West Ham fan Chris Knoll – also known as ‘Knollsy’ – does not want to be labelled as a hero after claiming he “just did what he had to do” after fending off Dutch hooligans in Alkmaar. The ugly scenes threatened to mar a famous night for the Irons, who booked their place in Prague for the UEFA Conference League final with a 1-0 win over AZ.
Yet the result and performance was overshadowed by the scenes at full-time when AZ ultras bundled down a large metal gate before charging towards the families of the West Ham players.
Thankfully, ‘Knollsy’ was on hand to keep them at bay despite being heavily outnumbered as he collaborated with another West Ham supporter and began defending the stairs with his physical presence.
He has since been lavished in praise on social media but speaking for the first time since the events, Knollsy refused to accept his place in the limelight.
“I’m not a hero. I just did what I had to do. There was another guy who was fending them off. I don’t like bullies and just had to try and stop them,” the dad of four told talkSPORT.
“I just thought the best form of defence was to attack. You could see they were intent on causing trouble and I did not want them to get to those behind us.”
Knollsy was left with significant swelling to his eye after taking a heavy hit from one of the attackers.
But that doesn’t phase him as he achieved his objective of keeping the families of the West Ham players safe – earning praise from some of them including the partner of Alphonse Areola on Instagram.
He added: “If you’ve seen the pictures, there’s about five or six guys in front of me and I’m sort of trying to fend them off.
“Somehow, I don’t know how, two got behind me, right. And as I’m dealing with the other guys, there’s one guy who’s just constantly bagging me in the side of the head.
“That’s what caused the bruised eye. It’s not too bad, but I might go to the hospital to get it checked out.”
The 87-year-old father of manager David Moyes was among those in the section of seats targeted by the AZ hooligans.
Declan Rice could also be seen trying to usher his family to safety after climbing over the hoardings at the side of the pitch.
Meanwhile, team-mates Flynn Downes, Said Benrahma, Aaron Cresswell and Lucas Paqueta jumped into the thick of the action in a bid to protect their family members.
Knollsy says he was quick to sense the danger and that was why he was perfectly placed to play a major part in diffusing the situation – even if he was forced to throw punches.
“I know what they were intent on doing and was not going to let it happen. It was fairly obvious what was going to happen because they were intent on coming to us,” he added.
“They were the ultras, you could see that from what they were wearing. I just decided I wasn’t going to let them come up.
“I just thought the best form of defence would be to get to the top of the stairs where they were coming up and just stood there and tried to stop them.
“I know they were swinging punches and I just did my best to stand there and take it.”
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