Away End Crush Today

[scholsey]

Oh forgot to say in capital letters on my previous post
I BLAME THE SMALL AMOUNT OF LEEDS FANS AND THE POLICE!
SIMPLES

 

[EX4 6PX]

He thought it was the Time Warp.

You could be right. He probably did a pelvic thrust when I wasn't looking.

Dirty Leeds.

 

[Mr Jan Yeo]

Overall the d+c need to be dragged out of the 70's and realise that Leeds (and other big club fans) do not need to be herded into Exeter like cattle that they can behave themselves and can make their own way to the ground without smashing the place to bits

I think it was more a worry that our chavvy numpties would attack their coaches. According to the Leeds site there was a group held by police at Brook Green (I assume that's where they meant) and someone threw a bottle. The problem with the reputation that Leeds have is that people want to fight them...which IMO is f***ing stupid.

 

[Hants_red]

Looking at the discussion and videos this is the area from the turnstiles that needs to be addressed. This was the area that had most problems. Needs a proper protected walkway?

 

[citizen]

YES YES YES
There are issues here from Saturday which will be disected over the coming days by the Football Club and D & C`s finest plus no doubt any other safety committees that want to get involved.
I would hope the fact this was a near miss ,things will improve.
OH ,On the Leeds fans complaints, this will be all old news in a couple of days when there 4500 fans pack into White hart lane next weekend for there Cup game.
By the way you shouldn`t have any crushing issues there ,City took 10,000 in 1981 and it was fine.
Subject closed for me.
Citizen.

 

[Hampshire White]

I was stood right behind the goal while all this was going on, and this is my two 'penneth for what it's worth. I am a Leeds fan but having lived in Exeter for some years, I do have a soft spot for City as well. Because of this I will be as impartial as I can be, so from someone who was there these are the facts;

a) The problems occurring at the entrance were unable to be observed by those Leeds fans to the left of the terrace, and were therefore unaware of the extent of the problem.

b) The tannoy was crap. Yes we heard the request to move up, but the reason was never clear to those who could not see the problem.

c) All that was needed was for a couple of Coppers to go to the far corner and move fans up from there. After all, they wouldn't have to speak very loudly to be heard at the back!

d) Leeds fans in the home end were advised by the Police that they would be allowed to enter the away end prior to the match. This was without knowing how many Leeds fans there were in the stand!

e)The need to move fans from the home end was never required in the first place! Every away match has more Leeds fans than tickets available in this division, and every game has a significant number of Leeds fans in the home end. There is rarely any trouble, so why the need to move them en mass?

f) The problem with matches like this, is that the host town/city has a mindset that Leeds fans are a bunch of Neanderthals that intend wrecking the place. It is not the case! This is not the 1980's!

g) The late arrival of the buses and the 'Child labour' at the turnstile did not help matters

g) In my opinion, affable though they were, the fault lies squarely with the Police and the ground authorities! A plan was implemented that had no option to be adapted quickly, and the number of away fans was seriously underestimated. Exeter City and the D&C constabulary should have consulted with other clubs of a similar stature on lessons learned from hosting a significant number of away fans this season.

h) It's no good blaming the away fans for the Club's shortcomings! There is no way that any Leeds fan would willingly endanger ANY fan, our own or others, and frankly I find it offensive for anyone to suggest that we would!

With regards to the game, Exeter were deserved winners and showed more desire to win, so good luck to you! The playing of 'singing in the rain' at full time was a nice touch too, you bastards!!!

 

[Red faced]

FFS I'm not 'looking for scapegoats'. I've consistently said throughout this thread that I attach no blame whatsoever to Leeds fans and put the blame fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the plod. Look at my first post on this thread - and subsequent ones to that - I'm not trying to muddy any waters at all.

Get that bloody chip off your shoulder that everyone hates Leeds and read what people are posting instead of jumping down everyone's throats about how we're all blaming Leeds fans. We're not.

Absolutely well said, 100% agree and exactly my point earlier in this thread ( except I couldn't be arsed to continue making the point and being misquoted).

The vast majority of Exeter fans, especially on this site, are completely accepting that the problems, whatever the main contributing factors , were basically not the doing of Leeds fans. Including myself, most if not all of us agree that the away end is poor and the supervision seemed inadequate. Yet you still continue to pick at comments made by individuals here, with the same old underlying "I suppose that was Leeds fault was it" tone.

 

[Mr Jan Yeo]

Yes we heard the request to move up, but the reason was never clear to those who could not see the problem.

There is no way that any Leeds fan would willingly endanger ANY fan, our own or others, and frankly I find it offensive for anyone to suggest that we would!

So which is it? Okay so they didn't say that there was a crush but they shouldn't need to. I accept that a large number didn't hear and that the situation shouldn't have happened in the first place but when the tannoy announces that fans should move to aid their fellow supporters...

d) Leeds fans in the home end were advised by the Police that they would be allowed to enter the away end prior to the match. This was without knowing how many Leeds fans there were in the stand!

The wording over the tannoy was "we will attempt to accomodate you with your fellow fans". If too many had turned up from the home end then it would have been a bit of a shock but the game would probably have been delayed while a solution was provided elsewhere in the ground.

e)The need to move fans from the home end was never required in the first place! Every away match has more Leeds fans than tickets available in this division, and every game has a significant number of Leeds fans in the home end. There is rarely any trouble, so why the need to move them en mass?

Because several of Leeds' numpties were on here last week saying how the Big Bank would be the new away end. In a stand as small as the BB it can only take 2 or 3 ****** up idiots from either side to start a lot of trouble. We've got some tw*ts too remember.

 

[Grecian1987]

Because several of Leeds' numpties were on here last week saying how the Big Bank would be the new away end. In a stand as small as the BB it can only take 2 or 3 ****** up idiots from either side to start a lot of trouble. We've got some tw*ts too remember.

Exactly.

I'm sure Leeds fans do go in to other clubs' home ends, but I would wager than a very large majority of those stands are all-seated, meaning less chance of trouble. A terrace poses more problems.

I also agree with the reason for not letting the Leeds fans know why they need to move down - the absolute worst thing to happen in that situation is for panic to arise.

I think there were many factors to why this happened; none of which are immune to blame.

 

[Mackster]

If we really want to resolve these problems, ECFC need to acknowledge that it is our problem. The statement put out was a patent butt covering exercise for public consumption and the Football League, but hopefully someone is seriously looking into it.

Even though the away terrace has been used to capacity many times, it only needs human error to make the whole thing go horribly wrong. So you get some coaches turning up late, you have an erratic PA system and you have under-trained stewards, plus throw in a few idiots and you have a recipe for a problem. I say a problem, not a disaster, because how a shallow terrace of 8 steps with no fence can be equated with Hillsborough is beyond me? But the fact is we want away fans to come and spend their hard earned, then we should at least let them watch the game in relative comfort.

I'm assuming nothing major will happen to the away end before the OG Redevelopment. The away terrace is archaic and really needs a turnstile either end so that it can be filled from both sides. Also it needs a walkway at the front so fans avoid pushing those in place and can easily identify spaces available. I'm not sure of the logistics of this, but we could at least move the pitch during the Summer so a walkway can be implemented. If we increased the price of entrance to the away terrace we could at least pay for the small improvements of access, toilet facilities and the PA. Basics that one might expect having travelled 300 miles.

I don't know why some have got all Bertie Big Bollox on this thread, is it because it is Leeds? We should welcome everyone, especially those that put an extra £150,000+ in our coffers. I hope that next season, someone at the club will have the foresight to make these improvements, that the sun will shine on the Leeds hordes and they will still go home pointless from SJP.