R
Reiver
Guest
I was spoken to by a lady at Stoke, who like many others, felt a little aggrieved at the treatment yesterday.
She doesn't post on here but, when I mentioned it, asked if I would post something and ask anyone with comments to contact http://www.fsf.org.uk/contact-us
She had already had a response from them asking for other supporters comments.
For anyone not there I'll explain, as briefly as possible, what the crack was.
We arrived around 2.2o and started queuing, in the rain, for the turnstiles. We were stopped, almost immediately, and told there was no room for us to go into the ground. They explained that there were too many Sunderland supporters on the concourse, immediately inside the turnstiles, and we were told to wait.
After several minutes we asked what was going on and were told that the Sunderland supporters were drinking at the bars and that they were blocking the way to the seats. When we asked if they hadn't expected that amount of away support they said 'no'.
When we pointed out that it was all ticket, and that they knew exactly how many people would be there, we were told that if we continued to 'cause trouble' we'd have our tickets taken off us so we shut up.
We were then allowed to approach the turnstiles to be searched and I was asked to open my coat, which I did. I was then asked to take that off and open my Sunderland hoody. When I objected, on the basis that I'd been standing in the rain for 15 minutes, I was again told that my ticket would be taken off me.
No idea if this was typical but it all seems messy. The problem at Stoke is that the turnstiles lead directly onto the concourse which can hold around 500 people maximum. Once they're in no one from outside can reach the seats without ploughing through them. Bad design but the attitude of the stewards doesn't help.
Anyway, if you have owt to say just post it to the link http://www.fsf.org.uk/contact-us
She doesn't post on here but, when I mentioned it, asked if I would post something and ask anyone with comments to contact http://www.fsf.org.uk/contact-us
She had already had a response from them asking for other supporters comments.
For anyone not there I'll explain, as briefly as possible, what the crack was.
We arrived around 2.2o and started queuing, in the rain, for the turnstiles. We were stopped, almost immediately, and told there was no room for us to go into the ground. They explained that there were too many Sunderland supporters on the concourse, immediately inside the turnstiles, and we were told to wait.
After several minutes we asked what was going on and were told that the Sunderland supporters were drinking at the bars and that they were blocking the way to the seats. When we asked if they hadn't expected that amount of away support they said 'no'.
When we pointed out that it was all ticket, and that they knew exactly how many people would be there, we were told that if we continued to 'cause trouble' we'd have our tickets taken off us so we shut up.
We were then allowed to approach the turnstiles to be searched and I was asked to open my coat, which I did. I was then asked to take that off and open my Sunderland hoody. When I objected, on the basis that I'd been standing in the rain for 15 minutes, I was again told that my ticket would be taken off me.
No idea if this was typical but it all seems messy. The problem at Stoke is that the turnstiles lead directly onto the concourse which can hold around 500 people maximum. Once they're in no one from outside can reach the seats without ploughing through them. Bad design but the attitude of the stewards doesn't help.
Anyway, if you have owt to say just post it to the link http://www.fsf.org.uk/contact-us