DAILY STAR: England fans 'top of the list' for Russian hooligans issuing 'death threats' at World Cup

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Dr Geoff Pearson, a professor of criminal law at University of Manchester, said hooligans renowned for violence domestically generally don’t travel with their teams.

He said: “It is exceptionally rare that any traveling team will bring hooligans.

“Even England hooligans don’t tend to travel with the national team.

“These groups that are very active domestically don’t tend to travel internationally and don’t tend to travel to international tournaments.”

However, Prof Pearson said if Russian ultras who are planning to strike manage to bypass security, England fans will be at risk of attack.

“If the Russian groups are going to be targeting fans, it will be fan groups who are seem as legitimate targets and have reputations for violence," he added.

“English fans will always be at the top of that list along with Polish fans, maybe German fans.

“But everything we’ve heard so far suggests Russian hooligans have been warned off this event.

“The Russian authorities are going to be very hard on them if they do take action.

“I still think it’s very low risk that we’ll see violence at the tournament.”