ENGLAND'S explosive Euro 2004 decider with Turkey could be played behind closed doors, UEFA warned last night.

The Turks are facing the prospect of having their supporters banned from the October 11 match after Macedonia players were bombarded with missiles in Istanbul on Wednesday.

The Football Association have already decided not to take up their allocation of tickets for the combustible clash following the pitch invasions and violent disorder that marred the Stadium of Light encounter on April 2.

But UEFA communications director Mike Lee confirmed yesterday that they were considering taking punitive action against Turkey over the ugly scenes during the Macedonia game.

Lee said: "There were clearly missiles thrown, which was absolutely a breach of our rules. That has been included in the match officials' reports.

"On the basis of the evidence we already have, we will be starting disciplinary proceedings against the Turkish FA.

"It wouldn't be appropriate to anticipate the sanctions that could be taken against them.

"However, punishment for this breach ranges from a fine through to playing a match behind closed doors.

"The matter has now been referred to the UEFA control and disciplinary committee, which will meet on July 3."

Turkey's next competitive home game is against England and any ground closure would be applicable to that match.

However, it was expected last night that the Turks might escape with a severe fine - just as England did after the scenes at Sunderland two months ago.

Then, the FA were fined almost £70,000, much to the disgust of Turkey - who wanted England's game with Slovakia to be played at an empty Riverside Stadium.

Turkey are yet to confirm the venue for their final Group 7 fixture, though they would want to stage it in the intimidating atmosphere of Istanbul.

But they could yet broker a deal with UEFA and agree to move the game to Izmir, Bursa or Ankara - in return for fans being allowed to attend.

Slovakia's Euro 2004 qualifier with Liechtenstein was played behind closed doors after the FA lobbied hard following racist abuse directed at England players in Bratislava last October.

But Soho Square will not put any pressure on UEFA to crack down on Turkey, given the problems on Wearside on April 2.

The FA are expected to announce today whether England fans will travel to September's European Championship qualifier with Macedonia.

Paul Barber, the FA's marketing and communications director, said: "We have to weigh up the positives of the last three games against the risks there would be in taking probably less than 1,000 tickets.

"We hope to make a decision by Friday but we need to take some reports from people in Macedonia, our own security officers and the police.

"We're in constant touch with UEFA about the whole situation and the UEFA delegate who was at Middlesbrough will have seen for himself just how well the fans behaved.

"But we don't want to spoil the good work that has been done over the last three games."

Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard has warned England must be less nave in their final three qualifiers, against Macedonia, Liechtenstein and Turkey.

He said: "We've got to be disciplined in the games coming up.

"We can't afford to go in there thinking that the games are already won.

"It's when we lack discipline that we're going to concede goals. I think that's because we're inexperienced as a team.

"We've got to learn from it and work on it on the training pitch.

"We seem to do it the hard way and that's what we've got to learn from against the so-called lesser teams.

"The Macedonia game will be tough.

"They showed that they could play when they came here.

"After beating Turkey at home, we're in the driving seat in this group.

"But we're not taking anything for granted; it's going to go down to the wire."