Locals expect 20,000 of this weekend’s visitors to be English supporters arriving in advance of the team’s opening game against Portugal on Monday – and it is anyone’s guess what could happen.The owners of the exotically named bars are looking forward to the financial rewards. An estimated 90 per cent of the strip’s licensed establishments will remain open during the tournament and many already have large Euro 2000 posters stuck to their windows welcoming fans.The barman of the Tipsy Duck Pub, situated next to the Little Duck Pub, said: “We are going to have five screens showing the games [The English] can drink as much as they want. We are used to them – not just their football fans.”Indeed, at a meeting on Wednesday with police and the local authority at which bar owners were told that they could only serve drinks in plastic cups, the police apparently said they were more concerned about the threat posed by supporters of Turkey, who will also play here and in nearby Arnhem, than those of England. Furthermore, some residents retain a fond view of English soccer, particularly as a result of the former England manager Bobby Robson’s popular tenancy leading the city’s team PSV.But others are more ready to admit their worries about English supporters – who, the Football Association and the British police say – are now universally considered hooligans by the European public regardless of whether or not they are genuine fans.

Events at the Uefa Cup Final in Copenhagen last month, when violence broke out between Arsenal fans and supporters of the Turkish club Galatasaray, has done nothing to alter that view.Erik van Gerwen, who runs a private management business that liaises between Eindhoven’s private businesses, the police and local government, said: “I am afraid the first reaction when they heard the English team was coming here was of concern. It was not fear – that would be too strong – but it was concern. The retailers are worried about having their windows broken.”The bar owners are thinking they want to create a party and want as many people to come to the town. The police are thinking they want to reduce the risk as much as possible.”The police say they are leaving nothing to chance.

By Monday evening, Stratumseind and the other streets in the centre of Eindhoven will be a sea of blue. Up to 2,500 police officers will be on duty, flexing new powers of arrest and detention introduced specially for the competition. Around 600 riot police kitted out with full body armour and tear gas will take up positions around the 33,500 capacity Philips Stadium where the game is being played.And it is not as though the Netherlands has no experience of dealing with English supporters: at a World Cup qualifying match in Rotterdam eight years ago, more than 1,100 fans were held before the game under an emergency by-law.”The Dutch penitentiary system and justice departments are ready and so are we,” the city chief police spokesman, Johann Beelen, told reporters. “We know that among the peaceful supporters there will be an element which has made violence a profession but we will be among them every minute of every day.”There can be no other way. When we heard the draw and knew England would be playing in our city our officers knew they would have to give their best. We would be foolish to be anything other than 100 per cent vigilant.

I am afraid that’s the way we have to approach the situation.”It is not only the police who are worried. At a table outside one of Eindhoven’s two shamrock-decked Irish theme pubs, three young Britons who live and work in the city were fearing the worst should trouble erupt.David Armitage, 24, an engineer, originally from Burnley, Lancashire, said: “We are worried about what is going to happen to our reputation once this is over. When they have all gone, how are we going to go into shops or find work? They are all going to think we are just here for the weekend.”His friend Gareth, 26, a construction worker, added: “The Dutch are really excited about this They all want a really nice time. It would be a nice day in heaven if people just play football and everyone relaxes but I don’t expect [they] will I am getting out for the weekend I don’t want to be here.”.

France has conceded for the first time Germany’s claim to the biggest stake in EU decisions. This represents a fundamental shift in the traditional power balance of the union as Germany and France will no longer be equal partners. If the principle is translated into votes – as Berlin seeks – Germany’s voice will count for more than any other of the current “Big Four”. France has conceded for the first time Germany’s claim to the biggest stake in EU decisions. This represents a fundamental shift in the traditional power balance of the union as Germany and France will no longer be equal partners.