PARIS, June 23 (Reuters) - UEFA chief executive Gerhard Aigner has justified the threat to kick England out of Euro 2000, saying the hooligans posed 'specific problems' related to drink and the large numbers who arrive without match tickets.

He also acknowledged the tournament should be easier to police now England are out, telling French sports daily l'Equipe: 'It would have been a shame to be obliged to kick a team out of the tournament because of their fans.'

Aigner felt UEFA's threat to act was only partly responsible for England's trouble-free game against Romania.

'Police action had much more effect than our threat and everybody helped solve the problem - (Kevin) Keegan's comments for instance,' he said.

Aigner added: 'We have specific problems with English fans, who come ticketless...and drink a lot.

'To see 5,000 or 10,000 of them come without tickets is unacceptable. There are more cases like this among English fans than among others and that's a fact.'

Asked about violence generated by other fans, Turkish ones for instance, he said : 'They are often residents in the host countries. That's different. If they are not provoked, they are not necessarily violent.'