Patrick Vieira: Crystal Palace manager avoids police charges following fan altercation on pitch against Everton | Football News

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira will not face police charges following an altercation with a fan at Goodison Park after Merseyside Police said on Monday that no formal complaint was filed.

Everton fans invaded the pitch following Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s 85th-minute winner and at the final whistle of their 3-2 victory over Palace which secured their Premier League survival.

Vieira was confronted by a fan as he was walking towards the away dressing room after the final whistle. The fan appeared to provoke Vieira, who then kicked him to the ground and had to be led away by other supporters.

“We worked with Everton FC to gather all available CCTV footage and spoke to witnesses,” Merseyside Police said in a statement.

“Officers have spoken to both men involved and the opportunity to make a formal complaint or support a prosecution was declined.”

Police chief: Pitch is players’ place of work and they should feel safe

The UK’s football policing chief is alarmed by the recent rise in pitch invasions and has described attacks on players and managers as “totally unacceptable”.

Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Football Policing Lead, said: “It has been alarming to see a rise in the number of fans entering the pitch during matches over the past couple of weeks.

“This has at times resulted in assaults and altercations with players, managers and club staff – which is totally unacceptable. The pitch is the players’ place of work and like everyone else, they should be able to feel safe.

“I know emotions are running high when clubs are getting promoted or avoiding relegation, but having large numbers of fans rushing onto the pitch at the end of the game is a safety risk for everyone, and I would urge all fans to remain in their seats and celebrate in the correct way.

“It is the responsibility of clubs to ensure that fans can view matches in safety and we will continue to work with clubs to see what can be done to help prevent these incidents in future.”