The stewarding and arrangents for away supporters at Stoke


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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
 
I wasnt there but how the fuck have they got a safety certificate if only 500 are allowed on the concourse. Surely at half time they dont just allow the first 500 onto the concourse and the rest have to stay in their seats?
 
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
How could they not be expecting the numbers they'd sold tickets to
 
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
Jason Statham to play you in the film
 
I wasnt there but how the fuck have they got a safety certificate if only 500 are allowed on the concourse. Surely at half time they dont just allow the first 500 onto the concourse and the rest have to stay in their seats?

I'm just guessing mate but it's very badly designed.

The woman who was upset was there with 2 kids. They'd gotten off a Silverdale bus, I think she said, and arrived behind the away end.

They'd been held outside for 20 minutes in the rain and time was ticking on for kick off.

When you got in there was no chance of getting to the toilets and a battle to get to the seats.
 
Yep, the whole open/remove your jacket thing was a bit daft.

For the penalty, and I'm not sure if this is normal procedure because I don't think I've ever sat in row 1 before, but every steward at the side of the pitch stood to face the crowd. Now bearing in mind it was stoppage time and at this time there are more stewards there, this was a problem because it was very difficult for the first 2 or 3 rows to see past them. They were getting all sorts of abuse and people shouting at them to sit down. There was a little 'Hitler' type supervisor walking past simply refusing to instruct the stewards to sit down. Then about 10 seconds before Defoe took it, they all sat down apart from those in orange coats. I'm not sure whether that was due to pressure from the fans or that is normal procedure, I suspect the latter. But it seems absolutely pointless to me and if I was being cynical I'd say it was a tactic to cause confrontation. May people, myself included, were getting very irate and the smugness of the supervisor didn't help at all.
 
We were kept on our bus that came from the terrace bar for 5mins before they let us out. Maybe just a case of too many fans arriving at once.
 
We were kept on our bus that came from the terrace bar for 5mins before they let us out. Maybe just a case of too many fans arriving at once.

We were in The Terrace and amazed at the police presence outside, they almost matched the amount of Sunderland supporters.
 
Got to the ground 2.40 didn't have or see any problems. Got straight in no bother. Wasn't in the concourse like.
 
Yep, the whole open/remove your jacket thing was a bit daft.

For the penalty, and I'm not sure if this is normal procedure because I don't think I've ever sat in row 1 before, but every steward at the side of the pitch stood to face the crowd. Now bearing in mind it was stoppage time and at this time there are more stewards there, this was a problem because it was very difficult for the first 2 or 3 rows to see past them. They were getting all sorts of abuse and people shouting at them to sit down. There was a little 'Hitler' type supervisor walking past simply refusing to instruct the stewards to sit down. Then about 10 seconds before Defoe took it, they all sat down apart from those in orange coats. I'm not sure whether that was due to pressure from the fans or that is normal procedure, I suspect the latter. But it seems absolutely pointless to me and if I was being cynical I'd say it was a tactic to cause confrontation. May people, myself included, were getting very irate and the smugness of the supervisor didn't help at all.
Must be murder being at a football match and having someone stood in front of you obstructing your view.
 
Must be murder being at a football match and having someone stood in front of you obstructing your view.

This was the final seconds of a vital game and a penalty in front of our fans ......... the stewards were laughing as they stood in front of people.
 
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