Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira faces no police charges for kicking Everton fan who taunted him during pitch invasion after both men declined to make official complaint 

• Patrick Vieira kicked out at an Everton fan after being taunted following a match
• Everton fans invaded the pitch after Everton's 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace
• Palace boss Vieira kicked the fan to the ground after being confronted by him 
• Merseyside Police said both men involved declined to make a formal complaint 

Patrick Viera will not face any police action after his clash with an Everton fan last week.

Crystal Palace manager Vieira was confronted by a supporter who goaded and abused the Frenchman during the pitch invasion that followed Everton’s 3-2 win.

Having initially tried to ignore the provocation Vieira kicked out the supporter who was also recording the incident.

Along with the FA Merseyside Police also investigated the incident though the latter confirmed: ‘Merseyside Police has concluded enquiries into an altercation on the pitch at Goodison Park following the Everton v Crystal Palace match on Thursday (19 May). 

‘We worked with Everton FC to gather all available CCTV footage and spoke to witnesses.

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

Vieira warned English football’s pitch invasion problem is bigger than the well-documented flashpoint he was involved in and clash with and that ‘there is a big issue on the FA and Premier League’s plate to deal with.’

He said: ‘I think the Everton incident is bigger than just that incident.

‘When you look at it in the Premier League, there were a lot of field invasions that can cause trouble.

‘There are real issues here to reflect on and try to see what is the best way to manage it and to deal with it. 

‘You don't know what can happen. When you don't know what can happen of course you fear for anything, for the players.

‘We want to be safe and the best way to do that is we need to reflect on what is the best way for those kind of things not to happen on the field.

‘As a coach, manager, player or staff we want to be safe in our workplace. I think there is a big issue on the FA and Premier League's plate to deal with.

‘They need the support and the club and the players to get involved. Everybody has to take responsibility and see what is the best way for those things not to happen.’

Vieira added: ‘I am not there [charged by the FA] yet. I will participate with the FA and talk about the incident and give my opinion and my view.

‘Again, it is not about just that incident. It is about all the incidents and I think it happened too often in the last couple of weeks and we need to reflect on that and make a decision so players, staff and fans can be safe going to watch football matches.’

The FA said it is investigating incidents of fans invading the field.

In a separate incident, Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen was attacked as Manchester City fans celebrated their Premier League title win by invading the pitch on Sunday.

City issued a statement to apologise, saying they had launched an investigation to identify and ban the fan responsible.

Greater Manchester Police also charged two men following the pitch invasion.

City boss Pep Guardiola added: 'I'm so sorry on behalf of the club. It is difficult to think why people react in that way. Hopefully we can discover the person and he can be punished.' 

Speaking about pitch invasions, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said: 'All of a sudden in these last few weeks and months we've got these idiots not just running on the pitch, which to be fair is a problem, but actually if you're attacking players then what the hell are you doing?

'They're delirious, they've won the league, I get that. But attacking opposition players on the pitch? Where has this come from? It's absolutely ridiculous.

'There's this real sort of threat now and feeling that fans could start to attack people.' 

Roy Keane, another Sky pundit, added: 'It's disgraceful. It really is. A player or a manager is going to be seriously injured.

'If you're mad enough to come on and punch a player then you're going to be mad enough to do something silly like stab a player. There will be something crazy happen.

'People have come back after Covid and forgotten how to behave themselves. Idiots, scumbags. 

'It's a disgrace. We've seen it at Forest and with Patrick Vieira. It's absolutely disgraceful.' 

A Nottingham Forest fan who head-butted Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp during a pitch invasion was jailed for 24 weeks and handed a 10-year football banning order on Thursday. 

The on-field assault on Sharp brought back vivid memories of an attack on Jack Grealish -then of Aston Villa- in a game at bitter rival Birmingham City.

Grealish was knocked to the ground by a supporter who was subsequently jailed for 14 weeks and given a 10-year stadium ban.   

The FA said it is 'very concerned about the rise in anti-social behaviour from fans'.

In a statement on Friday, the FA called on clubs to 'play a vital role' and prevent pitch invasions as well as 'taking their own action'. The FA said it was 'reviewing our regulations to help stamp this behaviour out and to ensure the safety of everyone inside a stadium'.

The FA added: 'Football stadiums should always be a safe and enjoyable space for everyone, and these incidents are completely unacceptable and have no place in our game.

'It is illegal to enter the pitch area in any stadium and these actions are putting players, fans and people who run the game at great risk. This simply cannot continue and we can confirm that we are investigating all of the incidents.'