Watch police chiefs take questions over banning of Israeli football fans from Villa game

The row over why away fans were banned has been ongoing since October, when Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group, which includes the council, the club and police, made the decision because of what it said were safety concerns.

West Midlands Police have repeatedly mentioned the unrest surrounding a Maccabi match in Amsterdam earlier in November, as part of the justification for the ban.

They claimed 500-600 Maccabi fans had targeted Muslim communities the night before the Amsterdam fixture, saying there had been “serious assaults including throwing random members of the public” into a river.

They also claimed 5,000 officers were needed to deal with the unrest in Amsterdam, after previously saying that the figure was 1,200.

Dutch police and watchdogs have denied WMP’s account of that match.