By 12.30am after the trophy presentation, the Stapletons returned to the designated bus pick-up to take City fans back to Yenikapi, only to discover it in chaos. “Leaving the stadium was,” Nick said, “legitimately scary”. At the concession stand, when Nick eventually reached the front, two kofte kebabs, two bottles of water, and one can of the sponsors Pepsi, cost a total of €50 (£42.70). The Stapletons, both lifelong City season ticket holders, had bought Uefa category three tickets in the stadium’s block 333 at £156 each. Mastercard is one of Uefa’s principal sponsors. He said that two concession stands with six staff in each, and only four card machines between both of them, were all that had been provided to service 15,000 City fans in the lower tier.
Nick queued for two hours to buy water at the City end.
After a two-hour journey, we arrived at 5.45pm for a 10pm kick-off to be told that it was last orders for drinks in the Uefa fanzone.” He is 77 and had a hip operation six weeks ago, and we could not even get access to water. Nick said: “My dad has been attending City matches since 1954 but by the time we got to the stadium on Saturday night he said that this would be his last game. On another bus, fans forced the driver to stop to allow them to urinate by the side of the road. In the ensuing two-hour journey to cover the 16 miles to the Ataturk Stadium, Nick and John witnessed desperate supporters urinating out of windows and vomiting. The problems began when local police told City fans boarding the bus at Yenikapi that they had to throw away bottles of water they had brought with them – despite none being available on board. Nick was also told of a City fan who was still at the stadium around 7am the following morning, unable to get a bus direct to the airport. Many of them had to be lifted by fellow supporters with no help from the authorities organising the game. City fan Nick Stapleton, 35, a television journalist and son of John, said that he also saw disabled City fans stranded in gravel car parks that were impassable for wheelchairs.
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