Joey Barton has told West Ham to give casual legend Chris 'Knollsy' Knoll a ticket to the Europa Conference League final after fighting off Dutch ultras in Alkmaar.
Footage went viral of the 58-year-old, a known face at West Ham games, putting himself in between the visiting fans and Alkmaar yobs who ripped down a gate to attack the away support. Knollsy and a small band of other West Ham fans were seen holding them off at the top of a stairwell and he later branded them "ants" for retreating.
Sporting a shiner above his left eye, Knoll posted a video on social media explaining what happened, insisting he was no hero and pointing to the other fans who stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the fracas. But after he said he didn't currently have a ticket to the final, Barton responded: "Make sure this fella gets a ticket to the final. Flattened all those whoppers…"
West Ham went on to reach the Conference League final where they will face Fiorentina on June 7. Club hero Tony Cottee, meanwhile, says he met with one of the "absolute heroes" from the scenes at Alkmaar and urged West Ham to do the same. He didn't name Knollsy - saying whoever it was didn't want to be named. Cottee said: "I’ve just got back from Amsterdam and have now had a chance to review the videos of the attack by the AZ fans. The West Ham fans who defended the club representatives, players families & friends at the top of the stairs are absolute heroes.
"I spoke to one of them yesterday to personally thank him. He doesn’t want to be named but I think the club should personally thank him and the others for their actions, otherwise we would have been talking about something much more serious."
Addressing the situation in a video after the game, Knoll said: "So I just realised the best form of defence - or the place to put up a defence - would be at the top of the stairwell where it was almost a one on one situation. I'm not a hero, not at all. There were guys who did exactly the same as I did and there were people behind me as well.
"I'd love to go to Prague. That would be the icing on the cake for the day yesterday. Obviously, the trouble we had, it would almost make it all worthwhile."
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