Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield, he said: “The tram will actually lose about \u00a310,000 by not running on the day, but last year it was a midday Sunday fixture again and there was a lot of disorder on and around the tram.<\/p>\n
“There were loads of people congregating and drinking on the tram tracks, which is really dangerous. <\/p>\n
“The tram struggled to get through, then there were people on the tram who pulled the emergency cord, got out and that led to confrontations between rival fans.<\/p>\n
“There were big issues that the police had to deal with around the Leppings Lane tram stop, and they had to use horses and dogs.”<\/p>\n
The Mayor said police resources were already stretched on the day without officers being used to patrol the trams and called on football fans to act more responsibly.<\/p>\n
“Because of a small number of people, the vast majority of good decent fans aren’t going to be able to use the tram network,” Coppard said.<\/p>\n
“How do you solve a bunch of people congregating on the tram tracks across the whole of that network from Cathedral through to Hillsborough, three or four miles? That is a long stretch of track for the police to patrol.<\/p>\n
“Ultimately it has to be down to fans behaving better. That small number of people who are determined to get drunk, cause a bit of trouble, are making it really difficult for us to run the tram network on the day and that is causing problems for everybody.”<\/p>\n