By Martyn Ziegler, PA Chief Sports Reporter
Last updated June 6 2006

Some 100,000 England fans are expected to descend on Germany for the World Cup - which has led to an unprecedented security plan being developed.

The plan drawn up to deal with supporters - and not just the English, for several other countries in the finals also have their own unpleasant minorities among their fans - has been learned from bitter experiences of the 1998 World Cup in France and 2000 European Championships in Belgium and Holland.

The overall idea is for the hosts' police to be friendly and welcoming, but highly visible and ready to step in to nip trouble in the bud.

Since 2000, new legislation has also given the British police far greater powers to deal with hooligans. There are now more than 3,000 banning orders in force preventing known English troublemakers from travelling to Germany - they will have to hand their passports to police for the duration of the tournament.

The Home Office have also allocated 44 uniformed UK police to be based in Germany, and eight officers in bordering countries, some of whom will have the same powers as German police.

There will also be 23 "spotters", undercover officers mixing with fans, and for the first time officials from the Crown Prosecution Service will be sent to Germany to gather evidence to use in British courts.

Kevin Miles of the Football Supporters' Federation is playing an advisory role in telling the German authorities how to handle English fans. Miles said: "We will be in touch with them between now and June to make sure they have the right sort of positive approach which worked so well in Portugal and Japan. "I would like to see a continuation of what has been a successful approach over the last two tournaments to changing the image of England supporters abroad.

"Part of that has been the work of the Government and supporters' organisations in trying to persuade the hosts' police forces in particular to treat us on the basis of our behaviour and not our reputation.

"Our experience has been that the policing which takes place at international tournaments has been probably the biggest single factor in determining whether things pass off peacefully or not.

"We want a visible police presence, a friendly police force which intervenes early in small incidents and keeps them small while generally welcoming and facilitating supporters' enjoyment of the tournament. That's the best recipe. "I'm optimistic about the tournament but not naive. If we are talking about upwards of 100,000 people travelling out there for the tournament then it would be daft to think there is not going to be an individual among those who is going to lose control of their emotions or even have evil intent before they go."

Less than 10,000 tickets have been allocated to England fans for each of their three group matches, but Miles said there was no reason why supporters without tickets should not go to Germany.

"The German organisers have made it absolutely clear that they welcome everybody. They are making big preparations for public viewing, big screens in city centres, so I wouldn't let the lack of a ticket hold anybody back," he added. "The key question is how do the police deal with it - they need to welcome the general public and deal proportionately with anybody who has a different agenda."

There have also been calls from the Football Association for English fans to refrain from anti-German songs, but Miles claimed that supporters in Germany accepted some were mere banter.

He added: "I can understand where the FA are coming from and most fans want to be well-received but from I have picked up is that most German supporters feel part of the English charm is that we are very good at winding people up in football stadiums and making a noise supporting the team.

"They think they are equally witty with their anti-English songs such as what they think about us suffering from Mad Cow Disease, which by German standards is probably hilarious and causes much amusement.

"If it's light-hearted and bantering I don't think there's any problem at all. There is a line to be crossed however and I think offensive or racist chanting is clearly beyond the pale."