extremists have turned football… into a platform for intimidation”.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government is concerned how the game had been “weaponised to stoke violence and fear”.
The rhetoric is far from being toned down.
This is a fraught fixture that has already pitted Westminster politicians against the police, developed into a diplomatic row and stoked new concerns about the safety of Jews in Britain.
And there are still two weeks until the match is due to be played.
