Premier League fans vandalize own club’s team bus by mistake

Blundering fans of English football club Crystal Palace fans defaced their own team bus after mistakenly believing it belonged to rivals Middlesbrough ahead of their English Premier League match on Saturday.

The bus was parked next to a hotel near Palace’s Selhurst Park football ground when it was sprayed with the words ‘Crystal Palace FC’ in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The south London club’s assistant head groundsman Dean Waters tweeted his frustration at the graffiti gaff, but soon after made his Twitter account private.

“£40,000 [$49,700] worth of damage on our coach thinking it was the Boro coach. Nice one! #cpfc,” the tweet read, the Telegraph reported.

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Despite the words adorning the side of the coach in silver letters on a blue and red background, Middlesbrough still used the coach to drive to their Premier League meeting, which Palace won 1-0 to draw level on points with Middlesbrough, who sit one place above them in the table in 17th place.

Some Crystal Palace fans have been attempting to introduce an ‘ultra’ fan culture at their games. Known as the ‘Holmesdale Fanatics,’ the fans congregate in Block B, Holmesdale Road of Selhurst Park and use creative banners, flags, and chants to create a raucous atmosphere at games in hopes of emulating foreign fan groups.

The group chose not to mention the incident in a Facebook post after the Middlesbrough game, in which Patrick van Aanholt’s goal lifted the club out of the Premier League relegation zone.

“THAT'S THE PALACE SPIRIT...Fanbase and players battling together to keep us in the league. Just the beginning. THE HUNT IS ON. CPFC,” the post read.