http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/spo...ews/birmingham-city-millwall-londobn-13794787 And some were complaining about paper aeroplanes t'other week.
My thoughts exactly. Nowt happens - just fans been shepherded together before marching them to the ground. Bet there were more happening in Barnsley yesterday. Was stood on Market Hill and a group of Barnsley fans were blocked from getting into Brahmahs were there was a load of loud Hull fans. Was told there were Hull fans in Corner Pin and Barnsley fans started going round there. Then yesterday I saw on here that there had been trouble on Wellington Street. If I could see it coming - why couldn't the police? Why did the police allow gangs of potential trouble makers from Hull to enter the town centre?
Those 'reports' were by people on twitter, mostly young people on a day out in the big smoke by the looks of it & who got a bit excited at seeing a few hundred football fans being escorted to a station. The newspapers simply quoted them. However, some of the Birmingham City supporters did act in an anti-social way when they were confronted by Chelsea fans. But, throwing coins is not a riot. Sadly, we have seen a lot of this at London Bridge in the last year or so - away fans acting in an anti-social way. I think many have realised that the Millwall hooligans do not drink around London Bridge, due to the amount of CCTV, tourists with cameras and high police presence in the area. Therefore, they see this as a free pass to act like they are on in an 18-30s holiday and intimidate tourists and commuters, before getting a police escort all the way to The Den. Indeed, Leeds and a group of your own 'lads' have done this this season. So, the only thing Millwall were 'at again' was drinking in New Cross, minding their own business. Also, the only trouble at the ground was some of Birmingham City fans getting angry that they weren't allowed to leave when they went 2-0 down. The only actual trouble in SE London in the last few years is when Sheffield United hooligans actually avoided London Bridge and South Bermondsey and turned up in New Cross. In the aftermath of Wembley I have heard Barnsley fans ask why has nothing been done about Millwall. The truth is, a punch hasn't been thrown in anger at an away fan ever inside the 'new' Den in its 24 years, and not even in or around The Den in the last 15 years. Conversely, Millwall FC have made all away games members only and all-ticket since 2002, which is as much as they can be expected to do as the away team and therefore cannot be held to account for disorder in another club's stadium - we took the FA to court over this when they charged us for trouble at the West Ham League Cup game in 2009 and won. It was proved that West Ham ignored our security officers advise and allowed anyone to buy a ticket and refused to pay for extra policing in the ground, or even restrict alcohol sales. When there was trouble at Rotherham in 2014/15 season it was found out that Rotherham had ignored Millwall's all-ticket policy in order to maximise their gate receipts. Anyways, what I'm saying is you can demonise Millwall hooligans, even all Millwall fans. That's fine. We have a significant hooligan element, as well as a lot of hangers on for big games like Wembley. But, Millwall Football Club has done all it can - it has built an expensive walkway from the station to the away end, it has a full-time security team headed up by an ex Met chief inspector, it has the best monitoring technology in English football, restricts capacity for high risk games and spends nearly a million pound on policing a season. The result being, as mentioned above, no punch has been thrown in anger at an away fan in or around the ground in over a decade. Can the likes of Stoke, Chelsea, West Ham, Birmingham City, Newcastle, Leeds, Spurs, Sheffield United or even Barnsley say the same? What would the FA punish? The Den is the safest ground in the country. Make it even safer? Even the FA recognise that the actions of individuals cannot be controlled by the club, e.g. coin throwing; but applaud the robust response the club has towards it. I think you need to let it go. Hate the scumbags that attach themselves to us at big games and complain to the FA about their poor security (every tabloid journo always says what if they had a knife the moment some moron runs on the pitch - my main concern with Wembley is a terror attack if they managed to let pissed up football fans so easily breach security). Anyways, rant over and good luck for the season. You won't need it against us!
Didn't think that a "group of your own lads" were in london bridge before the match. I believe they all got taxis from kings cross straight down to the Surrey Dock pub at 11am where they happily drank until the police turned up at half one. Only called in to london bridge after the match for a swift pint before the train home.
