Maccabi supporters were barred from travelling to the game following safety concerns based on an inaccurate report prepared by West Midlands Police.

Eight errors were found in the report, including overstating Maccabi supporters' role in disorder in Amsterdam in 2024, and a reference to a non-existent game between Maccabi and West Ham, said to have been produced by Microsoft Copilot.

His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Andy Cooke, said that confirmation bias had influenced the way West Midlands Police reached and communicated its recommendation over the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

"I have several other concerns including, but not limited to, inaccurate information in written communication, a failure to engage with the local Jewish community early enough and poor record keeping and retention of important information," he said.

The decision to impose the ban was made by Birmingham's Safety Advisory Group (SAG), external, which included representatives from bodies including West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council.

The IOPC said evidence indicated that Guildford "may have had oversight on an intelligence briefing document presented to the safety advisory group (SAG) that was later reported to have contained inaccuracies and misleading information".

It is alleged the briefing document "gave an imbalanced view of the risk away fans posed", contributing to the decision to ban the supporters.

The police watchdog added: "We consider Mr Guildford may have failed to ensure due diligence and the highest level of scrutiny over such an influential document."

West Midlands Police admitted that it "overstated the evidence" used to make the decision to ban the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, in documents released in January.

The force said "we did not engage early enough with the local Jewish community", and indicated there was now a ban on AI use after its evidence included a match that did not take place.

Furthermore, it said its operations would have lasted four days, involved multiple forces, and cost more than £5m, if 2,500 away fans had attended the match.

Guildford retired from the force after both Downing Street and the home secretary said they had lost confidence in his leadership.

Announcing his retirement, Guildford did not offer an apology and blamed what he described as the "political and media frenzy" for his decision to step down.

It is understood that if gross misconduct is proven against Guildford at a misconduct hearing, he would likely be placed on the barred list which would prevent him from working in policing in the future.