Firstly I'll start with the stewarding which I though was top notch. Every single steward that I saw had a smile on their face and was polite, friendly and helpful. Can't fault them at all. The policing? Well let's be honest here it WAS announced by the club that fans would be kept in after the game due to our previous trouble. Nobody can pretend it wasn't because it was. With that in mind when some of our fans tried to get out early they were never going to let them. You can debate the rights and wrongs of that all day but the fact is we KNEW the decision was made. What happened after that point was solely down to the fans who had a choice. Do as they were told and behave themselves or kick off and charge at the police. Which one did our brainless idiots choose? Correct. They charged the police. I'm sorry but there is absolutely no excuse for rioting and charging at the police simply because they have told you that for safety reasons they are going to have to keep you in. Anyone who says otherwise must surely think it is OK to attack a teacher for keeping you back after school. A bloke went for a slash and the words he used was 'its like a warzone'. Another said 'our fans are attacking the police' and another said 'they're rioting like animals'. I stayed out of the way but after the game outside in the police cordened area I saw three different elements and behaviours. There were a lot of people a bit annoyed that they were being kept back but still well behaved. A second set of fans arguing with the police and trying to blame them individuals for what was happening (as though each officer had made the decision themselves not to allow anyone out) and a third set who were quite deliberately trying to attack the police. I saw punches and kicks thrown at the police heard one arsehole shoht 'I'll ****ing kill you and all your family'. The police decision to keep Barnsley fans in was in my opinion incorrect as it didn't really help anything but the behaviour of a large minority of our fans was nothing short of disgusting. Well done lads, that's a player we can't afford to sign because of you
Until we rid ourselves of the moronic hardcore of idiots that drag our reputation through the gutter at away games this is going to continue and decent fans will stop going.
Exactly. And whilever a large amount of people defend the moronic idiots by saying frankly bizarre statements like 'the police had no need to keep us in so they were justified in attacking them' (im paraphrasing) then it will never change.
