The Police want clubs to pay for their services outside grounds on matchdays, in contravention of current policy.
The Metropolitan Police want London clubs to cover the £4.5million cost of policing the streets outside stadia on matchdays, around £13,000 a match, a move that is echoed by Wigan's long-running battle with Greater Manchester Police over their charging for matches at the JJB Stadium. Met chief Sir Ian Blair told the press: "We are very clear that we are only interested in charging around commercial and large commercial events."
The current agreed policy, by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), is that clubs only pay for those officers deployed within the stadium confines. On promotion to the Premiership, Wigan were charged over £7,000 a game more for Policing including officers outside the stadium - tripling their Police bill overnight. The club challenged the charges, but lost at the High Court this morning after a lengthy battle with the Judge accepting that there were arguments on both sides but that there was no legal basis to challenge the charges.
The long standing agreement between ACPO and the clubs sees the Bulls pay only a minimal Policing charge for each game at Edgar Street, with no more than a handful of officers being charged to the club for the highest profile of games. However, should the trend for charging clubs spread, the club would face bills for the dozens of officers often needlessly deployed outside the ground - costing the club tens of thousands of pounds in the process.