AN ENGLAND football fan has received help from York's Turkish community as he prepares to ignore FA pleas and travel to Istanbul for the crucial European Championships clash.

Everton fan Pete Wilson, of Clifton, York, will fly to Istanbul on October 10.

He will meet 30 friends out there who plan to travel to Istanbul from Marmaris, where they are on holiday.

England fans have been warned police will be checking ID at the game and anyone who cannot prove they are Turkish will be held in a "secure area" until after the game.

It had also been reported that fans would be turned back from the airport in Istanbul unless they can convince Turkish customs they are not going to the game.

But Pete said: "Hundreds are going and there are plenty already there. We have got contacts through York's kebab shops, they have given us names of people to say we are visiting out there. They have been saying people are going to be arrested near the ground. We will go to suss it out and see what is happening. I don't think it will be as stiff as they are saying but if it is, we will watch it in the hotel."

The FA declined its ticket allocation for the game and has appealed for fans to stay away.

England coach Sven Goran Erikkson even warned fans they could die if they go.

But grandfather-of-two Pete, 44, said the FA should have taken up its tickets so the fans could have been properly segregated.

He said: "Tickets aren't a problem. They are even selling them in Marmaris. It could have been controlled, now it is going to be a free-for-all."

Pete, who started watching England in the 1970s, says he has seen a lot of football violence over the years.

But he said: "I am no football hooligan. At the match is the only chance I get to see my mates nowadays. All I want to do is have a drink and enjoy the match.

"People feel it is so unfair they are being told not to travel. It is just making people want to go."

On the FA's website, Paul Barber, director of communications, urges fans not to travel.

He said: "Please do not put our country in a position where out players' and coaches' efforts are undermined by problems on the pitch. Please ensure we do not have to face the shame and indignity of expulsion from a major tournament."

lAs recently reported in the Evening Press, Five Lions pub landlord Craig Holt, of Walmgate, is also making the trip to Turkey.

Updated: 11:00 Wednesday, October 01, 2003